‘People will die’: alarm after US orders removal of identity references from anti-trafficking efforts

The US government has ordered law enforcement agencies, the state department, and some non-profit organizations working to combat sex trafficking to remove references to victims’ LGBTQ+ identities, race and immigration status from their communications and websites, a move experts warn will endanger vulnerable minors.

Interviews with a prosecutor, government personnel, trafficking non-profit executives, as well as email correspondence reviewed by the Guardian show that agencies and organizations are complying with the orders to avoid losing federal funding. Experts in child safety say the policy is fostering a climate of fear, forcing organizations to acquiesce in order to retain crucial funding at the expense of helping victims.

The directive stems from executive orders issued by Donald Trump targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and LGBTQ+ communities. Some non-profits receiving federal funding have been prohibited from using the terms “marginalized,” “vulnerable,” and “immigrants” in correspondence from grant funders.

Donald Trump signed the executive orders nixing DEI on 20 January, the day of the presidential inauguration. One order, titled “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing”, mandates the removal of policies, programs, and activities relating to “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility”. Another, titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” instructs the removal of all “radical gender ideology guidance, communication, policies, and forms”.

Anti-trafficking organizations receive funding from a number of government bureaus including the Department of Justice, office for victims of crime, office of juvenile justice and delinquency prevention, office on violence against women, Departments of Defense and Homeland Security.

‘This is going to benefit traffickers’

The rollback by the US government will affect the annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report by the state department, which evaluates global anti-trafficking efforts. Internal communications reviewed by the Guardian show that department staff have been directed to omit data on marginalized communities from the report.

The office for victims of crime, part of the Department of Justice, removed the contents of a web page titled Faces of Human Trafficking, which detailed the stories of survivors, including those of people of color and people who identify as LGBTQ+. The page also contained educational resources on the legal needs and rights for victims, and on providing trauma-informed services. This content was replaced with a notice stating ‘this content is temporarily unavailable’ in early February, according to captures by the Wayback Machine, a digital library website that takes periodical snapshots of websites to preserve their history.

“A lot of people rely on the government for this type of information, accurate information, and it’s no longer going to be there. People are only going to care about one specific population of people, which is going to be white, blonde hair, blue eyed, straight cisgendered females,” says Jose Alfaro, a gay Latino survivor of child sex trafficking and anti-trafficking consultant.

According to Alfaro, silencing discussion of vulnerable groups will deter trafficking victims from reporting the crimes committed against them. They may fear harassment, discrimination or not being believed, he said.

“It’s going to further stigmatize and also push everything underground. This is going to benefit traffickers,” he said. “When you are further marginalizing and oppressing vulnerable groups, the response is going to be more homophobia, more transphobia, more racism, which then is going to create more vulnerabilities for those populations.”

Traffickers often deliberately target victims from marginalized demographics they believe are less likely to report them. In Alfaro’s case, he was trafficked as a minor by a man now serving a 30-year sentence who specifically targeted gay teenagers from the Latino community.

“It was known to him that Latino males who were gay would be basically rejected from their families, and so they would be in an even more vulnerable place,” says Alfaro.

LGBTQ+ individuals face heightened risk of trafficking due to systemic barriers in employment, housing and social services. These challenges make them prime targets for traffickers, who exploit financial instability and lack of familial support. Racism is also a risk factor for being a trafficking victim, since factors like poverty, harmful stereotypes, and being in the foster care system – where Black youth are overrepresented – further heighten vulnerability, creating conditions that traffickers exploit.

Previously collected data illustrate the disparities along fault lines of race and sexual orientation. For instance, in King county, Washington, 84% of child sex trafficking victims are Black, even though Black residents make up just 7% of the population. Latino communities also face high rates of exploitation, according to research by the anti-trafficking non-profit Polaris. The Trump administration’s directive prohibits anti-trafficking agencies from collecting such data.

“Trafficking happens to those that are disproportionately vulnerable. We were able to have data to back that up, and then we were able to create and tailor programming specifically for those populations, and these executive orders rolled all of that back,” said one expert, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing concerns of potential retaliation.

‘People will die because of it’

The censorship efforts have also impacted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), a major child safety non-profit which works to locate missing children and combat child sexual exploitation and trafficking, particularly online.

NCMEC, whose main funder is the federal government, has been ordered to remove all references to LGBTQ+ people from its public-facing material, according to an email to NCMEC seen by the Guardian.

NCMEC acts as a nationwide clearinghouse for reports about child abuse, which staff triage and forward to relevant law enforcement departments in the US and around the world. The center also provides education resources and data on trafficking, abductions and exploitation for law enforcement and others working on child safety issues. It manages distribution of the ‘Amber Alert’ system that alerts the public to missing children.

Since the issuing of the executive order, the organization has removed publications that reference gender identity, queer and transgender children from its website. This resulted in the removal of guides on missing children who may be suicidal, children missing from care, male victims of child sex trafficking and recognizing and preventing child sex trafficking.

The website detailed the stories of survivors, including those of people of color and people who identify as LGBTQ+, but has now been removed. Photograph: Office for Victims of Crime

“Like many federally funded non-profits, NCMEC was directed by the DOJ to comply with executive order 14168 regarding gender ideology and to review our publicly facing materials to ensure compliance,” said an NCMEC spokesperson. “No changes to NCMEC services have been made regarding sexual orientation, race, or immigration. NCMEC will continue to provide lifesaving support for all families and children who need our services. We remain committed to helping find missing children, combating child sexual exploitation and preventing child victimization.”

Additionally, anti-trafficking non-profits have also been informed by federal workers responsible for grant allocations that conservative Christian organizations that have guidelines more closely aligned with the executive orders will receive preference over federal grants for supporting survivors, according to one source with direct knowledge of the new grant funding mandates.

“Organizations that don’t understand those kids or adults and why they’re disproportionately vulnerable, that maybe do conversion therapy – could be a faith-based organization that believes that being queer is wrong and will send you to hell–will still get funds,” said one expert. “People will die because of it.”

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

A statement from the state department read: “We refrain from disclosing specific information regarding the Trafficking In Persons Report until it has received official approval and has been formally released by the Secretary of State to the public. The Department is committed to implementing President Trump’s executive orders.”

‘Crime data drives modern policing’

Major police departments across the country, which receive federal grants for investigations on trafficking crimes from the Department of Homeland Security and the office of justice, have now been instructed to stop collecting data on victims’ race and LGBTQ+ identity, including for cases of violent crime and trafficking, according to a federal prosecutor.

The prosecutor, who specializes in violent crime and who spoke on the condition of anonymity, warned that the decision could undermine efforts to address targeted violence and hate crimes.

“Crime data is super important and drives modern policing and law enforcement and making effective and appropriate decisions,” said the prosecutor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. “It’s particularly important to understand where we’re putting our energies.”

The change could also mean that violent perpetrators targeting specific minority groups to assault are not charged with hate crimes or civil rights violations, the prosecutor added. Omitting information about crime victims’ sexuality or race from reports can hamper investigations and victim identification, the prosecutor said.

“You can’t really take a victim-centered approach if we’re not allowed to categorically approach the victim for who they are as a person, like if we can’t acknowledge that they are trans,” said the prosecutor. “You can imagine the impact that’s going to have on how successful and how much people feel they’re willing to open up.”