Human Trafficking in Houston, Texas: Part Two | FSRN - Free Speech Radio News

Tue, 12/29/2009 - 13:23

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In yesterday's newscast, we looked at the issue of transnational human trafficking in Houston, Texas. Human trafficking is a term that encompasses both modern-day slavery and sexual exploitation by force, fraud or coercion. Media coverage often focuses on the effects of human trafficking on immigrants, while the issue of domestic trafficking remains largely ignored or misunderstood. Shannon Young brings us the second part of a special FSRN series on human trafficking by focusing on the domestic side of the world's second most profitable illicit business.

[TRANSCRIPT]

No one knows just how many victims of human trafficking exist in the United States, but government estimates show the overwhelming majority are US citizens. Stereotypes, stigma, and misunderstanding often cause their victim status to be mis-categorized as criminal behavior. Most trafficked US citizens are found in the sex industry and they are often under the age of 18.

Rachel Lloyd is the Director of GEMS, a New York based survivor-led program for sexually exploited youth.

RACHEL LLOYD: "The reality that I see in my work every day is children that are victimized again by systems. Not just by the individual primary abusers, but by the systems that they reach out to, whether that's law enforcement, prosecutors, even service providers often who don't perceive them as fitting into a nice little victim box."

Academic and clinical studies of prostituted women consistently show a vast majority were sexually abused as children. The trauma profoundly impacts its victims and can often lead to severe substance abuse.

Kathryn Griffin-Townsend runs a program in Houston called “We've Been There, Done That” to help rehabilitate women who have lived through sex trafficking, prostitution, and associated drug addiction.

KATHRYN GRIFFIN-TOWNSEND: "Once you've been traumatized, you've gotta address that issue first before you send somebody out to try to find a job. I mean because if they still have those issues of...of...and those secrets and haven't been opened and dealt with, you can function, but it's easy to slip back in once those depressions and those memories hit you.'Well, let me medicate this so I can get rid of this feeling.' But if we deal with it, get rid of them and get used to knowing that and understanding 'this is a done deal, I don't have to go back to that, now I can work on the new me', then you've got something to work with."

Teenage runaways have a particularly high risk of falling prey to sex traffickers. Many runaways are escaping abusive situations at home...but once they're out on the streets, find it near impossible to secure shelter and work. Pimps often recruit girls by providing a mixture of security, affection, and generosity prior to commercializing their victims.

STEPHANIE HENDERSON: “Let's call it brainwashing.”

Stephanie Henderson was 22 when she met a charismatic man who played the part of the boyfriend and made false promises to lure her into prostitution. He turned out to be a physically abusive pimp who would take all of her earnings, which she said typically reached $1000 a night.

TEPHANIE HENDERSON: “With a pimp, you gotta give him all of your pay or get the [bleep] beat out of you.”

Coercing someone into selling sex and then using brute force to take that person's pay meets the legal criteria for a trafficking case, but pressing charges can be difficult due to the emotional bond that's often present between a prostituted woman and her pimp. Researchers compare this bond to that of a battered woman and her abuser.

But prosecutors don't need to prove the elements of force, fraud, or coercion when the victim is under 18 years of age. Ed Gallagher from the office of the US Attorney for the Southern District of Texas says, despite the tougher penalties, police often find minors when they bust prostitution rings.

ED GALLAGHER: "Often we find that there's a mix. There's generally a majority of adults, but we're always able to come up with someone in that 14-17 year range that they're willing to put on the street at much greater risk because there's apparently a demand among the patrons for these younger girls."

Psychologists and social scientists analyzing the sex industry have mainly focused their studies on prostitutes. Sex industry survivor and counselor Kathryn Griffin-Townsend says to get at the heart of the issue, more needs to be understood about the psychology and backgrounds of the abusers in the prostitution arena – from pimps to Johns to corrupt street police.

KATHRYN GRIFFIN-TOWNSEND: "That same mentality applies across the board when you find people who want to dominate and rule over people. What happened to them that made them have that frame of mentality and fall into those patterns of why they have a need and a hunger to show dominion over somebody?... Let's study the whole ball, not just take sections, because as long as we're doing sections, it's just getting worse! Let's look at the overall picture of what the real deal is on all of this.”

Another ignored aspect of the big picture is the lack of emergency shelter. Houston has no transitional housing specifically for US citizens escaping trafficking situations. Maria Trujillo is the Executive Director of the Houston Rescue and Restore Coalition:

MARIA TRUJILLO: "A lot of these victims come out of their situations with the clothes on their backs and that's it. And they have a lot of trauma and things to deal with and they're a very special case and they can't just be put into a homeless shelter or a domestic violence shelter. They need more than just the services that are available there."

And what about teen runaways? Calls placed to multiple Houston shelters could not find a single one that provides bed space to unaccompanied minors on a walk-in basis. Young runaways have the choice between sleeping at a friend's house or in the street, going to child protective services, getting put into the juvenile detention system...or taking up the offer of shelter from a stranger who may become their sex trafficker.

Shannon Young, FSRN.

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