Ann Arbor-based psychologist Lori Lichtman remembers being "horrified" 10 years ago when she found out that human trafficking is a serious problem in Washtenaw County. Today, Lichtman is one of many county residents working to raise awareness of the ongoing issue.
"I was shocked to discover it was happening in local communities," she says. "There are actually a lot of people suffering and we're not protecting those who are most vulnerable."
Human trafficking can be defined as what happens when people use force, fraud, or coercion to compel victims to perform commercial sex acts or labor services against their will. According to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, it's a "pervasive" global problem, with traffickers making $150 billion to $250 billion every year by exploiting vulnerable populations.
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Lori LichtmanRachel Rowe, Lori Lichtman, and Peg Talburtt at a SOAP (Save Our Adolescents from Prostitution) event.
Lichtman, who has devoted countless hours to supporting anti-trafficking efforts, volunteers with the Ann Arbor branch of the
Michigan Abolitionist Project (MAP). The nonprofit is committed to preventing and ending human trafficking.
"There's a number out there about those who really are making a choice about entering the sex trade consensually. It's only about 3-5%," she says. "The way that human trafficking works is that it's coercion, and it's violent and it's manipulative. I don't know if that's where we want to go in our society."
"Always the criminal and never the victim"
Human trafficking has also been spotlighted by the
League of Women Voters of Washtenaw County. As part of a local education effort, the League – which considers human trafficking a form of modern-day slavery – hosted a 2023 public meeting titled "
The Human Trafficking Problem in Washtenaw County." The featured speaker was Elizabeth Campbell, clinical assistant professor of law, and co-director of the
Human Trafficking and Immigration Law Clinic at the University of Michigan.
Campbell defined human trafficking and described trafficking indicators, policies and positions to support, and myths about victims. Data, she cautioned, is "notoriously unreliable." Notably, there's no solid data ranking cities in terms of the prevalence of human trafficking or child sex trafficking.
Campbell's clinic has been a local powerhouse since it opened its doors in 2009. The poverty law practice provides comprehensive legal services to people (predominantly immigrants) who have been victims of human trafficking, and those who are at risk. Trafficking victims are often charged and sentenced for things their traffickers forced them to do. Charges can also be related to illegal substances, as drug use is often a coping mechanism for trauma and everyday survival. Law students at the clinic help trafficking victims to defend themselves against such charges.
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Deb MonroeDeb Monroe."I'm grateful for what they've done for me," says Deb Monroe, a trafficking survivor who recently had multiple charges expunged thanks to the clinic's assistance. "About six or seven rounds of graduating students helped me. I think my record had about 38 charges."
"I told them that I hope they never forget me," the 48-year-old Jackson County native adds. "I gave them a lot of real-life experience."
Monroe had just turned 13 when she ran away from home due to complex family issues.
"I think that it was the same week of my birthday. I went to the fair, looking for the bearded woman and the stretch guy," Monroe says. "I thought since they were different I could probably fit in with them. But, instead of meeting them, I met him."
Monroe's trafficker took her to Detroit and forced her into prostitution almost immediately, taking her to a house that already had five other female victims there. Over the course of many years, and into adulthood, Monroe was trafficked in Michigan and several other states including Texas, New York, New Jersey, and Nevada.
Today, Monroe, who struggled with addiction, is a certified peer support specialist, recovery coach, and community health worker. She's also opened a
peer respite center, and was involved with the
Michigan Human Trafficking Commission for a time.
When asked what should be done to combat the human trafficking industry, she's clear: address the demand for trafficking and the role of buyers. Her position is that if there's no demand, there will be no supply.
"Every time I was arrested, I was always the criminal and never the victim," she says. "The buyer would get a slap on the wrist or maybe a fine. Maybe his car would get impounded. He could get that back for $900 and drive off."
The politics of decriminalizing sex work
Lichtman says ending buyer demand has been a hot-button issue for MAP since 2021, when MAP was contacted by
World Without Exploitation, a national coalition dedicated to ending human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation. The coalition's concern was Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit's introduction of a
policy decriminalizing consensual sex work.
"We were shocked that this was happening in our community," Lichtman says. "Countries that have gone to decriminalization, or legalization, see an uptick in trafficking because there's so much demand."
Savit has defended his policy by citing sex workers' safety and the increased physical dangers faced by sex workers when the industry is invisible. He has asserted that he and his staff will
continue to prosecute human traffickers and "predatory pimps," but not those who engage consensually in sex work.
