AUSTIN – Today, the Texas Public Policy Foundation published the paper State and Community Initiatives in the Fight Against Domestic Human Trafficking.
“The number of human trafficking victims continues to rise each year, with an estimated 313,000 victims in Texas at any given moment, a quarter of which are suspected to be children,” said Nikki Pressley, policy analyst with the Texas Public Policy Foundation. “Given the current economic crisis caused by government responses to COVID-19, the risk of individuals falling victim to human trafficking for the purpose of compelled labor or commercial sex acts is at an all-time high.”
Key Points:
- Human trafficking is a $150 billion industry and enslaves 25 million people worldwide; in 2018, the United States identified 23,078 domestic victims.
- Texas has the second highest rate of human trafficking in the United States, and the number of identified cases rises each year.
- Addressing the role of child welfare in trafficking, prioritizing community recognition and response, and aligning Texas law with federal law are effective solutions to help end modern-day slavery.
To read the paper in full, please visit:
https://www.texaspolicy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Pressley-Domestic-Human-Trafficking.pdf