Labor and sex trafficking ‘serious issue’ in Maryland: SAFE Center CEO warns
Susan Esserman fights for victims of human trafficking
By Ruben Castaneda
Published: February 16, 2026
Source: The Baltimore Sun
Since its founding in 2016, the University of Maryland SAFE Center has helped more than 600 survivors of sex and labor trafficking rebuild their lives — a milestone driven by CEO and founder Susan Esserman’s push to confront a hidden crisis and create a lifeline for victims.
The center is the first university-based program in the nation to provide comprehensive services for sex and trafficking survivors in combination with research and advocacy to fight human trafficking. The center provides legal assistance, case management, mental health services and economic empowerment opportunities to survivors of trafficking.
As a former deputy U.S. trade representative, Esserman holds the title of ambassador. As a senior counsel at the law firm Steptoe, Esserman, she leads the firm’s pro bono efforts to help survivors of human trafficking.
How prevalent is human trafficking in Maryland?
Like other metropolitan areas, human trafficking is prevalent in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. metropolitan regions. It’s very difficult to estimate the extent of trafficking in Maryland or even in the United States, for a number of reasons.
First, much of trafficking is hidden from [public view]. Second, survivors are very fearful, very reluctant to come forward. And third, survivors often don’t recognize that their situation is trafficking until years after the exploitation.
In Maryland, like many other metropolitan areas, we have highway networks, the I-95 corridor, three international airports, and that attracts an influx of people and facilitates trafficking in this area. Look at our numbers alone; it will be our 10th anniversary in a couple of months. Over that time, we have served over 600 sex and labor trafficking survivors, most of whom were trafficked in this state. I want to mention labor trafficking because so many people only focus on sex trafficking, and many people do not understand labor trafficking. It’s under-investigated and under-prosecuted.
I’ve heard time and again that labor trafficking does not take place in Maryland. However, the majority of our cases at the SAFE center involve labor cases. We conducted a statewide survey and over a recent five-year period, the survey showed that NGOs and service providers assisted over 12,200 labor trafficking survivors. It is a serious issue in this state.
The full interview spotlight is available through the following link from the Baltimore Sun:
Labor and sex trafficking ‘serious issue’ in Maryland: SAFE Center CEO warns
