Texas human trafficking under the microscope and in the governor’s race  

AUSTIN — Felicia Hyde did not want to return to the life of human trafficking when her husband died in 2002. She had two sons, one 6 months old and the other 1½. She had married in the first place to escape the culture of prostitution and strip clubs in which she had become enmeshed as a teenager, starting with abuse from her own father.

“He died,” Hyde said of her late husband, “and I knew I wanted a different life.”

Her road had been hard. She once worked at a strip club in Mexico City, where the owners took her driver’s license and plane ticket and locked them away until she had worked there for two months.

“I was very insecure, very vulnerable to any type of predators,” Hyde said of her early years. “That’s the type that most pimps and traffickers look for.”

She escaped that life with the help of a local church and an organization in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Hyde, who has told her story in public speaking engagements, hopes people will spread the word about trafficking among Hispanic and black neighborhoods and schools, and that the state will develop public service announcements for buses and public transportation.

The issue of human trafficking came to the forefront this month as Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, leading Republican candidate for governor, voiced his concerns about human trafficking in a policy platform unveiling.

The campaign for state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth and the leading Democratic candidate for governor, said she would likewise pursue policies against the state’s modern-day slavery.

In January numbers released by the National Human Trafficking Resource Center showed that Texas was second in the nation in calling the center’s hotline in 2013. Texas had 2,236 calls, behind California’s 3,083.

The state has had 678 incidents of human trafficking — resulting in 79 convictions out of 167 suspects arrested from Jan. 1, 2007, to Dec. 14, 2012, according to the 2012 Texas Human Trafficking Prevention Task Force Report to the Texas Legislature. Another report to the Legislature is due in 2014.

“It is estimated that 27 million men, women, and children worldwide remain trapped as slaves by traffickers who strip away their dignity and basic human rights by preying on their vulnerabilities and exploiting them for involuntary labor and compulsory prostitution services,” the report states. “This horrendous crime touches victims across the globe — and right here in Texas.”

The Texas Department of Public Safety announced Wednesday that it rescued 39 missing or exploited children in 2013.

“The trafficking and sexual exploitation of children is reprehensible and threatens our most vulnerable and precious resource, and we are committed to pursuing the despicable predators who seek to do them harm and rob them of their innocence,” DPS Director Steven McCraw said in a statement. “With this premier training program, DPS is proud to lead the way in ensuring officers have the multifaceted education and training necessary to detect and rescue endangered children.”

Federal law states that human trafficking victims “include children involved in the sex trade, adults age 18 or over who are coerced or deceived into commercial sex acts, and anyone forced into different forms of ‘labor or services,’ such as domestic workers held in a home, or farmworkers forced to labor against their will,” according to materials from the Polaris Project, an organization aimed against human trafficking and modern-day slavery.

Charles Stahl, a Christian martial arts instructor at Spirit Fit in San Angelo, has taken trips to Europe and worked with people against human trafficking.

“I was always the underdog as the kid,” Stahl said. “I’ve always had a heart for the underdog and anyone who is misused or singled out.”

He hopes to offer summer seminars for children about recognizing human trafficking and being careful. Human trafficking doesn’t only occur across international borders, but also within the states for anyone coerced into servitude.

He said he wants children to be aware that the problem exists, to trust their gut about suspicious situations and educate themselves.

“Stop and open your eyes,” Stahl said. “It’s everywhere.”

Trafficking and governor’s race

Abbott, chairman of the Texas Human Trafficking Prevention Task Force, spoke about the issue while discussing his “Securing Texans” plan, which called for a $300 million border security “surge.”

“One of the fastest-growing areas of crime involves human trafficking. It’s one of the areas I’ve devoted much attention the past few years,” he said. “As chairman of the Texas Human Trafficking Prevention Task Force, I’ve seen the horrific trauma inflicted on its victims — some are just girls, as young as 12, who are trafficked and sold as sex slaves.

“As a father, their pain breaks my heart. As a law enforcement officer, it stiffens my spine. That’s why I pushed for tougher penalties for traffickers who exploit our children. And that’s why I created a new investigation and prosecution unit at the Office of the Attorney General, that’s 100 percent dedicated to human trafficking cases. We’ve helped close down brothels where women had been kidnapped and forced into prostitution, and we’ve helped put their filthy traffickers behind bars.”

Abbott also called for the state to adopt a plan for victims’ services for sexually exploited minors.

Davis’ gubernatorial campaign noted that she has put forward legislation against human trafficking. She sponsored House Bill 1120 in the Senate, legislation which requires “the Texas Crime Stoppers Council to create at least one specialized program that encourages individuals to report criminal activity relating to the trafficking of persons and that financially rewards each individual who makes such a report that leads or substantially contributes to the arrest or apprehension of a person suspected of engaging in conduct that constitutes an offense of trafficking of persons,” according to a state summary of the bill.

She co-authored Senate Bill 1649 in 2011 that set up a grant program “to support … the prosecution of any crime that occurs in the border region and that undermines public safety or security,” according to a state summary of the bill.

Davis also was one of seven co-authors on a bill from state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, that eventually created the human trafficking task force.

“Sen. Davis believes no person should ever be subject to these horrific crimes,” said Davis press secretary Rebecca Acuna. “In Austin, Sen. Davis joined Sen. Van de Putte to crack down on human trafficking. As governor, she will continue to advocate for policies that prevent human trafficking and ensure victims’ rights are protected in the courtroom.”

Southern Methodist University Professor Cal Jillson said Abbott’s insertion of human trafficking along with his border security plan might be “an attempt to soften the discussion.”

“It seemed to be an unusual juxtaposition of issues,” Jillson said. “Normally, one would think the Democratic female candidate for governor would be more naturally attuned to gender issues including human trafficking. … I think Abbott is trying to deflect this ‘war on women’ charge.”

Where Abbott has broached the subject through border security, the Democratic candidates might come at the issue more through a social services concern, Jillson said.

For Jason Sabo, an Austin lobbyist who has represented the nonprofit Children At Risk, the dialogue itself is overall encouraging.

“The great thing about the issue, in the governor’s race, you’ve got two candidates who really understand the issue and are looking at it not from the perspective of throwing the book at the criminals a little bit harder” but who are looking to do more for victims’ services, Sabo said.

During the regular 83rd legislative session, lawmakers passed House Bill 8.

“The bill makes a defendant convicted of compelling prostitution or trafficking of persons ineligible for jury-recommended community supervision and requires the Board of Pardons and Paroles to develop certain educational materials for certain persons who commit an offense solely as a trafficking victim,” a government summary of the bill states. “The bill includes a trafficking victim among the persons eligible to receive a certain onetime-only assistance payment and among the persons for whom the attorney general is required to establish an address confidentiality program.”

“Davis was great in setting it up to become effective,” Sabo said about the human trafficking prevention task force. “And Abbott was great to make sure it did something meaningful.”

Reprinted with permission from the San Angelo Standard-Times.