The Impact of Major Sporting Events on Human Trafficking

There are documented cases of labor exploitation connected to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and the 2024 Paris Olympics, particularly in construction, where migrant workers have faced abusive recruitment practices, wage theft, unsafe working conditions, and restrictions on leaving employment^[1][2]. But the sporting events are not what made the workers vulnerable.

Similar to the risk of labor trafficking that occurs after natural disasters, these cases reflect how structural vulnerabilities that exist across industries — immigration status, socioeconomic vulnerabilities, housing instability — can be intensified in large-scale development contexts.

Human trafficking is enabled by systems that leave certain communities disproportionately vulnerable to exploitation. Addressing labor exploitation requires strengthening worker protections equitably and consistently for all workers, not only when a major event is on the horizon.

Human trafficking is driven by structural and systemic vulnerability. The conditions that make people susceptible to exploitation exist year-round and include housing instability, poverty, labor exploitation, immigration vulnerability, criminalization, and limited access to healthcare and legal services. These are the root causes that prevention efforts must address.

Major sporting events draw enormous public and media attention, and anti-trafficking campaigns often coincide with them, creating the appearance of heightened risk when what’s actually happening is heightened visibility. The narrative persists in part because it’s compelling and emotionally resonant, and in part because it can be used to justify enforcement-heavy responses that appear to be action.

This matters because when the focus is wrong, the response is too. Event-based framing consistently diverts limited funding away from long-term survivor services and housing, fuels policing and surveillance expansions that harm vulnerable communities, and drives “raid and rescue” operations that criminalize survivors rather than support them. Changing the narrative isn’t just about accuracy, it’s about directing resources toward solutions that actually reduce harm.

Yes, but not in the way the existing narrative suggests. The risk is not that events uniquely generate an increase in human trafficking. The risk is that the policy responses surrounding events often intensify harm for people who are already vulnerable. This includes the forced displacement of unhoused communities, increased immigration enforcement that drives survivors deeper into fear, and surveillance infrastructure that outlasts the event itself.

This pattern is well-documented. Ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics, organizations working with trafficking survivors reported a sharp increase in police checks, detentions, and deportations targeting women in the sex trade. In Atlanta, roughly 9,000 illegal arrests of unhoused people occurred in the lead-up to the 1996 Olympics. In Los Angeles, operations tied to the 1984 Olympics fueled years of over-policing that disproportionately targeted Black and Latino youth long after the Games ended.

In preparations for the 2026 World Cup and as we prepare for the 2028 Olympics, we are already seeing increased encampment sweeps, the recriminalization of loitering, and enforcement operations framed as anti-trafficking efforts — despite consistent opposition from organizations that serve survivors.

Effective violence prevention before, during, and after large events means investing in the structural conditions that reduce vulnerability year-round: stable and affordable housing, access to healthcare and mental health services, strong worker and labor protections, immigration relief and legal stability, and sustainably funded community-based services led by those with lived experience.

It also means resisting harmful responses. Host cities should avoid enforcement-heavy approaches — sweeps, stings, and surveillance expansions — that displace and criminalize the communities most at risk. As called for by Cast and allied organizations, FIFA, LA28, and host cities should work closely with community partners, prioritize housing and worker protections before and after the events, and ensure that anti-trafficking efforts are guided by a public health and human rights framework rather than a criminal-legal one.

Additionally, both the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics are designated National Special Security Events, meaning the U.S. Secret Service leads federal security coordination, with local law enforcement collaborating with federal agencies, including immigration enforcement. This has real consequences for survivors and vulnerable communities: federal immigration enforcement — which has been sued for deporting trafficking survivors on protective visas— will have a taxpayer-funded, militarized presence at these events.

Cast works daily with survivors who seek to hold their traffickers accountable through the criminal legal system and trains government partners to respond to human trafficking – but we oppose approaches that treat surveillance, arrest, and deportation as prevention. Responses that criminalize survivors, sex workers, unhoused people, and immigrant communities do not reduce trafficking — they deepen the vulnerability that makes exploitation possible in the first place.

Cast is applying a public health approach, grounded in evidence, prevention, and survivor-centered policy, rather than event-specific awareness campaigns or enforcement-heavy interventions. This means advocating for housing, healthcare, and labor rights as the foundations of trafficking prevention; opposing displacement and criminalization of unhoused and immigrant communities; challenging “raid and rescue” operations framed as public safety; and ensuring that any response to these events is guided by survivor voices and does not cause harm in the name of preventing it.

With federal and state funding uncertain, Cast secured foundation funding to sustain our 24/7 hotline and emergency response program, to ensure survivors in Los Angeles will always have a place to turn. Additionally, we have participated in community listening sessions, advocated for survivor-centered funding and outreach, supported the Tourism Workers Wage Ordinance, and continue to monitor the broader human rights implications of mega-sporting events in Los Angeles.

We believe the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympics are an opportunity — not a cause — and that opportunity should be used to invest in communities, not police them.

The most impactful thing you can do is shift focus from awareness to action—and from event-based responses to the structural investments that actually prevent exploitation.

Share accurate information. The myth that major sporting events cause spikes in trafficking is widespread and harmful. Pushing back on that narrative in conversation, on social media, with your elected officials, helps redirect attention and resources toward what works.

Support year-round work. Effective prevention happens every day, not during a sporting event. Consider donating to or amplifying organizations like Cast that provide comprehensive, long-term services to survivors.

Advocate for the right policy responses. Contact your local representatives to oppose enforcement-heavy approaches that harm vulnerable communities, and advocate instead for housing investment, worker protections, and policies that keep immigrant communities safe.