Sex Trafficking is Never ‘In Season’

In South Dakota, pheasant hunting is now a $200-million annual industry. And why not? Hunters retire from the cold weather and enjoy roasted pheasant breast with hot mushroom soup as they relax in their hunting lodges.

Unfortunately — the influx of men from around the country has also created a demand for a much more nefarious product: the underground sex trade. The sex economy in America is bringing in loads of cash each year — $40 million in Denver, Colorado, and $290 million in Atlanta, Georgia, annually. South Dakota has one of the highest rates of sex trafficking in the country.

In 2014, more people received life sentences for perpetuating the sex trade in South Dakota than every other state combined.

In 2014, more people received life sentences for perpetuating the sex trade in South Dakota than every other U.S. state combined. Pimps in these areas often target underprivileged girls between the ages of 12 and 21, and recently anti-human-trafficking movements have picked up the disproportionate rate at which traffickers are forcing Native Americans into the sex trade.

Native Hope, a nonprofit organization in Chamberlain, South Dakota, has started a campaign against trafficking. It works on the nine Native American reservations and in local schools to help build awareness about the prevalence of the sex trade. The danger for young women in the area usually peaks around hunting season — and during the famous motorcycle rally in Sturgis, South Dakota.

Related: Sex Trafficking in Your Hometown

“We have [four] of the highest poverty areas in the country,” said Julie Muldoon, director of Native Hope. “When you come into an area where maybe the young women don’t really understand what love or attention is, and they don’t see any hope for their future — that’s where it starts. Then someone comes in and says, ‘I can give you shelter, I can give you food,’ and already they’re stuck in this situation.”

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One young woman, who asked to remain anonymous, started a downward spiral after she was raped in college. She went home to her reservation and couldn’t get the help she needed to cope with the assault. Soon after, she connected with a group of people who were dealing drugs, and they got her hooked on meth and coerced her into performing drug drops.

She said, “It’s not until you’re there that you realize you’re the drop” — not the drugs. “They make you feel low. They make you do sexual favors. They keep you high, to make you feel low,” she said.

Criminals kept feeding her drug addiction so that she would continue to feel hopeless about her future — and perpetuate the cycle.

Related: The Brutal Realities of Human Trafficking

“Young women are looking for affection and a father figure, and they get trapped,” said Trisha Burke, a creative content specialist for Native Hope. About 70 percent of the trafficking victims have experienced physical or sexual abuse previously and come from impoverished circumstances. Native American women are more than twice as likely to be trafficked than women of other races.

Muldoon said the backdrop to trafficking is one of poverty and broken family relationships. “The bigger picture is this lack of hope and possibility for a future of what [the young women] want. That’s where it starts. In any impoverished area, you have an opportunity for someone to come in and take advantage of that area.”

Often the trafficking industry coincides with the drug industry. Burke said one particularly powerful drug cartel in South Dakota runs a highly organized operation on the Cheyenne River reservation and others. In one instance, a drug dealer dropped off a trafficking victim as payment to leaders of the cartel. Six men raped the young girl in a hotel room before they let her go. “In South Dakota, what I’ve been finding is that it seems to be often drug-related,” Burke told LifeZette. “I think the public is so unaware of the danger the drug world is inspiring.”

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The trafficking industry is sometimes highly organized. Officials recently arrested one man in the Sioux Falls area for trafficking 19 young women, many of whom were Native American. But mostly it’s just young guys looking to make big bucks.

There’s plenty of money to be made. The trafficking industry has grown to $32 billion worldwide — more than the Nike, Starbucks, and Google revenues combined. “It is highly lucrative for these individuals — because it’s not like selling drugs. Selling a drug is an expendable commodity, whereas when you have lured this young woman into your realm and you can use her over and over and over again, it’s much more lucrative than being just a drug lord,” Burke said bluntly.

Related: Parent Alert: Sex Traffickers Are Lurking

Native Hope has partnered with several other organizations to create a curriculum for Native American children that includes empowering messages. Muldoon said their message is aimed at fourth- and fifth-graders, helping them understand early that they have options for their lives. They teach them about bullying and healthy family relationships, and they schedule large community events to help the children learn to reach out to others and build a support network.

“Although most hunters and bikers in the area are well-behaved, there is a dark side to both those activities … Wherever you have a large gathering of men, you have a strong opportunity for prostitution and sex trafficking,” said former U.S. Attorney General Brendan Johnson in a statement for Native Hope.

However, as the campaign for Native Hope makes clear: “Sex trafficking is never in season.”