"The risk factors for trafficking of American Indian, Alaska Native and Pacific Islanders are the same for victims of trafficking in other parts of the world. First and foremost there is poverty, poor education and inequality, and in some cases, an added risk is the movement from rural to urban environments. Compounding these issues for indigenous communities here in the United States are the over-representation of Native Americans in the foster care system and an increased prevalence of Native women as victims of violent crime such as domestic abuse and rape. Each of these risks combines with other factors such as lack of a criminal justice infrastructure adequate to the needs of Indian Country and a scarcity of social services for victims that make addressing this problem especially daunting" (Suave, 2014).
