In Maryland engaging in human trafficking is only a misdemeanor, and the state accordingly has become "one of the hubs of a $9 billion-a-year global industry of trafficking in human beings that is among organized crime's most profitable enterprises" as reported by The Baltimore Sun:
A century and a half after slavery was abolished in the United States, the stain of involuntary servitude lingers on in Maryland. Immigrant laborers brought into the state by human traffickers work for little or no pay on farms and construction sites; women and girls lured by false promises of office jobs end up as virtual prisoners in homes where they serve as nannies and maids; and young people of both sexes are forced into prostitution, with the proceeds going to pimps and criminal gangs. This archipelago of exploitation and misery is only made possible by the brutal application of force and relentless psychological coercion -- beatings, rapes, torture and murder are the commonest way of sowing fear among victims. And the criminals know that the state's laws against human trafficking are seldom enforced and are so weak that even if they are caught they are unlikely to suffer serious consequences.
