I love football and the Super Bowl and I'm thrilled my 2nd-favorite team, the Pittsburgh Steelers (2nd only to the Washington Redskins) will be playing in Dallas on Sunday, February 6.
I'm not thrilled, however, about what will also come to Dallas the same week: A huge increase in human trafficking.
I spoke with Tomas Lares (right) about efforts to stop the traffic surrounding the event.
Tomas is president of Florida Abolitionist and was part of the team that trained volunteers and worked with law enforcement to stop human trafficking during the 2009 and 2010 Super Bowls in Tampa and Miami. He partners with Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking and Orlando Rescue and Restore Coalition, which he co-founded. (Born2Fly is a member of both.)
Here's my interview with him:
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Diana Scimone: What are some of the results of the 2009 and 2010 Super Bowl outreaches that you were involved in?
Tomas Lares: There were immediate results—the rescues we made during the Super Bowls. And there were rescues that came later that were a direct result of the outreaches. For example, at last year’s training and outreach:
- 163 trained volunteers came together to participate during the street outreach.
- 6 missing children were recovered.
- 2 girls were removed from potentially dangerous situations.
- 3 girls were removed from situations where they were in the process of being recruited by a pimp.
- 14 leads were generated regarding missing children.
- 4 leads were given regarding potential child sexual exploitation activity.
- 4 instances of “direct intervention” resulted in 2 females removed from potential dangerous situations.
- 3 females were prevented from potential pimp recruitment.
Law enforcement officers in Miami arrested 84 people in a three-day Super Bowl sweep aimed at finding underage girls who were forced into prostitution, including a trafficker from Hawaii. [See Man Charged With Child Trafficking in Miami for Super Bowl.]
Diana: There’s so much more attention this year on the connection between human trafficking and major sporting events like the Super Bowl. Many new groups are now involved with the fight to stop the traffic. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
Tomas: Awareness is always a good thing and Change.org has done a great job bringing awareness about the huge increase in human trafficking surrounding the Super Bowl.
My concern, however, is for other groups that have taken it upon themselves to conduct their own rescues apart from working with law enforcement who are trained and know what to look for and how to respond. There are individual groups sending out news releases announcing they’ll be rescuing victims. You don’t announce that you’re going to do a sting operation ahead of time. That would be like telling drug dealers that you’re planning on doing a sting on a certain time and place.
There’s a fine line between awareness and letting the traffickers know what you’re doing. When we did the Super Bowl outreaches the last 2 years in Miami and Tampa, there was a media blackout because we didn’t want the traffickers to take their operations underground. That only hurts the victims of trafficking.
Diana: Is training taking place prior to the Super Bowl this year?
Tomas: Yes. It’s in connection with law enforcement and the volunteers they already know and work with in the fight. Human trafficking is organized crime so people who don’t know what they’re doing put themselves and the whole team in danger when they don’t know how to approach potential victims. It’s dangerous for themselves as well as the victims.
For the past two Super Bowls we were able to keep the operation under the radar, but it seems like this has been exploited by some people and groups who have their own agenda and are not keeping in mind the safety of the victims.
Diana: What are some of the constructive ways we can increase awareness about human trafficking at the Super Bowl?
Tomas: There are many positive things that can be done. You can inform businesses in the city and visitors coming to the Super Bowl about what to look for and what to do if they spot someone they think is being trafficked. That was part of our past outreaches—to train volunteers to let visitors know the signs and the hotline to call to inform law enforcement: 888-3737-888.
Diana: We know that very young children are trafficked during national sporting events such as the Super Bowl, as well as teenagers and adults. Obviously the children are there through force, but what is your response to people who say that teenagers and women voluntarily go into prostitution?
Tomas: There are people who volunteer to go into escorting, but there are also a great many who have not gone into it voluntarily. Not everyone who is prostitituting is a victim, but definitely the ones who are minors are victims. In fact under the law now, minors are automatically considered human trafficking victims. One of our concerns is that victims are under-identified and seen as just promiscuous. And there are many adults who are forced into it as well.
Diana: Change.org has commended Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott for publicly stating, “The Super Bowl is one of the biggest human trafficking events in the United States.” But Change.org says the Super Bowl host committee itself has refused to get involved.
Tomas: The bottom line for the host committee and businesses is revenue. The Super Bowl can be a very prosperous time for them and I'm sure their stand is they don’t want to scare away customers. And there’s also the situation of even admitting there is a trafficking problem in connection with these events. But that is a sad commentary that you would allow someone to be trafficked at your hotel or in your city and turn your head away just to gain financially.
That’s why we’re encouraging people to sign the Change.org petitions. This is an example of a positive awareness campaign that can make a difference.
thanks for all the work you are doing. My family and I went to the Atlanta Capitol today to stand against human trafficking in Georgia.
Posted by: Phyllis Malcom | February 1, 2011 at 08:16 PM