Underfunded and Overwhelmed: The Federal Government’s Failure to Properly Fund Anti-Trafficking Task Forces
Human trafficking is a rapidly growing criminal industry all around the world. Federal agencies designed to combat trafficking, however, are not growing with it. The disturbing increase in human trafficking cases has been escalated by staffing shortages, inconsistent funding, and limited resources. These issues have significantly hindered law enforcement’s efforts to dismantle trafficking networks and safeguard victims. Without sufficient personnel and ongoing financial backing, essential investigations come to a halt. Survivors find themselves without help, while traffickers are allowed to continue their operations unchecked. The U.S. must allocate the necessary resources to federal departments—including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of Justice (DoJ), the Department of Defense (DoD), and the Department of State (DoS)—that host these agencies. Without real investment, efforts to combat trafficking will inevitably fall short; adequate funding, personnel, technology, and victim support services are essential.
Agencies such as the FBI’s human trafficking task forces and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) are overwhelmed with too few agents devoted exclusively to anti-trafficking cases, resulting in many of them going cold. The lack of personnel leads to fewer operations, leaving many victims trapped in a nightmare and traffickers going unpunished. A snapshot article for the U.S. Government Accountability Office even admits that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had to “suspend some ongoing investigations because of a staff shortage” hindering anti-trafficking operations and once again leaving the helpless to fend for themselves. Without a sufficient crew, even the most highly trained agents can’t match the ever-rising rates of human trafficking. The consequences of this staffing shortage are dire for the victims trapped in the depths of numerous trafficking rings and it enables traffickers and pedophiles to continue operating these horrific networks.
Many regional and state task forces rely on annual federal grants that fluctuate on a yearly basis. This leaves a “temporary nature of task forces” that has been highlighted in a report by the Urban Institute due to the instability of the “grant funding cycles.” More specifically, when these grants get cut, it forces units to reassign their agents. When this happens, vital information, knowledge, and intelligence are lost, hindering long-term investigations and leaving underground trafficking networks still running, which means that many promising leads go unpursued. In accordance with the federal level, the DHS, DoJ, and DoD are assigned limited funding for each unit and task force, especially those dedicated to anti-trafficking efforts. To put it in perspective, according to the DHS’s Budget-in Brief fiscal year of 2025, their budget consists of 107.9 billion dollars while only attributing 47.5 million dollars to anti-trafficking efforts. More specifically, they allocated 20.7 million to Child Exploitation Investigations, 16.0 million to Victim Assistance Programs, and 10.8 million to the Center for Countering Human Trafficking. By allocating only a fraction of their vast budget to countering modern-day slavery, the departments limit their ability to perform their jobs efficiently—condemning victims to suffer in silence or remain forgotten.
On top of this, there are not enough resources to provide support systems for survivors of trafficking, leaving them vulnerable to re-exploitation. As reported by the Department of Homeland Security Blue Campaign notes, victims are often scared to comply with agents and task forces because once the investigation concludes, they fear they will be left high and dry. They also explain that survivors may delay reporting their trafficker for the same reason. The lack of survivor support thereby creates losses of critical witnesses and knowledge that could be used to save other victims and bring traffickers to justice. Apart from helping in investigations, without resources victims are left to deal with the leftover damage and trauma alone. This leaves them much more prone to being trafficked once again, putting them back in the very system that they escaped and survived. This not only reverses the work put in by anti-trafficking agencies, but it puts many lives through revictimization, leaving them open to even more abuse and assault.
Only through integrating theory in practice through sustained government and law enforcement action can the U.S. government make good on what it declares in the war against human trafficking. Congress must increase funding for anti-trafficking agencies in order to be equipped with a permanent staff and operation. Agencies must allocate more funds to intelligence gathering, victim services, and coordinated efforts with NGOs. Task forces need specialized, targeted personnel with specific expertise in human trafficking issues who would not excessively rely on overworked agents juggling several cases at a time. Continuous funding, however, will enable these groups to effectively fight trafficking, take down trafficking organizations, and offer services to victims.
If the U.S. government fails to act, countless victims will remain shackled in the shadows—crying out for help that will never come. Every closed case, every poorly funded task force, and every survivor without support is another life that is doomed to experience the unspeakable. These are not just mere statistics, they are children stripped from childhood, women deprived of their womanhood, and families obliterated beyond repair. If there is no decisive action, traffickers will continue to exploit human beings, and their hold will strengthen with every tick of the clock. The government possesses the ability to stop these monstrous networks, to free the kidnapped, to represent the wronged and to enact justice. But until they choose to act upon the commitment this crisis requires, the helpless will remain voiceless, unseen, and forgotten.