Transportation Leaders Against Human Trafficking

U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao was joined by leaders from Congress, state governments and the transportation industry on Jan. 28 to pledge their effort to fight human trafficking.

The Department of Transportation’s Transportation Leaders Against Human Trafficking (TLAHT) initiative is comprised of transportation and travel industry stakeholders working jointly to maximize their collective impact in combating human trafficking. To date, TLAHT has engaged with hundreds of organizations from across the transportation industry.

The partnership focuses on five key areas and connects transportation stakeholders to available resources on: industry leadership, industry training and education, policy development, public awareness, and information sharing and analysis.  

As many as 24.9 million men, women, and children are held against their will and trafficked into forced labor and prostitution.  According to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, human trafficking is defined as:

(A) sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age; or

(B) the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.

TLAHT offers a variety of resources, including a transportation leaders pledge, counter-trafficking strategies, training resources, and public awareness materials.  Contact us to become a partner and join other transportation stakeholders across the U.S. through this collaborative effort.

Take Action

The transportation industry is taking a united stand to stop the flow of human trafficking through America’s transportation system. Having a set of core themes interwoven throughout TLAHT partner initiatives helps to send a clear and consistent message to transportation employees and the traveling public. 

We invite interested stakeholders to use the tools below, and to partner with TLAHT to maximize our collective impact against human trafficking in the transportation industry. 

Become a Partner Use our tools and partner with other stakeholders across the U.S. through this collaborative effort. Pledge: Commit to the Transportation Leaders Against Human Trafficking Strategy and sign the Pledge.

Issue a Leader Statement Make your stakeholders aware of your intention and actions, and call your organization to act! Video: Create a counter-trafficking video for your employees.  Statement: Make a statement announcing your stance against human trafficking and set an example for your employees and stakeholders.  Use these sample talking points as a reference when crafting your statement.

Train Your Employees Empower them through training to learn common human trafficking indicators and methods of reporting.  USDOT mandated all 55,000 employees take human trafficking awareness training in 2012, and every three years thereafter.  We also partnered with the Department of Homeland Security to create a suite of counter-trafficking awareness trainings for the aviation, motor coach, and rail industries, and are set to launch a new training for the mass transit industry. Blue Lightning Initiative: A program of DOT and the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Blue Campaign and Customs and Border Protection, BLI trains aviation personnel to recognize and respond to potential human trafficking victims through in-flight and on-the-ground reporting mechanisms.   Blue Campaign: Awareness and training materials from DHS are available to help increase awareness regarding identifying and reporting human trafficking.   Motor Coach: This training video is tailored for the motor coach industry, and offers useful tips for both employees and passengers.   Transit: DOT's training tailored for the transit industry includes indicators of human trafficking and how to report the crime.

Raise Awareness  Raise awareness among the traveling public using transportation industry-related and general counter-trafficking posters. Transportation Industry: Promote awareness using our DOT posters and indicator flyer related to the transportation industry.   General Awareness: Utilize these DHS Blue Campaign posters focused on labor, domestic labor, and sex trafficking.   State Laws: Utilize the Compendium of Human Trafficking Awareness Poster State Laws that lists requirements by state.