Parents in El Paso, Texas, have resorted to trafficking their children in exchange for drugs, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which is working with nonprofits in the state to combat human trafficking.
FBI Special Agent Jeanette Harper said that the federal law enforcement agency has noticed a trend of parents trafficking their children in sexual acts to obtain drugs from off the street, local news outlet KFOX14 reports.
The FBI agent stressed that such a betrayal has mental and emotional consequences for the victims, describing the situation as heartbreaking.
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“It’s just hard that the parents are more concerned about getting drugs and basically torturing their children for the rest of their lives,” Harper said. “The person that you should trust the most is your mom and your dad, and they’re giving you to people for sex.”
The traffickers typically exploit their victims inside their own homes or at a cheap motel to avoid spending too much money and fund their drug habits, according to Harper.
Harper stressed the importance of reporting suspected illegal activity, noting that teachers, doctors or individuals in a caregiving position are legally required to do so.
“If they observe their child or they believe that they’re a victim of sexual abuse, they are legally required to report that to somebody within 24 to 48 hours,” the FBI special agent said.
The FBI is working alongside nonprofits like the Paso del Norte Center of Hope to combat human trafficking.
Nicole Schiff, the executive director of the Center of Hope, says 92% of victims her organization encountered within the last two years have been U.S. citizens. She appeared to push back claims the nation’s border is the primary factor in human trafficking in the state of Texas.
“We’ve had a case where the dad was the trafficker,” Schiff said to KFOX14. “We’ve had a case where mom sold her daughter to a trafficker for the money because she needed it for drugs.”
The Center for Hope, which helps trafficking survivors by offering legal aid and other supportive resources, currently manages about 40 active cases, according to the outlet. At the time of reporting, the nonprofit had a waitlist for services.
“Unfortunately, Texas is ranked second in the nation for trafficking,” Schiff added. “People in our region just aren’t believing that it’s here.”
The FBI in El Paso did not immediately respond to The Christian Post’s request for comment.
A November 2022 study titled “Texas Human Trafficking” found Texas had the second-highest reported cases of human trafficking, citing the National Human Trafficking Hotline.
The authors of the study, which was affiliated with Touro University California and McGovern Medical School, speculated that the prevalence of human trafficking in Texas is likely a result of the state’s size and its long international border.
According to the NHTH, which offers crisis-related services to victims and survivors, the hotline received more than 2,300 signals from Texas in 2023. Nearly 600 of those signals in 2023 came from victims or survivors of human trafficking.
The most common form of trafficking was sex trafficking, according to the hotline, while the second most common was labor trafficking.
The demographics of victims and survivors NHTH collected show that over 600 were adults and 246 were minors. However, the numbers provided are not cumulative, as one case could involve multiple victims and survivors, not just one.
Regarding gender, victims and survivors were more likely to be female (641) than male (168). As for citizenship, more reported cases involved foreign nationals (172) than U.S. lawful permanent residents (83), according to the hotline.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
