Cross-border transportation between the United States and Mexico is one of the backbones of North American commerce. In 2024, the U.S. traded roughly $840 billion in goods with Mexico. For decades, these fleets have connected communities on both sides of the border, moving workers, families and goods that sustain regional economies.

Human trafficking is not an abstract crime happening “somewhere else.” It moves along the same highways, stops at the same truck plazas, and crosses the same borders as commercial freight. Global estimates from the International Labour Organization indicate that tens of millions of people are trapped in forced labor and related exploitation, generating well over $200 billion a year in illegal profit for traffickers.