Surfside Beach’s Hardwick one of many gathering at Statehouse to work on human trafficking issues

The first time S.C. Rep. Nelson Hardwick, R-Surfside Beach, watched the 2008 movie “Taken,” he got caught up in the fast-paced action sequences with Liam Neeson, a father trying to save his daughter from kidnappers in Paris.

The second time Hardwick watched the movie, he said, he realized it was about human trafficking.

It’s an issue not often discussed publically, but “Human trafficking is a big business,” he said.

People are exploited for work or for sex.

“Anyone’s daughter or son is susceptible,” Hardwick said.

He has introduced a House bill to strengthen penalties for human trafficking and increase awareness about people being trafficked for sex and labor.

“It happens all over the country. It’s a serious problem,” Hardwick said. “We’re trying to elevate the awareness and to get tougher penalties. It’s undercover -- a lot of people don’t want to talk about it.”

Tuesday, though, people will spend the day talking about human trafficking during an awareness event planned at the Statehouse in Columbia, said Betty Houbion, a community activist and organizer.

The S.C. Lobby Day to End Human Trafficking will see people from across South Carolina gather at the Statehouse to implore state legislators to address critical anti-trafficking legislation, she said. Experts from the Polaris Project, a national organization working to stop human trafficking, will be there, too.

People who attend can spend time with legislators petitioning for an end to human trafficking, Houbion said.

“It’s very difficult. Nobody wants to accept there’s trafficking. Nobody wants to think we buy and sell people. They want to think it’s foreign.

“It’s in America,” Houbion said. “We do have people who are being trafficked in South Carolina, including our area. A lot of the cases are domestic trafficking, (but) some are foreign nationals and some are passed through. As the economy takes a dip, trafficking tends to increase. From a trafficker’s point of view, it is a business and the people are the product.”

But the suspicions and rumors about human trafficking are more common than actual cases in this area, said 15th Circuit Solicitor Greg Hembree.

“I’ve heard more than we’ve seen as far as cases to prosecute under the statute,” Hembree said. “I don’t doubt there’s some level of conduct going on that would qualify as human trafficking (but) I don’t know of any cases we’ve had come in to be charged as human trafficking in our circuit.”

A case involving a juvenile having a sexual relationship with a much older man with her mother’s knowledge that occurred last year was reviewed for prosecution under human trafficking laws, but did not meet the standard, Hembree said. The older man was charged with child abuse and criminal sexual conduct with a minor.

Hembree believes there are cases of human trafficking here, but “they’re difficult to investigate. It’s a new area of law from an enforcement standpoint.”

The cases often cross jurisdictional and state lines, presenting another challenge for local law enforcement. Hembree said he doesn’t recall any federal cases of human trafficking involving the area in recent memory.

Trafficking is not just sex slavery. It can also involve people being forced to work for pennies a day, Houbion said.

“There’s nothing about trafficking that means movement of people. It can be happening in their own neighborhood, down the street,” she said. “It’s both labor trafficking, which is increasing, as well as commercial sex trafficking. It is the buying and selling of people, which is just wrong.”