WASHINGTON – Human trafficking, or modern-day sex slavery, is one of the fastest-growing crimes in the U.S., in the world and in our area, and many of its victims are children. It’s something that happens right in front of us but in the shadows. And that’s a major part of the problem.

“It’s a horrific crime,” says Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell. “Before you can solve a problem you got to identify it and to admit you got one.”

McDonnell held the first statewide governor’s summit on human trafficking and created an anti-human trafficking panel to combat this growing but insidious problem. The summit was held in Richmond on Thursday and Friday.

The governor says just like Virginia took on the gang problem 10-15 years ago, now it’s time to put the laser focus on this horrific crime.

“It’s sex slavery; it’s forcing people into involuntary servitude,” McDonnell says.

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