By Michael Reagan
There has been a lot of media buzz about the thousands of prostitutes, strippers and pole dancers streaming into the Dallas area for the Super Bowl weekend. But what rarely gets reported is the alarming fact that hiding behind the push-up bras, false eyelashes and stilettos are children, some as young as 12 years of age, who are victims of human sex trafficking.
Human trafficking is as much a part of Texas as cowboys and oil. The business flourishes because of the state's geographic location, long stretches of interstate highways, international airports, numerous bus stations, the large shipping industry, and its shared border with Mexico. This border is North America's number one supply site for young children used in sex and labor trafficking. In the last quarter of 2007, 30% of the calls received by the National Human Trafficking Hotline were out of Texas and 25% of all international victims certified by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services were in Texas.
The problem doesn't just affect children from outside U.S. borders. Domestic child sex trafficking is on the rise. According to National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Throwaway Children, an estimated one out of every three children that run away is lured into sex trafficking within 48 hours of leaving home. Research indicates that one in five girls and one in ten boys will be sexually victimized before adulthood.
I know first hand the pain of sexual exploitation. As a child, I was sexually abused for a year by a trusted summer camp counselor. I was molested and I was a victim of child pornography. No child ever completely recovers from this form of abuse.
READ MORE: http://www.arrow.org/mrc
Contact: Mark Tennant Founder and CEO, Arrow Child & Family Ministries Phone: (281) 210-1500 Email: mark.tennant@arrow.org
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