82R11714 BPG-D
By: Parker H.R. No. 975
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, Human trafficking, second only to drug smuggling
among criminal enterprises, is an issue of particular urgency in
Texas; and
WHEREAS, There are an estimated 800,000 victims of human
trafficking in the United States, nearly 250,000 of whom are
children and the great majority of whom are U.S. citizens; the Texas
attorney general has reported that almost 20 percent of these human
trafficking victims travel through Texas, while the Department of
Justice has identified Interstate 10 between El Paso and Houston as
a major human trafficking corridor; and
WHEREAS, The United States enacted the Trafficking Victims
Protection Act in 2000, beginning an enhanced effort to address
human trafficking; the same year, the United Nations focused the
attention of the global community on the scourge of human
trafficking by adopting the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and
Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, which
called for the criminalization of all acts of trafficking and for
governmental responses to incorporate the "3P" paradigm of
prevention, criminal prosecution, and victim protection; and
WHEREAS, In 2003, Texas became one of the first states in the
nation to recognize human trafficking as a crime, and it maintains a
reputation as a leader in the effort to shut down traffickers; yet,
as the Texas Human Trafficking Prevention Task Force noted in its
Report 2011, even measuring the full scope of this form of crime is
difficult because currently only four regions of Texas are entering
data into the national Human Trafficking Reporting System, which
collects information about investigations, prosecutions,
perpetrators, and victims; obtaining information at the local level
remains challenging because victims are difficult to identify,
since trafficking may look like a traditional crime such as
prostitution, domestic violence, or unpaid wages, and many victims
have been frightened into silence or are not aware that they are
protected under Texas and U.S. law; and
WHEREAS, The Texas Human Trafficking Prevention Task Force
has enumerated a number of priorities for state leaders, including
identifying additional prevention strategies, identifying victims
and presenting cases for prosecution, addressing gaps in victim
services and in resources for law enforcement agencies, and
implementing a statewide database to collect and share law
enforcement and prosecutorial data; and
WHEREAS, Texas has made significant progress toward raising
awareness and increasing investigations and prosecutions of human
trafficking, as well as toward ensuring that victims receive the
services they need, and the state must continue its efforts to push
back against this heinous crime; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 82nd Texas
Legislature hereby recognize the last week of January 2012 as Texas
Human Trafficking Awareness Week and encourage all Texans to learn
more about human trafficking and to alert the authorities to any
suspected related incidents.