This is the September 23, 2013 hearing on "Human Trafficking" held before the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. From the opening statement of Thomas R. Carper: "Human trafficking has been described as modern-day slavery. This is because its victims are forced to work, including as prostitutes or in sweatshops, against their will. Trafficking victims may not be physically imprisoned, but they are trapped in often hellish conditions through physical or mental coercion that makes escape impossible, or at least seem impossible. It's easy to think of human trafficking as something that happens somewhere else -- in countries far away from ours that are suffering through war and poverty. Sadly, human trafficking is a real and growing problem all over the world, including here at home. And it can be invisible unless officials and citizens alike are trained to recognize the tell-tale signs. By some measures human trafficking is the second most significant criminal enterprise in the world, generating an estimated $32 billion in revenue. That is simply stunning. The statistics for one type of human trafficking, prostitution, are particularly shocking. I'm told that, every year, more than 100,000 children in the United States are forced into prostitution. The average age of entry into prostitution is 13 years old. In fact, I understand that there have been reports of teenage girls forced to work as prostitutes by gangs and literally branded with tattoos to mark them as property." Statements, letters, and materials submitted for the record include those of the following: Thomas R. Carper, Jeff Chiesa, Heidi Heitkamp, Alice C. Hill, James A. Dinkins, Anne Gannon, Joseph S. Campbell, John J. Farmer, Jr., Suzanne Koepplinger, Lisa Brunner, and Daniel Papa.