COLUMBUS, Ohio, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- About 800 immigrants are currently being exploited by labor and sex traffickers in Ohio, a report released Wednesday said.
Another 1,000 U.S.-born teenagers are working in the sex trade, the report said. About 3,500 immigrants and almost 3,000 teenagers are believed to be at risk of falling prey to traffickers.
Attorney General Mike DeWine said the report is based on interviews with 300 victims of human trafficking. It was prepared by the Ohio Trafficking in Persons Studying Commission.
The report's authors said it is impossible to determine the number of people who are being preyed on by human traffickers because many are adult women forced into the sex trade while some victims of labor trafficking were born in the United States.
The report's recommendations include making human trafficking a specific crime in Ohio with confiscating identity documents to further trafficking as an additional crime.
