Human Trafficking
Human Trafficking – or
“The ladies saw hell's slavery pit.”
--Rick Casey
Laura Blackburn & Ann Herbage
League of Women Voters of the Houston Area
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Human Trafficking
Defining Human Trafficking
Human trafficking is modern day slavery.
It involves
 force;
 fraud; or
 coercion
to provide labor, services, or commercial
sex acts against their will.
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Human Trafficking
HUMAN TRAFFICKING DOES NOT
• necessarily mean movement or transportation
but rather
• the buying and selling of people.
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Human Trafficking
SMUGGLING
• The person smuggled is cooperating.
• There is no actual or implied coercion.
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Human Trafficking
HOW PREVALENT IS IT?
Today, trafficking of humans is believed to occur
on every continent, and it’s believed that more
people are enslaved now than in any other time
in human history. (Bales, 1999.)
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Human Trafficking
WHY?
• BECAUSE it is a $9 to $32 billion dollar
industry.
– Human trafficking is illegal in every country
but it is happening in every country.
– Cases have been investigated in 48 states in
the U.S.
– It is the second largest criminal industry in
the world today and the fastest growing.
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Human Trafficking
HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE INVOLVED INTERNATIONALLY?
• 12.3 million people are in forced labor, bonded
labor, forced child labor, sexual servitude and
involuntary servitude.
(International Labor Organization).
• Some estimates are as high as 27 million.
(U.S. Department of State, 2006, 2007)

Approximately 14,500 - 17,500 individuals are
trafficked annually into the United States.
(Trafficking In Persons Report, 2009)
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Human Trafficking
Why Is Trafficking So Prevalent?
•
•
•
•
•
Economics.
Political instability.
Culture.
Consumer demand.
Victims seem invisible.
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Human Trafficking
WHO IS TRAFFICKED?
• Women and children.
• Men.
• Both domestic and international.
• For labor & sex.
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Human Trafficking
Why People Are Trafficked
•
Prostitution
Exotic dancing
Agricultural work •
•
Landscape work
Domestic work and •
child care (domestic •
•
servitude)
•
• Factory work
•
•
•
•
•
•
Personal sexual
exploitation
Begging/street peddling
Restaurant work
Construction work
Carnival work
Hotel housekeeping
Criminal activities
Day labor
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Human Trafficking
Victim Issues to Consider
 May not understand that they are victims.
 May fear for their own and/or their family’s
safety.
 Likely to lie or use a rehearsed story initially.
 May be behaviorally dependent on trafficker.
 May feel shame in telling their story and what
they have been through.
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Human Trafficking
Domestic Victims of Human Trafficking
• Domestic victims are U.S. citizens or legal
permanent residents.
• Most domestic victims are children exploited for
the commercial sex industry.
• Estimated 199,000 incidents of sexual
exploitation of minors occur each year in the U.S.
(Estes & Weiner, 2001.)
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Human Trafficking
Domestic Trafficking – Continued
• The typical age of entry into prostitution is age
12. (National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.)
• May be younger.
• 1 out of every 3 teens on the street will be
lured into prostitution within 48 hours of
leaving home. (National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and
Throwaway Children.)
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Human Trafficking
Trafficking in and through Texas
• Texas is hub of the U.S. trafficking
• Houston is the hub of the hub.
–
–
–
–
Major airport.
Major port.
Near the border with Mexico.
20 percent of U.S. trafficking occurs on I-10
between El Paso and Houston.
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Human Trafficking
Scope of the Problem
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Human Trafficking
Prosecuting Trafficking Cases –
A Look at the Legal Tools
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Human Trafficking
INTERNATIONAL LAW
• UNITED NATIONS
– 1948 – Declaration of Human Rights
prohibited slavery and servitude.
– 2000 – Convention Against Transnational
Organized Crime.
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Human Trafficking
INTERNATIONAL LAW -First protocol – Palermo Protocol:
–Against trafficking in persons.
–First global legally binding definition
of human trafficking.
–U.S. signed in December 2000.
–Ratified in November 2005.
