Multiple anti-trafficking groups and police studies have shown a significant increase in forced prostitution and human trafficking around major events like the Super Bowl. In New Jersey, the state has been working for years to toughen trafficking laws although they have had their efforts stopped by federal judges.
“New Jersey has a huge trafficking problem,” U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., co-chairman of the House anti-human trafficking caucus, told Fox News. “One Super Bowl after another after another has shown itself to be one of the largest events in the world where the cruelty of human trafficking goes on for several weeks.”
Investigators say the stadium’s proximity to New York City and the major northeastern interstate systems make this year’s Super Bowl an even more major target for traffickers.
A human trafficking survivor and anti-trafficking advocate says some people aren’t even sports fans.
“The Super Bowl is a huge, huge arena for sex trafficking,” Danielle Douglas told Fox. Some visitors “are coming to the Super Bowl not even to watch football — they are coming to the Super Bowl to have sex.”
New Jersey government officials say they have been training police to spot signs of trafficking since the announcement of the Super Bowl at MetLife Stadium.
