Within the last decade, the trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation has become a major concern for governments and the media. Government and legislation played a major role in constructing and maintaining sex trafficking as a social problem. Although, the United States has been less visible as a site of transnational and domestic trafficking in women than other countries, this situation is beginning to change. Recent accounts about human and sex trafficking in the United States, mainly appearing in national and local media, indicates that trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation is a national problem; and one that is increasing in scope and magnitude. The U.S. government estimates that 50,000 women and children are trafficked each year into the United States, primarily from other countries. However, little research has been completed on contemporary trafficking in the United States. Women and children have been the target of sex trafficking for thousands of years. This practice, going on throughout the centuries, finally became a political issue in the early 1900s. In 1902, the International Agreement for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic was drafted. Its purpose was to "prevent the procuration of women and girls for immoral purposes abroad" (www.protectionproject.org). After a few years it was ratified by twelve countries around the world. This eventually led to the United States passing the Mann Act of 1910 which "forbids transporting a person across state or international lines for prostitution or other immoral purposes" (www.protectionproject.org). With the problem of sex trafficking still growing in the middle of the century, the United Nations felt it necessary to address the problem. Regardless of the acts and conventions that have been passed earlier in the century, the occurrence of sex trafficking is not decreasing.