The non-profit Polaris Project, which works with various national and international agencies to combat trafficking, estimates 100,000 children end up in sex trafficking within the United States per year.

It is precisely because of the scale of the issue and the large amount of misconceptions that exist which drove Laura Swanson, a MSU alumna, to produce and co-direct a documentary focusing on trafficking in the Michigan region called "Break the Chain."

“Essentially our film is to shed light on the fact that there is human trafficking, it happens in the United States, it happens right here in your backyard in Michigan, and this is what it looks like, this is how it occurs, and this is how you can help,” Swanson said.

Human trafficking has two major components: sex and labor trafficking. Sex trafficking is when a person is held against their will and sold to private individuals or front companies in order to perform sexual acts. 

Labor trafficking involves the exploitation of people as laborers working for little to absolutely not money. It is by all accounts modern day slavery.

"Break the Chain" involves numerous interviews with survivors of human trafficking as well as the volunteers and organizations committed to ending human trafficking such as the Michigan Human Trafficking Task Force.

The task force includes a number of professionals from law enforcement to legal consultants. One such attorney affiliated with the task force is E. Christopher Johnson Jr., who as a member of the American Bar Association, or ABA, provides efforts to hold companies accountable in preventing labor trafficking.

"We basically work with people on education and awareness in terms of trafficking and we’ve also helped a few survivors of human trafficking get back on their feet,” Johnson said.

One of the biggest calls to action Johnson implored is for Americans to be aware of how much labor trafficking is involved in the supply chain.

“Essentially the message (of the film) is here’s what it is, this is how it’s occurring, and here’s what some people were showcasing and what some people are doing then asking, you know, what other people can do to help and what they can think about when purchasing things,” Swanson said.

Within her power, getting exposure for "Break the Chain" is how Swanson sees herself combatting human trafficking. Though the film is still currently in the pre-production stages, Swanson and the rest of her crew are hard at work in bringing the film’s topic to peoples’ attention and making Michiganders aware of "Break the Chain" specifically.

Helping in this effort is Erica Marra, a journalism sophomore, who works as a media outreach coordinator for the documentary.

On top of organizing media connections, Marra also helps link the Indiegogo crowd-funding page for "Break the Chain" through various social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and soon an Instagram page.