Human trafficking

Human trafficking is trade in humans, most commonly for the purpose of sexual slavery or forced labor. Some people, eager to migrate to another country, but unable to do so legally, pay smugglers to help them get across the border and then end up in indentured servitude until they can pay off their debt. A libertarian proposal for solving this problem is to remove or at least reduce immigration restrictions. Conservatives sometimes call for making the borders more secure in order to stop the traffickers from successfully crossing. Another libertarian proposal is to legalize prostitution, so that the black market will be crowded out by legitimate businesses with longer time horizons and therefore more of a reason to want to protect their reputations and invest in human capital. Prostitutes would be able to report crimes committed against them without incriminating themselves. Also, prostitutes would be less likely to end up with criminal records that would render them ineligible for many jobs outside the underground economy.