Sex trafficking
There are a number of misconceptions about sex trafficking. Sex trafficking and human trafficking are not to be confused with human smuggling. Human trafficking for sexual or other labor may involve transporting victims across international borders, but to meet the definition of trafficking, there needs only to be exploitation of an individual after they have been coerced or deceived, so it does not necessarily involve transportation across national borders. Human trafficking and sex trafficking are often used as synonyms. However, trafficking for non-sexual exploitation may be even more prevalent than trafficking for sexual exploitation, though accurate estimates of trafficking rates are extremely difficult to obtain. Sex trafficking tends to receive more attention from aid organizations and donors due to the greater public outrage that forced sexual labor evokes compared to forced non-sexual labor and thus incidents of sex trafficking are more frequently reported.
Tlaxcala
Tenancingo, a town in Tlaxcala, is the beginning of a pipeline in an illicit, international trafficking trade, and considered to be the epicenter for sex trafficking in Mexico. Roots of the practice of sex trafficking date back to the 1960s. An unnamed Mexican charity told the BBC that it estimated of the 10,000 inhabitants of Tenancingo, 1,000 are sex traffickers. Sexual exploitation, human trafficking, and pimping are a major source of income for the town, although an exact dollar amount is not known. These practices have been denounced by three NGO's. Recent investigations and a documentary Pimp City: A Journey to the Center of the Sex Trade (2014), have revealed that the small town was identified by the United States Department of Justice as a provider of female sex slaves to the United States. According to the documentary, the entire political structure and police force of the town are implicated in human trafficking and sex trade.