Human Trafficking and U.S. Repatriation of Foreign Terrorist Fighters from Northeast Syrian ISIS Detention Camps.

Since its creation in 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has been proven to participate in the human trafficking of minority women. Through use of government sources on human trafficking and on terrorism, primary sources as published by ISIS, and victim testimony, this research serves as an expansion on the previously understood uses of human trafficking by ISIS. As the definition of human trafficking is better understood, the recruitment practices of ISIS are considered human trafficking when the recruits are exploited after joining and are persuaded to join through deception or coercion. This article seeks to analyze how ISIS's use of human trafficking is ignored in the U.S.'s decision to repatriate Foreign Terrorist Fighters from Northeast Syria. The negligence of the U.S. government in the investigation of human rights violations by ISIS contributes to the trauma of human trafficking victims and subverts the UN Principle of Non-punishment. This article will not minimize legitimate fears of ISIS but introduces a new dimension to prosecution; the implications of victims of ISIS being treated as the abusers that counterterrorism policies seek to punish is an under examined and increasingly relevant issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]