Human trafficking is a relatively unknown issue, allowing more individuals to become victims of this heinous crime. In order to increase the number of victims identified, and prevent new individuals from becoming victims, the general public must be educated and aware of this issue. In addition to a broad outreach initiative to build public awareness of human trafficking, CHILDREN AT RISK has spearheaded the drafting of legislation that has expanded the anti-human trafficking law in the state. In addition to our work in Houston, CHILDREN AT RISK lead a broad media campaign in Dallas, starting with a press conference on July 28th 2009, to release the findings from our publication “The State of Human Trafficking in Texas.” Concurrently, informational 46 billboards were posted across the Dallas-Fortworth Metroplex and public service announcements are to be aired to educate a broad group of individuals on human trafficking.
In 2006, Dallas, Texas, was one of ten locations selected to receive a grant from the Department of Justice to construct a local human trafficking task force that would comprise entities from both law enforcement and social services in order to effectively combat human trafficking in Dallas, Texas. The goal of the North Texas Anti-Trafficking Task Force (NTATTF) is to identify and rescue victims of human trafficking while arresting and prosecuting the perpetrators. Predominately, this involves both government and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) such as the Dallas Police Department, the Fort Worth Police Department and Mosaic Family Services. The majority of initial contact with human trafficking victims is accomplished by Police Anti-Trafficking Task Forces. Once a victim has been identified, all international victims are sent to Mosaic Family Services, and they are served well there. On the other hand, domestic victims are sent either to the Juvenile detention center in Fort Worth or the Letot center in Dallas for holding.
Although the TVPA acknowledges that commercially exploited minors are victims, domestic minor victims often only gain access to services by being labeled as delinquents and charged with the class B misdemeanor of prostitution. In 2007, the Dallas PD served 136 high risk victims. Of those victims, 61% were actively prostituting and 63 felony cases were made. In 2008, the Dallas PD served 207 high risk victims. Of those victims, 51% were actively prostituting and 94 felony cases were made. Free legal services are available to domestic victims through the Dallas County Public Defender’s Office (PDO) Juvenile Division. Unfortunately, unless they are charged, most domestic victims do not receive the services and care necessary to get off the street and out of prostitution. There are some services provided by local NGOs that human trafficking victims could utilize, but unfortunately, most of these NGOs do not focus on human trafficking victims and do not recognize when they are providing services to them. The problem stems from a lack of self-identification among the domestic victims as human trafficking victims. The victims might identify as prostitutes or substance abuse victims, but ‘rarely to never’ do they self- identify as human trafficking victims.
