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Inspire. Unite. Achieve.
CARING FOR AMERICA
Human Trafficking
The National Federation of Republican Women has According to the University of Texas, there are an
identified three areas of crises to address facing our estimated 79,000 child and youth victims of sex
nation: Mental Health, the Opioid Crisis, and Human trafficking in the State of Texas. The urgency of
Trafficking. The Texas Federation of Republican Women the needs of these victims coupled with the size
has decided to focus our statewide Caring for America and diversity of our state necessitate concurrent,
efforts on Human Trafficking. synergetic approaches. Therefore, the state has been
divided into regions to develop regional continua of
What is Human Trafficking? care, and locally to implement the coordination of care
for survivors. These regions are East Texas, North Texas,
Human trafficking is a modern day form of slavery South Texas, Central Texas, and West Texas.
involving the exploitation of someone for the purposes
of compelled labor or a commercial sex act through the TFRW is spotlighting an outreach group in each area
use of force, fraud, or coercion. This horrific practice can of Texas to help support and bring attention to. Each
include prostitution, pornography, or sex tourism as one of these groups provides programs that include
well as labor for domestic service, factory, construction training for first responders and volunteers, education
work, and migrant farming. to the public, youth educational programs, support
and resources for survivors (including language
Human trafficking affects individuals across the world, interpretation, housing, medial and legal assistance),
including here in the United States, and is commonly and other services specific to that area or survivor.
regarded as one of the most pressing human rights
issues of our time. Human trafficking affects every East Texas
community in the United States across age, gender, For The Silent
ethnicity, and socio-economic backgrounds. According https://www.forthesilent.org/
to the North Texas Coalition Against Human Trafficking,
North Texas
Traffick 911
“It is the fastest growing trade today, worth http://www.traffick911.com/
an estimated $150 billion worldwide. South Texas
Experts place the number of human United Against Human Trafficking
https://uaht.org/
trafficking victims between 21-29 million
people, which means that more people are Central Texas
Asian Family Support Services of Austin
enslaved today than at any point in history.” http://www.afssaustin.org/
West Texas
Texas ranks second in the number of hotline calls made Voice of Hope
to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center https://www.voiceofhopelubbock.org/
(NHTRC). The city of Houston ranks number one with
the most calls received to the NHTRC. Traffickers are (Continued on next page)
highly attracted to Texas for several reasons: it has
long corridors of un-tolled highways, a border with
Mexico, the Gulf of Mexico, large international airports,
and a diversity of industries. The I-10 corridor that
runs through Houston is considered one of the main
trafficking routes in the United States.
In his Bicentennial Blueprint, Governor Greg Abbott
called for a statewide effort to help victims of child sex
trafficking. The 84th Legislature responded by passing
HB 10 and HB 1446, which established the Governor’s
Child Sex Trafficking Team within the Criminal Justice
Division.
PRESIDENT’S NEWSLETTER | AUGUST 2018 6 TEXAS FEDERATION OF REPUBLICAN WOMEN
