The assistant US attorney for the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas says the collapse of the clothing industry has left many female victims of human trafficking vulnerable.
Eric O'Malley says the garment industry in CNMI had employed thousands of foreign labourers, mostly young women from China and the Philippines.
Mr O'Malley says changes in the world's economy have caused clothing factories to shut down and relocate to China where it is cheaper to produce goods.
He says it has meant fewer people are being shipped into CNMI for slave labour.
"And so with a lot of those workers that were formally in the garment industry displaced, there hasn't been a great infusion per se trafficking, bringing people in, because there's quite a few women already here that are vulnerable to being in the sex industry in particular."
Eric O'Malley says he hopes victims of human trafficking will find the courage to come forward.