United States

In the 21st century, women, mostly from South America, Southeast Asia, and the former Soviet Union, are trafficked into the United States for sexual slavery.^[88] Contrary to some existing misconceptions, American citizens are also coerced into sex slavery.^[89]
In 2001 the United States State Department estimated that 50,000 to 100,000 women and girls are trafficked each year in the United States. In 2003, the State Department report estimated that 18,000 to 20,000 individuals were trafficked here for forced labor and sexual exploitation. The June 2004 report set the total trafficked annually at between 14,500 and 17,500. http://www.slate.com/id/2120331/ However, the Bush administration set up 42 Justice Department task forces and spent more than $150 million. But in the seven years since the law was passed, The administration has identified only 1,362 victims of human trafficking brought into the United States since 2000, nowhere near the 50,000 a year the government had estimated.^[90]
Many times these girls are some of the most vulnerable that are thrust into this industry. According to Girl’s Education & Mentoring Services (GEMS), an organization based in New York, the majority of girls that are thrown into this industry were abused as children. Poverty and a lack of education play major roles in the lives of the women in this industry. According to a report conducted by the University of Pennsylvania, anywhere from 100,000 up to 300,000 American children are at risk of commercial sexual exploitation at any given time.^[91]
As described in the 2010 Trafficking in Persons report, "The United States is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor, debt bondage, and forced prostitution." ^[92]
Sexual slavery in the United States occurs in multiple forms and in multiple venues. Popular forms of sex trafficking in the United States are Asian massage parlors, Mexican cantina bars, residential brothels, and street-based pimp-controlled prostitution. There is currently a divide among the anti-trafficking community in the United States over the extent of sexual slavery. Some groups view all prostitution as abusive and coerced, arguing that the exploitation is inherent in the act of commercial sex. Other groups take looser approaches to defining prostitution and sex slavery, considering the elements of force, fraud, and coercion to be necessary for sex slavery to exist.
Asian apartment massage parlors exist all over the USA, especially in Silicon Valley, California.^{[citation needed]} Many of the prostitutes are females from Korea, either brought illegally across the borders of Mexico and Canada, or with the use of fake student visas. A Sunnyvale police officer was accused of human trafficking and taking bribes from the local highly organized crime syndicate.^[93] The prostitutes are forced to work out of apartment complexes for many hours a day. They are forced to use narcotics and amphetamines and to have sex with many men.^[94] Also, they often have to undergo plastic surgery and forced abortions.^[95]
In the United States of America, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has also been implicated in the trafficking of underage women across state and international boundaries (US/Canada). In most cases, this is for the continuation of polygamous practices, in the form of plural marriage.^[96][97]