70 victims of human trafficking have been found in area in past 18 months, organization says

[Ptah]

Law enforcement and service organizations want to get out the word:
Human trafficking, where youth and adults are forced to work or to
engage in prostitution in exchange for food, drugs or shelter, is a
growing and serious problem in Montana communities.

Tumbleweed, a nonprofit organization in Billings that serves at-risk youth,
has identified 70 victims of human trafficking in the past 18 months,
said Georgia Cady, Tumbleweed’s human trafficking program director.

Ninety percent of those victims are from Billings or the local area, Cady said.

Montana Attorney General Tim Fox said fighting human trafficking is a
Department of Justice priority, where the goal is to bring traffickers to
justice and help victims recover.


http://billingsgazette.com/news/local/victims-of-human-trafficking-have-been-found-in-area-in/article_5a47acdf-9296-5a0b-b873-d18a3d3890d6.html

[sheshe2]

1. That is awful, Ptah.

I am glad your AG is on top of this, not just bringing the traffickers to justice but helping those poor victims to recover.

[Ptah]

2. It does sound like progress, doesn't it sheshe2?

[sheshe2]

3. Yes it does, Ptah.

[MontanaMama]

4. I was on the fence about Tim Fox at election time

but I am happy to hear that he is paying attention to this. Billings is a hub for human trafficking and so is Great Falls. The scuttle is that it is the oil fields and their transient communities in ND and Alberta that supports the demand for human trafficking - I don't know if that's true but it would make sense. Montanans are often naive to these insidious kinds of crime. We're used to safe streets...not so any more.