The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration recently launched a new awareness campaign to help stop human trafficking, the agency announced last week.
The “Your Roads, Their Freedom” campaign will have a heightened emphasis across states with higher numbers of reported problems or driver traffic, the agency said in a news release. States include California, Florida, Michigan, New York and North Carolina.
“Our nation’s transportation systems are exploited by human traffickers every day, and FMCSA is working to help stop it,” FMCSA Administrator Robin Hutcheson said in the statement.
Across the globe, the trucking industry has been at times complicit in trafficking, where victims can be especially vulnerable at truck stops and border crossings, according to a State Department report published July 2022.
The awareness efforts come as states and D.C. are now required to permanently ban drivers from a CDL if a person commits a human trafficking felony while using a commercial motor vehicle.
An FMCSA website provides educational materials on the issue.
