Human Trafficking Awareness
The month of January is Human Trafficking Awareness month. Accordingly, the State of Texas has proclaimed January 2017 as Human Trafficking Prevention Month. In addition, the Federal government declared January 2017 as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention month.
What is human trafficking? Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery. It is defined as: knowingly recruiting, harboring, or transporting a victim with the intent to force, coerce, or threaten the victim to engage in involuntary labor, services, sexual activity, etc. The victims of human trafficking include both foreign and domestic-born males and females.
Human trafficking is often thought to be an international issue. Unfortunately, this heinous crime exists in all fifty states within the United States (US). Additionally, human trafficking has become the second largest criminal activity/industry in the US and it generates billions of dollars in wrongful profits annually.
According to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, within the first nine months of 2016, nearly 6,000 human trafficking cases were reported in the US. Unfortunately, 500 of these cases were reported from within Texas. These numbers surpassed the total number of cases within all twelve months of 2015. For that reason, it is crucial to continue to be proactive and increase our partnerships and collaborations with organizations or governmental entities locally and throughout our state and nation to stop this activity and bring awareness to the issue.
In order to prevent human trafficking, we must expand our knowledge of the issue. Understanding what human trafficking is and how to recognize it is essential! Some excellent resources to review are, the Polaris Project, the Blue Campaign, and Children at Risk. To research statistics and other facts about human trafficking in Texas, visit the Texas Human Trafficking Task Force Reports or Texas Crime Stoppers.
Another great resource that was previously mentioned is the National Human Trafficking Hotline. Its website contains information on human trafficking and provides contact information on how to provide a confidential tip or report on suspected human trafficking activity. Visit the National Human Trafficking Hotline, and their phone number is 1-888-373-7888, or you can text “help” to 233733.
The Texas Legislature continues to work diligently to introduce legislation to combat and abolish this criminal industry. For this reason, the current anti-human trafficking laws will be reviewed and revised throughout the present Legislative Session to ensure the prosecution of these criminals continues and stops others from being involved in these activities. The goal is to create laws that stop, prevent and end the human trafficking epidemic.
If you have questions regarding any of the information mentioned in this week’s article, please do not hesitate to call my Capitol or District Office. Please always feel free to contact my office if you have any questions or issues regarding a Texas state agency, or if you would like to contact my office regarding constituent services. As always, my offices are available at any time to assist with questions, concerns or comments (Capitol Office, 512-463-0672; District Office, 361-949-4603).
– State Representative Todd Hunter, District 32
Rep. Hunter represents Nueces County (Part). He can be contacted at todd.hunter@house.texas.gov or at 512-463-0672
