Knowledge helps combat human trafficking, say experts at town hall hosted by diocese
Parents, caregivers, and educators learn how to address the alarming prevalence of human trafficking at a Town Hall Meeting held at Nolan Catholic High School Nov. 18. (NTC/Juan Guajardo)
Sofia was a senior in high school when a boy she met online made her feel special. Through carefully crafted messages and false promises, he gained her trust and convinced the young woman to engage in risky behavior. What seemed like a relationship between teenagers turned dark when the much older predator, part of a human trafficking ring, coerced his victim into prostitution using violence, drugs, and threats to maintain control.
FORT WORTH — “It’s one of the tactics we see — a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship that’s built on lies for the purpose of exploiting that individual,” Paola Chavez Reyes told the North Texas Catholic. “A youth may feel they know this person, but in the end it’s all about manipulation. It’s not what we think of when we hear the term human trafficking.”
Reyes was one of the professionals invited to speak during a town hall sponsored by the Diocese of Fort Worth Nov. 18 at Nolan Catholic High School to address the growing incidence of child sex trafficking in North Texas. As the outreach and training program director for Unbound Now — an international agency that serves survivors and combats exploitation through education — she oversees efforts to identify and respond to human trafficking across Unbound Now’s service regions.
“A sense of belonging and wanting to be loved and cared for are not bad things, but it creates an opportunity for traffickers,” the advocate stressed. “Building community to support youth can prevent trafficking.”
The evening event was part of a multi-faceted diocesan initiative designed to inform parents, caregivers, and educators about the alarming prevalence of human trafficking and give them the tools to recognize behaviors that put young people at risk. Experts, who deal with the issue at the state and local level, provided information on how to respond to suspicious situations.
“Our next step is to focus on training our students to recognize the dangers of human trafficking — most importantly how to protect themselves and their peers,” said Sandra Schrader-Farry, diocesan safe environment director.
In January, Unbound Now will present awareness sessions at both Nolan Catholic and Cassata Catholic high schools with plans to offer a similar program in Catholic middle schools sometime in the future.
“There are so many ways our children can be victimized,” she added. “Our job is to speak up for them.”
According to data collected by Governor Greg Abbott’s Child Sex Trafficking Team, currently 80,000 children are involved in human trafficking in Texas. The Lone Star State is the second-largest hub for sex trafficking in the United States, and the average age of teenage girls lured into the industry is 14. Research suggests social networks and online grooming play a significant role in how traffickers market, recruit, sell, and exploit children for criminal purposes.
Threats and manipulation
A human trafficking prosecutor for Tarrant County, Lindy Borchardt is part of a tenacious team of medical professionals, law enforcement officers, and advocates who work to protect children in Tarrant County. Thanks to their efforts, predators who exploited women and children were sentenced to more than 900 years in prison in the last two years.
“That team also involves all of you,” she insisted, addressing the audience. “An engaged, informed society — a community that cares about protecting our children — is the best defense we have against human traffickers.”
It’s a common misconception that human trafficking is a border concern or that predators troll the streets in a white van looking to abduct victims.
“Cellphones are the white vans for our children today,” Borchardt continued. “In all the cases I’ve prosecuted, it’s all about social media.”
One victim was contacted by an old school friend online who eventually convinced her to meet in Dallas. Once inside the apartment, she was greeted by her former classmate’s trafficker.
“As soon as she got to Dallas, she had a target on her back and once a child is a target, she’s defenseless,” the prosecutor pointed out.
When the teenager balked at going to work for him in the sex trade, the pimp threatened her family.
“He knew she lived with her elderly grandmother and her mother’s work hours. The choice was to come willingly or jeopardize her grandmother’s safety,” she explained.
Traffickers often use other females to recruit new victims rather than older males because it’s easier to gain trust.
Once recruited, victims are trained to abide by certain rules. They’re told not to look up, speak to another male, and must ask permission to eat or sleep. Control is gained through drugs and beatings.
“The shame these victims feel is unbelievable, but where is the shame in our society?” Borchardt asked her listeners. “I see a devaluation in our society of young girls. Why is it that our teenagers don’t feel loved unless they are working for a trafficker? What do we need to do as a Church and community to make sure we don’t continue to devalue women and children in our society?”
No typical case
What does human trafficking look like? How many cases are there?
“We don’t know. Cases can hide in the criminal justice system,” admitted Brody Burks, Texas’ assistant attorney general.
What looks like a boyfriend and girlfriend having a fight in a parking lot may really be the “forced” part of a street pimp relationship, he explained. More training is helping law enforcement become better at recognizing human trafficking situations when answering calls.
“People who live in affluent neighborhoods or small communities may think it doesn’t happen here, but it does,” the state law enforcement officer said, explaining large metropolitan areas are not the only hubs for crime. Human trafficking is also present in more remote areas like the Permian Basin. “Where we have men with lots of money in their pockets, little supervision, and working long hours, we have prostitution. And where we have prostitution, we have human trafficking.”
And there’s no typical human trafficking case. Victims are all races, genders, and come from all socioeconomic backgrounds. They are citizens or non-citizens and move around or stay in one place. Sometimes the traffickers are family members — half are women, half are men.
"What we see is people being trafficked by people they know, trust, and love,” Burks said.
One case his office handled involved a young woman who was trafficked from her bedroom.
“She was trafficked by her natural father who brought men to her. She didn’t have to go anywhere.”
Burks explained cartels use social media to normalize what they do and use gaming apps and funny videos to recruit victims. Transporting cars is a common tactic.
“Our investigators report there’s trafficking on all apps all the time, so you have to stay ahead of it,” he warned. “Monitor what your kids do and have them request permission to install a new app.”
Making strides
In addition to Borchardt and Burks, attendees heard from Kevin Turner, commander of the Tarrant County Human Trafficking Task Force; Maria Orand, Tarrant County detective with the Human Trafficking Task Force; and Sonya Brooks, Unbound Now prevention education director. A question-and-answer session followed the presentations.
Welcoming participants to the town hall, Bishop Michael Olson recalled for the audience a conversation he had with Pope Francis in 2020 along with other bishops of Texas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma.
“One of the things he brought up was the major problem of human trafficking in the world and said if the devil is present anywhere, it’s in the exploitation of women, children, and the poor,” the bishop explained.
The Pontiff asked the American bishops to combat the problem by making people more aware of the issue.
“I took that to heart,” Bishop Olson said. “This is something we can do to learn about the problem. In the last four years, we’ve made great strides. Our Safe Environment training has helped us recognize the signs so we can do good, love our neighbor, and welcome the stranger.”
He ended his comments with a message delivered by Pope Francis on the 10th World Day of Prayer and Awareness against Human Trafficking in February 2024.
It is a call to take action, to mobilize all our resources in combatting trafficking, and restoring full dignity to those who have been its victims. If we close our eyes and ears, if we do nothing, we will be guilty of complicity.