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Human Trafficking
Federal Law –
13th Amendment to the Constitution (1865)
“…neither slavery nor involuntary servitude
(except as punishment for a duly convicted
crime) shall exist within the United States
or any place subject to their jurisdiction….”
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Human Trafficking
Federal Law
–
Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA)
(continued)
• TVPA of 2000, Pub. Law 106-386
– Prevention
• Economic assistance for vulnerable
populations, micro lending funding for
NGOs and international public education
programs and mandates U.S. State
Department's annual TIP report.
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Human Trafficking
TVPA -– Protection and Victims Assistance
• Victims assistance programs and
decriminalization of victims.
– Prosecution
• Increase in sentence ranges, distinct crime
for passport confiscation, defined coercion
as physical and psychological.
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Human Trafficking
The TVPA Is a Victim-centered Law
• Trafficking victims, even if they are in the U.S.
illegally, are to be viewed as victims of crime.
• Programs are created to assist victims,
including immigration remedies.
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Human Trafficking
TVPA-Benefits afforded refugees are
given to human trafficking victims
willing to assist in the
prosecution of their traffickers.
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Human Trafficking
Federal Human Trafficking - Offenses
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Human Trafficking
State Law –
Trafficking of Persons
• Texas Penal Code, Section 20A.02
(Passed in 2003—just after Washington State)
– A person commits this offense if:
• The person knowingly trafficks another
person ...
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Human Trafficking
State Law -- (continued)
… with the intent that the trafficked person
engage in


forced labor or services;
conduct that constitutes an offense under
Chapter 43 (public indecency/prostitution).
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Human Trafficking
State Law –
(continued)
– Trafficking of persons is a felony of the
second degree; it is raised to a first degree
felony if:
• the person who is trafficked is younger
than 14 years of age at the time of the
offense.
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Human Trafficking
Identifying Trafficking Cases
International
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Human Trafficking
Trafficking Hot Spots
• Places of prostitution
– brothels
– spas
– bars and cantinas
– strip clubs
– residences
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Human Trafficking
Mi Cabaña Sports Bar
El Cuco Restaurant
El Huetamo Night Club
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Human Trafficking
Trafficking Hot Spots
(continued)
• Labor camps and sweatshops:
– Security intended to keep victims confined.
– Only allowed to shop at “company store.”
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Human Trafficking
Potential Trafficking Indicators
• Living/working conditions of victim:
– live on or near work premises.
– restricted or controlled communication.
– frequently moved by traffickers.
– large number in a living space.
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Human Trafficking
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Human Trafficking
Potential Trafficking Indicators
(continued)
• Victims may lack
– personal items or possessions.
– knowledge about how to get around in a
community.
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Human Trafficking
Potential Trafficking Indicators
(continued)
• Personal and physical indicators:
– injuries from beatings or weapons.
– signs of torture (e.g., cigarette burns).
– brands or scarring indicating ownership.
– signs of malnourishment.
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Human Trafficking
Potential Trafficking Indicators
(continued)
• Behaviors of potential victims:
– signs of emotional distress or trauma.
– Averted gaze.
– Cowering.
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Human Trafficking
Identifying Trafficking Cases
Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking
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Human Trafficking
Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking (DMST)
Defined By Federal Law
• Domestic minor sex trafficking occurs
when a U.S. citizen or legal permanent
resident who has not attained 18 years of age
is engaged in a commercial sex act.
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Human Trafficking
DOMESTIC MINOR SEX TRAFFICKING-• “Commercial sex act” means any sex act on
account of which anything of value is given to
or received by any person.
• This includes:
- prostitution.
- exotic dancing or stripping
- pornography.
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Human Trafficking
Victims
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Human Trafficking
Who Are the Victims of DMST?
•
•
•
•
•
Youth of any ethnicity, race, or religion.
Youth of any socio-economic class.
Female, male, and transgender youth.
Youth of all ages, including teenagers.
Vulnerable youth.
• Victims do not “just happen” – they are MADE
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Human Trafficking
Path to Victimization
What is the main reason a child enters into
prostitution?
Love, Affection, and Attention
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Human Trafficking
Why Is It Hard to Identify
DMST Victims?
• Victims do not self-identify.