Lichtman says MAP members (along with some allies and survivors from across the country) have met with Savit to voice their concerns.
"Not pressing charges for consensual sex is a really big problem when we know this is about manipulation and exploitation," she says. "Is it consent when somebody was trafficked at 13, then they turn 18 and are doing it for survival?"
Solutions to end human trafficking
MAP is pushing for a legal framework called
the Equality Model, which emphasizes survivor voices and experiences in developing solutions. Also known as the Survivors' Model, the approach focuses on decriminalizing those being trafficked while holding buyers and sellers accountable. The model has been adopted in countries including Canada, Sweden, France, and Israel. In the United States, it has been successfully implemented in Maine, and
New York is currently working on Equality Model-based legislation.
About 75 people tuned into a January Zoom meeting co-hosted by MAP, in which the Equality Model was explained in detail. Nessel made opening remarks, stating that she's hopeful the Michigan Legislature will take a stronger stand against human trafficking in 2025. Nessel pointed to the
Michigan Human Trafficking Commission, housed in her department, as a prime source of information on active laws and numerous other resources.
She stated that ignoring commercial sex and legalizing it is not the answer. Instead, tougher penalties need to be in place for traffickers and buyers. The legalization of commercial sex, Nessel stated, sends a message to vulnerable trafficked individuals that people don't care, and traffickers and buyers will think that their crimes are acceptable.
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Peg TalburttPeg Talburtt.
Peg Talburtt, co-chair of MAP Ann Arbor, says she hopes more community members will collaborate toward solutions.
"We're preparing to engage the [Washtenaw County Board of] Commissioners about the creation of a local anti-trafficking commission or task force," she says. "We had something similar in the past, and now it's like we're coming back full circle."
Talburtt, who also volunteers with the Michigan Human Trafficking Commission, stresses the importance of identifying resources for survivors, and the complexity of the issue.
"To do this, we need more cross-institutional efforts and community involvement including law enforcement, nonprofits, direct service providers, and survivor voices," she says. "The buying and selling of humans is a problem. Understanding it from all perspectives is part of the solution."
Talburtt says everyone can be part of the solution through education. She points to the
Polaris Project, which runs
the National Human Trafficking Hotline, as the go-to both for reporting cases and finding other resources. She says introducing education in high schools would also be a powerful preventative measure.
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Samantha FineSamantha Fine.
Samantha Fine, director of housing and supportive services at
Ozone House in Ypsilanti, shares similar sentiments about prevention. Her knowledge is based on "seeing the day-to-day" issues in her role at the nonprofit, which provides free services to homeless and at-risk youth and their families. Fine has also worked with at-risk youth in New York's South Bronx and Vancouver, Canada.
"We're trained to support people coming to Ozone who tell us, 'Hey, this is happening to me,'" she says. "I see it here in the sense of housing. Youth are being trafficked, and held over their head is, 'You have a home. What, you're going to go back to the streets in this weather?'"
Fine says recognizing the intricate grooming process involved in human trafficking – especially as it relates to technology – is crucial.
"There's a generational gap that is playing a big role right now. Parents should check out the apps their kids are using and then have conversations about safety," she says. "Often responses to human trafficking are reactionary. Here's something that's preventative."
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Robin BattenRobin Batten.
Robin Batten, program director at the
Washtenaw Area Council for Children (WACC), also speaks to the new playground that technology has created for traffickers. She says she and her colleagues have learned that young people in middle and high school have been approached more than "we can fathom in our mind," in person and online.
"I remember some cases where these girls were actually going to school every day and being trafficked on the weekend," she says. "So it could be different situations. They're not all taken away from their home. It could be through the webcam."
Batten's organization conducts
luncheon workshops throughout the year on various topics related to children, families, and local community issues. They've previously spotlighted human trafficking.
"It could be happening in a suburban area, in a house right across the street from anybody, and they wouldn't know it because traffickers can hide their victims," she says, adding that we must get away from perceiving trafficking as "that whole kidnapping deal" seen in movies and "keep our eyes open" for subtler forms of trafficking.
As Talburtt continues to open eyes to an "invisible" problem, she's been buoyed by people's receptiveness to address the issue.
"People have been genuinely curious and supportive, I think because it's such an odious subject," she says. "If community members can be open to understanding the problem, then we can do something about it."
Jaishree Drepaul is a writer and editor based in Ann Arbor. She can be reached at jaishreeedit@gmail.com.
Main photo courtesy of SHVETS production/Pexels. All other photos courtesy of the subjects.