Crackdowns on Massage Parlors Put Workers at Greater Risk

Across the United States, a new wave of laws targeting massage businesses is being promoted as a solution to human trafficking. Far from combatting trafficking, these enforcement-heavy efforts are failing to protect victims and instead placing already vulnerable workers in greater danger.

In 2025 alone, fourteen states, including New York, New Hampshire, and New Jersey, have proposed or enacted laws that expand the government’s authority to shut down massage parlors, suspend business licenses, and prosecute landlords. These measures are often framed as anti-trafficking initiatives, yet in practice, they primarily result in the arrest, eviction, and displacement of immigrant and low-income workers, many of whom are not being trafficked.

Current laws do not distinguish between trafficking and consensual work, whether sex is involved or not. They rely on raids, surveillance, and criminalization instead of support, safety, or services. Workers end up arrested, evicted, and worse off than before.

Raids and increased surveillance drive workers further underground, cutting them off from healthcare, legal protections, and trusted community networks. The result is the opposite of what these laws intend and lead to greater vulnerability to violence, coercion, and exploitation, with no measurable impact on trafficking rates.

DSW and allied advocates are urging lawmakers to reconsider these punitive approaches and to prioritize policies rooted in evidence and human rights. Shifting from criminalization to support through access to social services, labor protections, and safe working conditions would center the rights, autonomy, and safety of those most affected. As the data continues to show, protecting people requires listening to workers, not criminalizing them.