Legislature Considers Human Trafficking Law

The Sioux Falls Argus Leader did a lengthy expose on human trafficking in South Dakota in December with a series of articles.  One was entitled “South Dakota’s slave trade” and another “Fact: Human trafficking exists in S.D.“ 

Most South Dakotans don’t think of such a thing going on here.  After all we’re a quite, agricultural, family-values type state; we certainly don’t fit the profile of big-city crime often associated with human trafficking.  

But as one Argus Leader article says,

Rural isolation and a sense of trust are factors in making girls from the Upper Midwest vulnerable to becoming entangled in sex trafficking, an author on the sex trade says.

South Dakota also has Interstate-90 cutting all the way across the state east to west, which makes it a virtual certainty that modern-day sex slaves are being transported across our state to various destinations around the country. 

South Dakota is part of what is known as the Midwest Pipeline where victims are recruited, often from among drug addicts and runaways.

The reports also say victims aren’t just recruited here and transported across the state, but are often marketed to dance naked in clubs in the state.  

A lot of hunting goes on in South Dakota, and not just among the locals.  People often come from other states to hunt in South Dakota…and follow much less respectable pursuits.

From one of the Argus Leader articles comes the story of a young woman forced to dance nude and prostituted out to hunters:

Marissa said she was not alone in the circuit of strip clubs, but rather, one of a group of women expected to dance nude for money and even prostitute themselves. 

He had other girls from other states, and they would just go from place to place,” she said. 

Dancing almost immediately turned into a demand for Marissa to trade sex for money. She was sent into a motel room with her first waiting client but refused to have sex with the man, she said. 

She escaped out of a window. 

But alone and with no money or refuge, she returned to her pimp and ended up on a circuit that included strip clubs in Dallas, west of Gregory in south-central South Dakota, and the region. She made the rounds of hunting lodges and clubs flush with hunting season travelers. 

“You started dancing there, and then the guys knew what to expect and they would want to do things to you and take you into the private rooms,” Marissa said. “It was pretty much anything goes.” 

While other girls prostituted out of the private rooms of certain strip clubs, Marissa said she was able to refuse every advance but one. In that case, for one client, it was not sex she traded for money, but time and private dances, she said. She also managed over time to hide enough money from her pimp to buy a car and escape.

The legislature is already considering new laws to help prosecute this despicable modern-day slavery.  

Some believe enough laws exist regarding associated offenses to successfully prosecute human traffickers.  Others would like to see the law strengthened to specifically identify the offense of human trafficking. Some legislators want to conduct a study of the problem before committing to specific legislation, and that could come in the form of a study panel over the summer.  

The South Dakota Family Policy Council held a luncheon in Rapid City Wednesday where upcoming activities and their legislative agenda were discussed.  Among the priorities for the SDFPC is to see legislative action on human trafficking.  

“Unlike a drug that is sold just once, victims of sex or labor slavery are manipulated to repeat their service, making trafficking very profitable industry,” said Chris Hupke, Executive Director of the South Dakota Family Policy Council.

“We are finding stories of trafficked human beings coming out of South Dakota,” Hupke continued.  ”This is the proud home of conservative midwestern family values, so it’s true it can be found anywhere.  For example, we know the pornography industry utilizes trafficking to produce their material.”

Hupke said not only those who produce pornography, but also those who give assent to it as a “victimless crime” are responsible for its propagation.

Our nation once waged a costly battle to end slavery based on skin color.  Now it seems we must fight to end a slavery within our borders that involves the peddling of human intimacy and the destruction of innocence.