Transportation Leaders Against Human Trafficking

ACOG Spreads Message About Human Trafficking on Behalf of Transportation Leaders Against Human Trafficking

Every year, ACOG receives millions of dollars in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). We serve as stewards of these funds through the work of the Metropolitan Planning Organization, which is housed at ACOG. Part of our stewardship involves supporting the goals and objectives of USDOT and FHWA including advocating for their programs and projects. As such, ACOG is pleased to share with our local audience a critically important campaign USDOT has created to stop the flow of human trafficking through America’s transportation system. Please join us in sharing the following information and resources with your friends and family. –ACOG Staff

The Department of Transportation’s Transportation Leaders Against Human Trafficking (TLAHT) initiative is comprised of transportation and travel industry stakeholders working jointly to maximize their collective impact in combating human trafficking. To date, TLAHT has engaged with more than 200 organizations from across the transportation industry.

The partnership focuses on five key areas and connects transportation stakeholders to available resources on: industry leadership, industry training and education, policy development, public awareness, and information sharing and analysis.

As many as 20 million men, women, and children are held against their will and trafficked into forced labor and prostitution. According to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, human trafficking is defined as:

(A) sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age; or

(B) the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.

TLAHT offers a variety of resources, including a transportation leaders pledge, anti-human trafficking strategies, training resources, and public awareness materials. Contact us to become a partner and join other transportation stakeholders across the U.S. through this collaborative effort.

Take Action

The transportation industry is taking a united stand to stop the flow of human trafficking through America’s transportation system. Having a set of core themes interwoven throughout TLAHT partner initiatives helps to send a clear and consistent message to transportation employees and the traveling public.

We invite interested stakeholders to use the tools below, and to partner with TLAHT to maximize our collective impact against human trafficking in the transportation industry.

Transportation Leaders Against Human Trafficking

Become a Partner

Use USDOT’s tools and partner with other stakeholders across the U.S. through this collaborative effort.

Pledge: Commit to the Transportation Leaders Against Human Trafficking Strategy and sign the Pledge.

Issue a Leader Statement Save & Exit

Make your stakeholders aware of your intention and actions, and call your organization to act!

Video: Create an anti-human trafficking video for your employees.

Statement: Make a statement announcing your stance against human trafficking and set an example for your employees and stakeholders.

Train Your Employees

Empower them through training to learn common human trafficking indicators and methods of reporting. USDOT mandated all 55,000 employees take human trafficking awareness training in 2012, and every three years thereafter. We also partnered with the Department of Homeland Security to create a suite of anti-human trafficking awareness trainings for the aviation, motor coach, and rail industries, and are set to launch a new training for the mass transit industry.

Blue Lightning Initiative: A program of DOT and the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Blue Campaign and Customs and Border Protection, trains aviation personnel to recognize and respond to potential human trafficking victims through in-flight and on-the-ground reporting mechanisms.

Blue Campaign: Awareness and training materials from DHS are available to help increase awareness regarding identifying and reporting human trafficking.

Motor Coach: This training video is tailored for the motorcoach industry, and offers useful tips for both employees and passengers.

Transit: DOT’s training for transit industry employees and passengers will be launching soon. Please contact is to access the training for your transit company. (trafficking [at] dot [dot]gov)

Display Awareness Posters

Raise awareness among the traveling public using transportation industry-related and general anti-human trafficking posters.

Transportation Industry: Promote awareness using our DOT posters and indicator flyer related to the transportation industry.

General Awareness: Utilize these DHS Blue Campaign posters focused on labor, domestic labor, and sex trafficking.

State Laws: Utilize the Compendium of Human Trafficking Awareness Poster State Laws that lists requirements by state.