• Victims are physically and/or psychologically
controlled by pimps.
• Victims are trained by pimps to tell lies and false
stories.
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Human Trafficking
• The only close social and emotional tie victims
have is with the trafficker or pimp.
• Victims distrust service providers and law
enforcement.
• Victims are frequently moved from place to place.
• Technology can help disguise the real age of the
victim.
• It is easy to obtain fake I.D.s
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Human Trafficking
The Pimp: Methods of Control and
Coercion
• Masters of the art of seduction.
• Able to identify the vulnerabilities of a specific
child and exploit them.
• Use torture tactics to control their victims after
seduction, which
– leads to complete obedience and a breakdown
of personal autonomy.
– includes both physical and psychological
torture.
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Human Trafficking
When Excuses Do Not Work
•
•
•
•
Beatings
Verbal abuse
Humiliations
Threats to harm victim’s children, parents, or
other family members
• Restriction of movement (other than workrelated).
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Human Trafficking
Future For the Victim
• Victims have a limited useful life:
– Poor physical health; disease, infection, or
injury; emotional collapse; addiction
St. Petersburg, FL
Police Department
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Human Trafficking
Future For the Victim
• Victims are also murdered.
Tiffany Mason , San Francisco, murdered by “john” at age 15 (August 2001)
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Human Trafficking
LAW ENFORCEMENT IN HOUSTON
• There are 2 Federal task forces:
– Houston Trafficking Rescue Alliance (HTRA).
– Houston Innocence Lost Task Force (HILTF).
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Human Trafficking
Houston Trafficking Rescue Alliance
• Members:
1.U.S Attorney’s Office.
2. ICE.
3. FBI.
4. U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Security.
5. U.S. Coast Guard.
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Human Trafficking
HTRA -
Continued
6. Texas Attorney General’s Office.
7. Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
8. Harris County Sheriff’s Office.
9. IRS.
10.U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
11.Customs & Border Protection.
12.U.S. Department of Labor Inspector General and
Wage & Hour Division.
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Human Trafficking
HTRA - Continued
13. Houston Police Department.
14.Texas Alcohol & Beverage Commission.
15. Texas Department of Public Safety.
NGO’s
16. YMCA International.
17. Catholic Charities.
18. Houston Rescue & Restore Coalition.
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Human Trafficking
Whom They Work With:
• HTRA
– International trafficking of adults & minors.
– Adult & minor domestic labor.
HILTF
– Adult and children domestic sex trafficking.
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Human Trafficking
LOCAL EFFORTS:
• Harris County Sheriff’s Department
– 5 deputies for HTRA.
Houston Police Department
– 4 officers for HILTF.
– 4 FBI agents.
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Human Trafficking
Harris County Attorney
 files cases under nuisance laws.
 can prosecute and close down owners of
cantinas, brothels, massage parlors, etc.
 does not prevent “business” from opening
afresh down the street.
 closed down 18 facilities (in 2 years).
 can only file civil cases.
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Human Trafficking
Harris County DA’s Office
• Not called often.
• 3 cases in 3 years.
• Note that sheriff’s and police office are working
with federal officials.
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Human Trafficking
U.S. Attorney Cases:
• Rescued 177 victims.
• Investigated more than 67 cases.
• Charged 37 defendants federally in 15
indictments.
• Charged 9 defendants under state law in 2 cases.
• Task force formed in 2004.
• Task force considered one of the 3 top task forces
in the country.
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Human Trafficking
What Can Be Done?
•
•
•
•
•
•
Involve the public.
Become knowledgeable.
Train all law enforcement personnel.
Bring state law up to standards of federal law.
Greater enforcement.
Provide “safe houses” for minors.
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Human Trafficking
From this…
In the early hours of July 17, 2005, she was arrested in a Houston
brothel, after sexually servicing more than 20 males.
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Human Trafficking
To this….
A year later, defendants were prosecuted. The victim
was restored and reunited with her mother.
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Human Trafficking
To report human trafficking:
National Human Trafficking
Resource Center Hotline
1-888 -3737-888
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Human Trafficking
For more information:
www.lwvhouston.org
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