Thursday a 35 year old man named Michael Buck was indicted on charges of sex trafficking. A Kansas City news station reported, "Buck lured women with the intention of forcing them into prostitution, and if his victims resisted, they often suffered violent abuse, including being beat, choked, burned, tied up and cut." In San Francisco a recent sex trafficking sting shocked officials who rescued 47 children working the streets, some as young as 13 years old. This is a problem that spans the nation in suburban areas as well as urban.

Earlier this year Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney joined other New York officials to stop this type of home grown as well as international Sex Trafficking. The congresswoman's website reveals that human trafficking is a $10 billion worldwide industry. To give that number a little perspective the Wired Blog lists a slew of $10 billion dollar buys including: the total GDP of Bolivia or the funds needed to support 395,000 inmates for a year in federal prison. Combating such a large black market industry requires more than occasional raids and sting operations in Maloney's New York district. This problem is international. To address this dilemma Maloney sponsored the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Reauthorization Act that will help monitor and fund the required response needed to halt sex as slavery. The act also promotes cooperation with other international parties involved such as Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs).

While most girls and women traded as sex slaves aren't American, the clients and traders of this industry are. The old practice of indentured servitude, where passage to the United States is paid and upon arrival the immigrant repays the cost (with interest) through service for the person who financed the journey. The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, an international NGO, list the going price in New York and North Carolina brothels for Chinese indentured servants at around $40,000, a staggering price to have to pay back through sex acts. Their facts state:

"Traffickers force Chinese immigrants into indentured servitude, women into prostitution and men into the restaurant business. In September 1998, 153 men and 21 women, including 35 juveniles, arrived in San Diego, California from China via Mexico, after paying smugglers $30,000. In 1997, 69 and in 1993, 650 Chinese immigrants were intercepted in the same area."

These numbers reflect the sizeable market and growing demand for sex slaves in the United States which has caused notable foreign leaders to come speak out against the practice in Washington D.C. in an effort to discuss solutions for the future. Most recently, Indian activist Ruchira Gupta who said, "There are hundreds and thousands of women and girls who are still trapped and at risk to sexual exploitation and prostitution." The demand-side of the market is exactly where Maloney's efforts are targeted. With the sponsorship of the End Demand for Sex Trafficking Act of 2005 she took the lead against the major players in the industry. Of her proposed legislation the Congresswoman said, "The best way to fight this industry that makes its living on the exploitation of young girls is to crack down on the sex trafficking king pins, pimps and johns".

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