Human Trafficking is modern-day slavery that involves force, fraud or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act. Human trafficking is a hidden problem in our communities. Victims seldom come forward to seek assistance due to fear of traffickers, fear of law enforcement, language barriers, cultural barriers, and immigration status, or simply because they cannot identify their experience as trafficking. (Homeland Security-2018)

Traffickers do not discriminate against their targets. However, certain groups are more vulnerable and are consequently at a higher risk for this type of exploitation; those groups include women, children, marginalized communities, immigrants, refugees, individuals with histories of trauma, individuals from low socioeconomic backgrounds, individuals in foster care, homeless, runaways, individuals subjected to natural disasters, etc. (humantraffickingsearch.org, 2017).

Trafficking happens within all identity communities in Iowa, including in the Latina/o/x/e community. In order to raise awareness, RVAP's Latina/o/x/e staff developed a  social media campaign.