Nonprofit’s campaign aims to have 75,000 men join together to end all forms of human trafficking; Volunteers seek to raise awareness as state lawmakers seek tougher penalties
MILWAUKEE (Nov. 24, 2025) – State and local leaders, law enforcement and community service organizations came together today in opposition of human trafficking – a $250 billion per year criminal enterprise that is in every county across the state and is increasing.
“The chains of trafficking are not just built by captors, but by customers who pay to keep them locked,” said Sarah Demerath, a human trafficking survivor who now helps other women rebuild their lives after being trafficked. “A trafficker once stole my freedom, but each and every buyer stole my dignity.”
Breaking the business model of human trafficking by eliminating the demand is the goal of HEMAD (Human trafficking Educators working with Men and boys to stand Against the Demand). HEMAD is a program of Convergence Resource Center (CRC), a 21-year-old faith-based nonprofit community service organization with offices in Milwaukee and Madison. CRC works with justice-involved women and female survivors of human trafficking to rebuild their lives after trauma.
“Eighty percent of human trafficking cases in the U.S. involve sex trafficking. To stop sex trafficking, we need to address the demand – and that demand is driven by men,” said Rev. Arnold Cifax, Executive Pastor of New Testament Church in Milwaukee and board chairman of CRC.
During a news conference this morning, Cifax showed a brief video illustrating the issue of human trafficking and how men can play a key role in ending the demand for the commercial sexual exploitation of adults, teens and children. He then led those attending in a pledge to stand up against traffickers.
“We recognize we can’t arrest our way out of this. We appreciate and support the work law enforcement, government agencies, and our elected leaders are doing. But this is a change that has to start in the heart,” said Cifax.
“People of all ages – but especially men – can take the lead and stop this crime from happening in their neighborhoods and communities. The HEMAD campaign is a movement spreading across Wisconsin and the nation,” said Cifax. “We want men to go to the HEMAD webpage (https://www.convergenceresource.org/hemad), watch the short video, scroll down to take the pledge, register on the page, and then share the link on their social media. You can do this during a TV timeout of a football or basketball game or in between TV shows.”
“Human trafficking and child sexual exploitation are not distant problems — they are happening here in Southeastern Wisconsin,” said Rep. Robert Wittke (R-Caledonia), author of Assembly Bill 265, which increases penalties for human traffickers.
“Traffickers destroy lives, and victims deserve more than delayed or uncertain justice — they deserve meaningful, certain, and lasting justice. AB 265 will give law enforcement and prosecutors the stronger tools they need to hold traffickers accountable and protect survivors. These are vital and necessary changes,” added Wittke.
“We remain committed to use every possible tool to eliminate sex trafficking in Wisconsin with a new round of bills introduced during this legislative session,” said Rep. Jerry O’Connor (R-Fond du Lac), Chairman of the 2023-24 Speaker’s Task Force on Human Trafficking.
While legislators consider new laws to hold traffickers accountable and better support survivors, police agencies at the local, state and federal levels are confronted with an expanding and constantly adapting criminal enterprise that generates huge profits while victimizing people of all ages, races and genders.
“Law enforcement’s role is threefold: investigate and disrupt trafficking networks; protect and connect survivors to trauma-informed services; and, critically, work upstream to reduce the demand that drives commercial exploitation,” said Milwaukee County Sheriff Denita Ball.
In Milwaukee, overall crime is down 16% from a year ago, but human trafficking cases are increasing. Milwaukee Police statistics through Nov. 20 show 37 human trafficking cases so far this year compared to 37 for all of 2024, and 35 in 2023.
Statewide, notable human trafficking arrests have been made this year in Beloit, Brookfield, several cases in Oshkosh, Oak Creek, Manitowoc, West Bend, and Whitewater. Multiple arrests also were made just over the border in Lake County, Ill, and Winnebago County, Ill. Additionally, two nationwide investigations resulted in 340 people being rescued and 290 arrests:
- Operation Restore Justice resulted in the rescue of 115 children and the arrests of 205 child sexual abuse offenders nationwide, including two in Wisconsin.
- Operation Cross Country resulted in 84 minors and 141 adults rescued, including 37 children listed as missing (four from Wisconsin). Police arrested 85 people for human trafficking, including eight in Wisconsin.
Nationally, U.S. State Department’s Trafficking in People (TIP) Report shows federal human trafficking investigations in the U.S. increased between Fiscal Year 2023 and 2024 (the most recent year available).
Department of Homeland Security FY 2023 FY 2024
Human Trafficking Investigations Opened 1,282 1,1,686
Investigations of forced labor overseas 6 10
Department of Justice
Human Trafficking Investigations Opened 666 789
Investigations involving sex trafficking 588 686
Investigations involving labor trafficking 78 103
Department of Labor
Investigations involving labor trafficking 47 53
The TIP Report also notes that traffickers are increasingly using Artificial Intelligence and digital technology to
recruit, control, market and exploit vulnerable individuals while also evading detection. At the same time,
police and other anti-trafficking groups are using technological innovations to prevent human trafficking,
protect victims, and prosecute traffickers.
“As a woman and as a survivor, hearing men take the pledge to stand against human trafficking is so
important,” said Demerath. “The HEMAD campaign has a real, positive effect on the people who have a lived
experience of being trafficked.”
In its first year (2018), 3,000 men took the HEMAD pledge and the number has grown since then, thanks to
news coverage and social media. Approximately 60,000 men in 11 states and two foreign countries took the
pledge in each of the past three years. Now in its eighth year, the goal is 75,000 men joining.
