Human trafficking affects everyone on Long Island

It was good news that Lawrence Ray, convicted of human trafficking in a case involving students at Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers, was sentenced to 60 years in prison last month for his horrific crimes.

He preyed on his daughter’s college friends, employing psychological terror, manipulation, and physical abuse to extort them and use them for his own benefit. The judge in the case rightly referred to his acts as “evil” — twice — in handing down the sentence in Manhattan federal court.

But for every trafficker arrested, tried, and convicted, there are thousands more out there.

Long Island is among the top 20 human trafficking hot spots in the country, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The Nassau County district attorney’s office investigates dozens of cases every year and reports the number is growing. The Safe Center, Nassau’s human trafficking service response where I serve as executive director, receives more than 100 referrals annually of youth and adults suspected of being trafficked.

Gov. Kathy Hochul recently signed eight pieces of legislation designed to combat human trafficking. These laws require many hospitality industry employers to provide specific anti-human-trafficking awareness training to employees. They also require certain hospitality and transportation industry employers to post information regarding services available to human trafficking victims.

Human trafficking is deeply misunderstood, usually conjuring up images of migrants shuttled across countries in cargo containers or kidnappings like in the movie “Taken.” But the majority of victims referred to The Safe Center are from right here on Long Island.

Victims come from all racial, ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic backgrounds. But they usually have one thing in common: They are emotionally vulnerable to predators who exploit their needs — usually for love, affection, money, or a sense of belonging or respect — to get what they want.

It begins with grooming, perhaps a teen seeking friendship or a recent immigrant struggling to find work. Traffickers start relationships by extending friendship and support, whether as a love interest or potential employer. They make promises of a better life in whatever form the victim needs, sometimes providing basic necessities such as food and/or shelter in exchange for favors. The trafficker then skillfully finds a way to leverage a victim’s insecurities and vulnerabilities, gains power over the victim, and solidifies the relationship through force, fraud, and/or coercion.

Victims can be afraid to seek help, because the behavior they have been forced into is typically defined as illegal, whether prostitution, selling or transporting drugs, or working without proper documentation. Their trafficker reinforces their fear that they will be arrested if they go to the police. Many trafficking victims do not even identify as a "victim," another barrier to receiving assistance.

By working with our partners in Nassau County criminal justice and social services, we promote a response-forward posture that seeks to provide a safe outlet for the victim to leave the trafficking situation — or at least create safety plans for them to navigate their current situation with the trafficker.

Success is not just defined by arrest and prosecution, but by helping the victim rediscover their human value, so they can begin a journey back to a place of self-worth and self-love.

Eradicating human trafficking and assisting those impacted requires support from the public. The Safe Center provides free resources to help identify and report human trafficking in Long Island communities. Education is our best weapon in preventing and responding to this problem that afflicts us all.