They left out the most obvious sign one might be a sex trafficker:

Employment by DHS.

What other business attracts so many who wish to grope Americans?

Uh-oh. I always use the do not disturb sign (although I love maid service!). Why would I do such a suspicious thing? Maybe it's because when it's out, I don't want to be disturbed.

Also, my clothing is often lower quality than my husband's because he's a fashion geek and I'm a clearance rack junkie. I don't know if I should buy more expensive clothes or if I should steal all his Allen Edmond shoes.

Decisions.

Nobody who puts out these plans ever gets the team together in a quiet room with a whiteboard and says 'think of all the ways that this could be used in ways we didn't mean it to', IOW, define the unintended consequences.

A mechanism whereby the Feds can be brought in based entirely upon 'evidence' which may have an completely innocuous explanation, provided by hotel maids and busboys, is going to get abused in ways that you just haven't thought of yet. Go ahead, sit down for 5 minutes with your most-evil brain part turned on. You'll come up with something.

Number of 'traffickers' who will be 'caught' by this process (note that the Feds call anyone engaged in this business a 'trafficker') = nil. Number of totally-innocent people who will be SWATted, or otherwise have their lives messed up - hundreds, maybe more. This is a mechanism apparently specifically designed for ensnaring cheating spouses, gay men and couples of all sorts going away for a weekend of alternative enjoyments - and that's exactly who will be ensnared. 'Traffickers'? Not so much.

llater,

llamas

Sex trafficker? Hell, half of those signs would tell you that you have a rock and roll band staying in your hotel.

Cop "So, who's been refusing room service? They might be a sex trafficker and rapist."

Front Desker "Um, not that may I dont think, I'm not even sure how to look that up in the computer . . ."

Cop "Well you know sex traffickers also USE room service, so we'll just kick in ALL the doors to protect your guests"

garbage cans containing many used condoms

Oh? is it wrong to flush them down the toilet? asking for a friend.

I'm surprised they don't ask for security cameras in all guest rooms. I mean, if you don't have anything to hide you won't object!

Is this required or voluntary? After all, the hotel and staff have always had access to a phone and could call something suspicious in any time they wanted. Hotels that didn't want hookers working there had no trouble getting rid of them in the past. And hotels that appreciate their business have no desire to rat them out to the cops.

Also, if the cops are looking for criminals why isn't INS looking at the maids? In the south at least half of the maids are illegals. The last thing these people want to do is involve the police.

All part of the government's plan to boost RV sales.

And at $1.70 a gallon for gas, who can resist?

Don't ever honeymoon in a hotel.

Another attempt to boost "possible" sex traffic or increase fear because the actual numbers are so low in the US.

Let's see what else would get half of those triggers. Having an affair ( condoms, minibar, do not disturb, diff level of dress, sex paraphernalia, eye contact, fake names/cash)
Honeymoon: same ones except name/cash and eye contact.
Hiring a hooker: of course they probably lowered the definition of sex trafficking to include all hookers.
Being cheap and having 5 people in a 2 person room. (lots of foot traffic, do not disturb, smell)

Joe,

Here in Houston they definitely have classified all hookers as sex traffickers. Now you get to be a sex slave even if you are your own master . . . or something like that.

Also, how about convention attendees. 5+ people in a 2 person room, weird dress, pot smell, won't look you in the eye. Sounds like an anime convention until you add the condoms.

Instapundit snarks:

THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR MITT ROMNEY, AN INTRUSIVE, SEX-CRAZED FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WOULD BE OPPRESSING US. AND THEY WERE RIGHT!

He goes on to call for the abolishment of DHS.

"Here in Houston they definitely have classified all hookers as sex traffickers. "

There's a definite effort going on lately in government and media to make "prostitution" and "sex trafficking" synonyms. I can't find the link right now, but I was reading yesterday about a North Dakota thing where johns who are arrested are sent to re-education classes. In the classes, they tell them that no woman ever engages in prostitution voluntarily, and that all prostitutes are sex slaves. (And presumably, all of the slave-traders are men... there's no such thing as a madam.) This way, the federal government can get involved and override state policies, dontcha know. And it gives the DHS more excuses to play with their cool assault vans and military-surplus weapons.

The interesting thing is, we know from the reports that came out of Afghanistan a few months ago, that human trafficking only matters to the federal government when it's girls being trafficked. When it's pre-teen boys, we have to "respect other cultures".

More seriously, the problem is that there is a huge difference between policing based on observed behavior patterns, and marking people as suspects just because they fit one or two things on a list. If you're a cop, and you take the overall list for whatever situation you have, and you see someone who pretty much fits the profile, you think, "OK, this is someone I'm going to keep an eye on." Maybe you do some additional surveillance, ordinary street-policing stuff like having someone sit in a car across the street and observe for a while. As Ben points out, hotel managers pretty much know who are the hookers and johns, and who are just the married people stepping out on their spouses, even though a lot of the specific behaviors are similar. According to their policy, they kick out the hookers or not, and the ordinary cheaters are generally left alone -- that's not the hotel's business to police.

It's ironic that a DHS that categorically refuses to profile terrorists at the airport is so gleeful about using the loosest possible criteria to label ordinary citizens as suspects. It would almost make you think they're working on behalf of the other side, wouldn't it?

Don't worry, Amy, the hotel workers unions won't stand for it.

Did you ever think a union would do something to protect you?

By merging "prostitution" into "sex trafficing=slavery, underage girls" and just using the latter term it sounds so much worse. It was getting hard to get people excited about prostitution so now it is "trafficing" which is a tiny % of sex crimes.

an "overly smelly room" that reeks of "cigarette, marijuana, sweat, bodily fluids, and musk"

Bodily fluids and musk? Seriously WTF? Are they searching for ManBearPig?

Better put Al Gore on the case "Have you noticed high deposits of sulfur or a salmon-like odor coming from the caves lately?"

I frequently use the do not disturb because I don't want to be disturbed or I don't want people going through my stuff. In Monaco the maids came in regardless and would refold and sort our clothes every day. So damned irritating! Also laughable is the lesser quality of clothes than the other being a sign. I sometimes travel with my mother. She buys Land's End clothing as her "nice" stuff and cheaper end shoes. I shop at Nordstrom often and own many designer brands including Louboutin shoes (thanks DH!). Does that mean I'm sex trafficking my elderly mother? This whole thing is ridiculous and nothing on their list is a real sign of anything suspicious. It's just another excuse for the government to spy on all of us.

What about swingers? They would explain a lot of those signs.

"I frequently use the do not disturb because I don't want to be disturbed..."

Shazam! Who'd a thunk it? I'm not making fun of you, BG, I'm making fun of the people who think something sinister is going on every time someone puts out a DND sign.

I think the more conclusive evidence is all the "date foreign women" ads on Amy's sight. One day it was Russian, then Asian, then Persian, then Philippines and now Chinese.

At least according to the news some time back, several of the pimps in that area were marking their women with tattoo on the chest such that it could be seen when a low cut top was wearer so people would know they are theirs.