Opinion

Help is available for human trafficking victims

Money confiscated during a prostitution sting by the Bexar County Sheriff's Office Narcotics and Human Trafficking Units a few years ago is counted. Help is available for victims at the National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline. less Money confiscated during a prostitution sting by the Bexar County Sheriff's Office Narcotics and Human Trafficking Units a few years ago is counted. Help is available for victims at the National Human ... more Photo: Express-News File Photo Photo: Express-News File Photo Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Help is available for human trafficking victims 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

To many, the picture of human trafficking in Bexar County painted by District Attorney Susan Reed last month was shocking. But to local advocates, the details of the cases handled by her office are tragically familiar. The Polaris Project reports that as many as 200,000 children are sold into slavery in the United States. One in four of those children will be brutalized in Texas.

Victims, who average just 12 years of age, are often moved through the airports, bus stations and truck stops that line the Interstate-10 corridor — a stretch of road Attorney General Greg Abbott has called the No. 1 human trafficking hub in the United States. It's a pattern Dominique, a former victim of sexual exploitation from San Antonio, knows all too well. When she was 14 years old, her middle-aged boyfriend drugged her and sold her to an acquaintance for $25. Soon, he was moving her from city to city in search of a profit.

“He told me to knock on (semi-truck) cab doors, see if anyone wanted a 'date,'” she explains, using a common euphemism for purchased sex. When asked if she sought assistance, she softly replies, “From who?”

Though she didn't know it, help was only a phone call away. The National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline provides free 24/7 assistance to individuals trafficked for labor or sex and to those seeking assistance on their behalf. In 2007, Texas passed Senate Bills 1287 and 1288, becoming the first state to require alcoholic beverage retailers to post the hotline phone number in their establishments. Today, Texas sees the second-highest volume of calls in the country from victims seeking help.

But what were once cutting-edge protections are now woefully outdated. While legislation in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Pennsylvania and more mandates the posting of the hotline at major transportation sites and at the sexually oriented businesses where victims are often forced to work, limited Texas laws leave many children like Dominique unprotected and uninformed. By calling for the amendment of state law to require the posting of the NHTRC hotline at Texas truck stops, bus stations, airports, rest stops, strip clubs and massage parlors, we can help victims and the public — especially those working in transportation — connect with local anti-trafficking task forces and educational resources.

It is an inexpensive intervention that has proven effective across the country. In Boston, a trafficking ring was broken and 86 children were freed after an informed airline worker noticed a man traveling with two crying children. In the South, a trucker noticed a frightened 13-year-old boy offering sexual services to passersby under the watchful eye of his abuser. The trucker called the NHTRC hotline, and the child was rescued by police within minutes.

Today, thousands of NHTRC success stories reflect the thousands of individuals who have taken a stand in their communities — against traffickers and against legal systems that allow them to flourish. We can do the same for our city's children. Texas broke new legal ground in 2007, but we can't be afraid to ask more of our laws and our legislators today. Our knowledge of human trafficking has expanded — and so should the protections we offer our city's most vulnerable.

Francesca Garrett is the founder of She Soars, an organization dedicated to fighting human trafficking across Texas.