The Center for Safe and Secure Schools and the Children At Rick at the Harris County Department of Education in Houston recently hosted a human trafficking summit where attendees attendees openly debated an array of possible solutions to the rising epidemic.
The Nov. 5 event also included presentations from Children At Risk, Love People Not Pixels, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office for Sex Crimes and Trafficking, human trafficking survivor Sandy Storm and former U.S. Representative Ted Poe (R-Houston), a supporter of victims’ rights.
According to the Harris County Department of Education’s press release, four out of every five people trafficked here in the U.S. are Americans. Locally, Campus Safety reports that almost 900,000 children attend school within a one-mile radius of illegal massage businesses acting as covers for human trafficking.
Harris County District Attorney’s Office Deputy Chief of Sex Crimes Johnna Stallings estimates that 90 percent of the women helped by the organizations have histories of child abuse.
“Almost every single one of these women have been victimized,” she said. “There is an escalation of risky behavior, and after that their self-worth diminishes.”
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