Fighting Human Trafficking Together

Updated January 10, 2025

Modern-day slavery, or human trafficking exists whenever people are bought and sold for forced labor or commercial sex. Around the world, it is estimated that there are over 40 million slaves today. And, human trafficking has been reported in all 50 states, and the number of victims in the United States is estimated in the hundreds of thousands.

Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT) recognizes that members of the trucking, bus, and energy industries are invaluable in the fight against this heinous crime. As the eyes and ears of our nation’s highways, you are in a unique position to make a difference and close loopholes for traffickers who seek to exploit our transportation system for their personal gain.

About Truckers Against Trafficking

TAT has grown considerably since its founding in 2009, as awareness for this heinous crime has been raised. Its mission is to educate, equip, empower, and mobilize the members of the trucking, bus, and energy industries to combat human trafficking. The goal is to build the largest army of transportation individuals dedicated to discovering and disrupting human trafficking.

Professional drivers have made thousands of calls into the National Human Trafficking Hotline and to law enforcement. These have resulted in hundreds of cases and over 1,400 victims identified by truckers on the road. In the last 5 years, 41 percent of calls from truck drivers have been cases in which victims identified were minors.

Human Trafficking Can Be Anywhere

One truck driver pulled into a truck stop and noticed a beat-up RV. The driver noticed a man going from the convenience store to the RV. The man knocked on the RV’s door and had a conversation with someone inside. The man then went back to the convenience store, returned to the RV and went inside. Ten minutes later, the man exited the RV. Then the truck driver saw a girl look out the window, only to have her head forcefully pulled away.

The truck driver called law enforcement. When they arrived on the scene, a man and women were found inside the RV, as well as a 20-year-old female who had been coerced from her home in Iowa just 18 days earlier. In those 18 days, the couple beat and burned the victim and sold her for sex. The two traffickers are currently serving sentences of 40 and 41 years.

How Can You Help?

TAT is always looking for new partners to provide ideas and support in the fight against human trafficking. And, TAT would be honored to have you stand alongside.

Ryder partners with TAT to provide funding for programs designed to protect victims and to prepare Ryder drivers to save lives. TAT trains all of our drivers to spot and report human trafficking. More than 41,000 Ryder employees have received TAT training, which includes drivers and technicians.

Since TAT was formed, the organization has trained over 1.34 million individuals. This has resulted in more than 2,800 calls made by truckers into the national human trafficking hotline, generating 730 likely cases of trafficking.

Without the support, commitment, and actions of truck drivers, TAT would cease to exist, and the gains made against human trafficking in the United States would take a leap backward.

Red Flags of Trafficking

The red flags of trafficking are clear enough to spot when you know where to look. They include:

• A person’s lack of knowledge of his/her whereabouts; not in control of ID/passport
• Restricted or controlled communication — not allowed to speak for self
• CB chatter about “commercial company” or flashing lights signaling “buyer” location
• Acknowledgment of a pimp and making a quota
• A van or RV that seems out-of-place out by trucks; a vehicle dropping someone off at a truck and picking the person up 15-20 minutes later

Even a gut feeling can be reported to the National Human Trafficking Hotline 888-373-7888. If you are witnessing a crime in progress, call 911.

To get involved with TAT you can call 612-888-4828, email info@truckersagainsttrafficking.org or visit truckersagainsttrafficking.org. For more information about Ryder, visit ryder.com.