Alabama has no law to prosecute someone for human trafficking.

Forty-four states have passed laws in an effort to put an end to the horrific crime.

Incidents of human trafficking continue to be reported right here in Alabama and now, legislators are working to put a stop to it.

Incidents of human trafficking are driving legislators to take action.

Alabama Senator "Walking" Wendell Mitchell said, “I was surprised we didn't have a law when I came back to the Statehouse. I suggested we create this bill and four days before I introduced [it], some woman sold her child for human trafficking and I thought how timely [a bill like this is].”

Both slave labor and sex trafficking are becoming increasingly common across Alabama.

Deputy Legal Director Dan Werner, with The Southern Poverty Law Center said, "I think anyone who’s driven down the highway in the south and seen massage parlor ads that employ Vietnamese workers, you should be leery that it could be a case of human trafficking."

The victims trapped in these types of situations often feel they have no advocate, no one to help set them free.

Werner said, “Many of these victims come into the US legally with papers and the workers pay to their contractors fees for the opportunity to come to the US. When they arrive, their identity documents are seized and that keeps them restrained.”

This new legislation is working to create a set penalty for criminals convicted of human trafficking.

Senator Mitchell said, "If you intentionally entice someone into human slavery or sexual promiscuity against their permission and you are deceitful about it, it is a class A felony. We have another section that says if you profit by someone else doing that it is a class B Felony."

Still, there is more work to be done.

Sister Rose Marie Martell is an Immigration Specialist. She said, “It frustrates me that even when someone has the courage to run away as they did, a minister picked them up at 5 in the morning and brought them to me. Even with that, after 7 months they are still far from settled.”

Even after being held captive for years, many victims are fighting to stay in America.

When asked, "Now that you're free from that situation, do you want to stay in this country or go back to your country?" Renee responded, "I want everybody to help me. I want to stay here because I go to my country and I got nothing to do. Right now my kids don't have anything because we work for 7 years for nothing. It's hard for me for going to my country because I don't [have] nothing to do over there."

Renee is one of many victims waiting to be processed through the system in hopes of having the chance to live out the American dream, free from modern day slavery.

The Alabama Senate voted unanimously last week to pass an anti-human trafficking bill.

That legislation has now been passed to the House for consideration.