Austin News

Human trafficking doesn't just happen on the so-called "wrong side of town" in Texas, an advocate for victims said in a story recently published by the Community Impact Newspaper.

Human trafficking – especially sex trafficking – happens in areas of high demand and where people are willing and able to pay for it, Houston-based Children at Risk CEO and President Robert "Bob" Sanborn told Community Impact Newspaper.

"What we’ve discovered is that across the state of Texas, most of the trafficking operations are happening in areas where there’s lots of money," Sanborn said. "A lot of times, people think [trafficking] happens on the wrong side of town but, indeed, it's happening in Fort Bend County. And, it's all generated by demand."

The threat of human trafficking is becoming better known among parents, officials and other community members, thanks to the work of local advocates against human trafficking and the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office, according to the March 2 newspaper report. The Fort Bend DA's office is prosecuting more trafficking-related cases, according to the report.

The newspaper report also cited a 2016 study by the University of Texas at Austin Institute on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault that found about 313,000 are victimized by human traffickers in Texas. Of those victims, about 79,000 are minors and 234,000 are trafficked for labor, according to the study.

"It's not how many kids are under the active control of the trafficker today, or how many confirmed cases there are," Allies Against Slavery president and CEO John Nehme, an author of the study, told the newspaper. "It’s a bit more of a subtle nuance there, but it’s an important one because I think people hear that number and they get shocked."