<P> Human trafficking is the modern form of slavery, with illegal smuggling and trading of people, for forced labor or sexual exploitation . </P> <P> Trafficking is officially defined as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons by means of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, or abuse of power of a position of vulnerability for the purpose of exploitation . Human trafficking is not synonymous with forced migration or smuggling . </P> <P> In the U.S., human trafficking tends to occur around international travel - hubs with large immigrant populations, notably California, Texas and Georgia . The U.S. Justice Department estimates that 14,500--17,500 people are trafficked into the country every year . The 2016 Global Slavery Index estimates that including U.S. citizens and immigrants 57,700 people are victims of human trafficking . Those being trafficked include young children, teenagers, men and women and can be domestic citizens or foreign nationals . According to the Department of State's statistics from 2000, there are approximately 244,000 American children and youth that are at risk for sex trafficking each year . </P> <P> Under federal law (18 USC § 1589), it is a crime to make people work by use of force, coercion or fear . </P>

Where does human trafficking occur in the us