Kirsta Melton’s powerful speech about the victims and criminals of human trafficking brought this crime to light and exposed myths associated with human trafficking.  A human trafficker is a person who, through a third-party, exploits others, including:  children and adults, for profit or gain.  Texas has a significant population of victims, 313,000 estimated, and 36,000 cases have been identified within the state.

 

Human Trafficking Myths:

 

Internationally, 25 million children and adults are  treated as human slaves, either through sexual acts or work places that do not pay a fair or any wage.  Human trafficking is not the same as smuggling.  Smugglers deliver illegal aliens to a destination, which is a federal crime.  A trafficker becomes involved after the aliens are in the country by subjecting the victims to additional fees to be paid or “worked” off.

 

A trafficker could be a parent, teacher, friend, or neighbor.  He or she could be infiltrating gangs and cartels to add a different “business” line or sideline.  In one case, a mother caused her child to become addicted to heroin at age 6 and then sold her for sex at age 8.

 

“Wherever you have buyers, you have sellers.”  It happens in suburbs, urban cities, and rural areas.  It’s for sale on the internet via sights such as backpage.com (and many, many more).  A sting in the San Antonio area exposed an EMT technician, a sheriff’s deputy, and a school teacher as traffickers.

 

The Texas Penal Code identifies a criminal trafficker as a person who, by force, fraud, or coercion, exploits an adult or child by sex or labor through a third-party for a profit.  Often, the victim feels responsible for his or her situation.  The purpose of this speech was to stress that the victim is not responsible!  The victim often suffers from sexual disease, abortion, anal surgery, broken bones, and infections.   Sometimes the victim is freed on the condition that he or she harms others.