By the numbers: Last year, the National Human Trafficking Hotline identified almost 15,000 people who were most likely trafficked. That's more than any year since at least 2012.

• But prosecutions are down: The number of defendants charged with human trafficking by federal attorneys fell to 386 last year, from 553 in 2017, according to the State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report.
• So far this year, federal attorneys have prosecuted 39% of the cases referred to them with child sex trafficking as the lead charge, according to data collected by Syracuse University. That's down from 49% in the last year of the Obama administration.
• Investigations are also down: In 2018, the Justice Department opened just 657 trafficking investigations — down from a spike of 1,800 in FY 2016, per the TIP reports.

Yes, but: Trafficking convictions are still rising — although that could include some cases that began during the Obama administration, said Susan French, a former federal prosector for human trafficking cases.

• And while overall prosecutions are down, DOJ continues to prosecute more cases involving child prostitution.

Between the lines: The number of prosecutions isn't the only factor.

• The Trump administration recently made it more difficult for victims of sex trafficking to clear their criminal records.
• "The criminal justice system harms victims by saddling them with criminal convictions for crimes they were forced to commit by their traffickers," said Martina Vandenberg, president and founder of the Human Trafficking Legal Center.
• A criminal history "often means you're not going to get the housing or you're not going to get the job or whatever else you are attempting to obtain," French said.

Anti-immigrant sentiment has also compounded the problem, as many victims of human trafficking come from other nations.

• "When you have a tone coming out of the White House which is strongly anti-immigrant... it has a chilling effect on people coming forward," French said.
• Federal officials are also denying more "T visas," which are for trafficking victims who cooperate with law enforcement.

The other side: The Department of Homeland Security increased the number of specialists working with human trafficking investigators by 70% last year, according to the TIP report.

• Federal aid to state and local law enforcement and victims' organizations plummeted in Trump's first year in office, from nearly $16 million to just less than $3 million. But it rebounded last year to $23.1 million — the highest funding level since at least 2011.
• DOJ "continues to prioritize fighting violent crime, including human trafficking," , and remains "deeply committed to securing restitution for victims and survivors of human trafficking," DOJ spokesman Peter Carr told Axios.

A Sanders government would take control of ...

• Your energy choices: His Green New Deal would spend $16 trillion to force you to stop using the energy mostly used today — oil, gas and nuclear. He promises cleaner power and air in return.
• Your house and car: The Sanders government would pay to weatherize homes and small businesses, and to upgrade gas-powered cars for electric ones. He would mandate the end of conventional gas car manufacturing in a decade.
• Your health insurance: He would eliminate private insurance and put you on a government plan more generous than Medicare. No more copays, deductibles or premiums, too.
• Your current student debt: He would eliminate it for everyone.
• Your kids' college: Everyone gets free tuition at public universities, community colleges, trade schools and apprenticeship programs, too.
• Your teachers: He will hire more teachers, pay them more, and fund better school supplies.
• Your job: He promises full employment.
• Your wage: He would guarantee you at least $15 per hour.
• Your rich friends: They'll be paying for much of this with a fat tax increase.
• Your own taxes: Sanders has been vague on this one. But the total cost of just the programs listed above are $20 trillion-plus at the lowest possible end over a decade, excluding Medicare for All, which experts say could at least double the total.

What the Sanders campaign says ... Josh Orton, policy director, tells Axios:

• "Bernie will continue to fight for proposals that save American families money and hold giant corporations accountable. ... [T]he cost of doing nothing is significantly more expensive for average Americans."

Go deeper: The great Democratic gamble

The big picture: Political and economic power is shifting to the cities, and 20% of the population — 46 million people — is being left behind in the middle of America. These communities face increasingly difficult barriers to education, wealth and health.

• And if you're African American or Hispanic, your chances of success and survival at every turn are even worse.

Let’s say you were born, grew up and now reside in rural America. Throughout your life, you have been more susceptible to poverty, lower education, illness and even death than your urban counterparts.

• As a kid, chances are, you lived farther away from a doctor or hospital and got less exercise.
• You were more likely to live in a school desert — having to travel long distances to make it to school, if you were able to attend at all. Your school might have shuttered, as school consolidation has become more common in many rural areas, per the New York Times.
• You had a greater likelihood of getting your high school diploma than the national average, but were far less likely to go straight to college than your urban and suburban counterparts, as The Atlantic reported.
• If you did graduate with a college degree, you'd likely end up so saddled with student debt that returning to your rural hometown wouldn't be an option if you hoped to get a job that would enable you to pay it off, according to research by the Federal Reserve.
• Even if you stay, some of the brightest people you grew up with would leave, contributing to the rural "brain drain."
• As an adult, you’re more likely suffer from obesity, mental health issues, diabetes, cancer and opioid addiction. You are more likely to know people who took their own lives.
• If you keep working in your hometown, your job is more likely to be taken over by AI, according to a study by the Brookings Institution — especially if you live in Indiana, Kentucky, South Dakota, Arkansas or Iowa.
• Your community's economy still hasn't fully recovered from the 2008 recession, according to Fed data.
• As you get older, you are more likely to die from a preventable death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
• If you do make it into old age, you may not have a place to grow old near your friends, family and the place you called home your whole life.

What's next: Technological advancements such as 5G and automated vehicles won't directly make life harder for rural America, but instead will fuel inequality by making life that much easier for urban America.

• The rural-urban divide will continue to play a central role in politics and elections for the next several years — unless and until rural America's population declines enough that its political power dwindles.

The bottom line: States, municipalities and the federal government have spent billions to draw jobs and prosperity to stagnant rural areas. But not much has changed.

Go deeper:

• Why rural counties are dying in America
• How 5G may widen the rural-urban digital divide
• Tough times in farm country
• Where automation will wipe out the most jobs in the U.S.