Human Trafficking Arrests Aren't Up 200 Under Trump
The Claim
Human trafficking arrests under U.S. President Donald Trump have skyrocketed by 200% compared to when President Barack Obama was in office.
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Emerging story
In summer 2020, social media users began sharing the claim, often accompanied by a chart that depicts a dramatic increase in human trafficking arrests.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation found that the chart uses incorrect numbers to produce a false claim. The chart does not say the types of arrests it includes. However, we were able to find that for the Obama portion of the chart, it does not show FBI arrests. Instead, it only shows ICE-HSI (Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations) arrests. ICE-HSI arrests include gang activity, weapons smuggling, and identity fraud, not just human trafficking. The FBI more explicitly handles human trafficking arrests through its Crimes Against Children and Human Trafficking program.
Although the data for the Obama years is taken from legitimate ICE-HSI arrest numbers, the data for the Trump years have no basis in fact. Instead, the numbers were taken from a QAnon conspiracy theory, not from official ICE-HSI or FBI data. In fact, according to official figures from ICE, yearly human trafficking arrests have actually decreased since Trump has been in office.
Further, arrests don’t mean prosecution, which experts say is the best way to tell if human trafficking is being curtailed.
