Nonprofit leaders and law enforcement agents packed themselves into a room at the Fort Worth Police Officers Association to reflect on their summerlong effort combating human exploitation and trafficking.
The late August gathering was part of a monthly public meeting of the Tarrant County 5 Stones Taskforce, a network of faith-based and secular organizations banded together in efforts to end human trafficking. While anti-trafficking organizations work with law enforcement on the issue year-round, nonprofit leaders prepared residents and their organizations for an increase in demand this summer as tourists flocked to North Texas for the FIFA World Cup.
Sgt.Tarik Muslimovic, who oversees the Arlington Police Department’s Human Exploitation and Trafficking Unit, stood in front of the crowd and presented lessons learned and results of the group’s efforts.
The numbers “don’t tell us an entire story,” Muslimovic said. Major events like the World Cup don’t necessarily bring more human trafficking — but an orchestrated response during such large events matters because an influx of people can bring more crime, he added.
“Imagine the stadium running close to 75,000 people, another 50,000 people around the entertainment district across North Texas. That is naturally going to bring up crime or increased crime, no matter what category you look at,” Muslimovic said. “But it’s important to note that’s why we, as task forces and individual agencies, just have to be ready, be ready to respond.”
Long before North Texas began buzzing with soccer fans and tourists, anti-trafficking organizations hosted forums to raise awareness of human exploitation and offered prevention resources in schools and places of worship as well as at hospitals, hotels and motels. Local and federal law enforcement, along with partnering organizations, focused their efforts in four areas: victim outreach, suppressing demand, online solicitation of minors and physical undercover operations.
Over the summer, law enforcement leaders had 13 dedicated human trafficking operational days, dubbed Operation Red Card, during which 60 people were arrested as of the 5 Stones Aug. 24 meeting.
Law enforcement arrested 20 people accused of agreeing to purchase sex from an undercover officer online, made 20 arrests of people charged with soliciting prostitution, and another 10 arrests of people who allegedly attempted to meet undercover detectives for the purposes of sexual contact with a minor. There were two arrests related to narcotics charges. Law enforcement also arrested eight alleged victims, contacted during sex trafficking investigations, for possession of narcotics charges and outstanding warrants.
The Homeland Security Investigations Dallas field office did not respond to Fort Worth Report’s questions prior to publication.
When task forces come together for major events like the World Cup, the number of arrests and victim recoveries also go up, Muslimovic said. If the team ran operations monthly such as the ones they conduct during major events, there would be a similar elevation in arrest numbers, he said.
Having about 50 to 60 people coming together for any operation is a “massive undertaking for resources,” Muslimovic said.
“Almost half a month we were running nonstop,” Muslimovic said. “The phone doesn’t stop ringing, and that was always our big question mark for advocates: What is (this) going to look like on y’all?”
Nonprofit organizations banding together
Organizations in the sex trafficking space did significant victim outreach during those two months. As part of the 13 human trafficking investigations initiated during that time period, law enforcement and their partners made contact and offered resources to 45 victims.
Unbound Now founder and CEO Susan Peters said her organization was prepared for more. The Fort Worth-based nonprofit focuses on identifying and supporting trafficking survivors.
Like Muslimovic, she noted that if operations were run as often as they were this summer, the region would see similar numbers when it comes to arrests and victims.
“Unfortunately the problem of sex trafficking is an everyday problem here locally despite a big event,” Peters said.
Unbound Now conducted a Not in my City initiative, educating volunteers on how to identify victims of human trafficking and to distribute flyers across convenience stores, gas stations, hotels and bus stations.
The initiative has been one way Unbound Now regularly educates residents in Texas and Louisiana about human trafficking for the past 12 years, Peters said.
Participants ask staff members of the businesses they visit to post signs in the stores’ windows and restrooms that include the number for Unbound Now’s crisis line or the National Human Trafficking Hotline.
“Awareness saves lives. When you’re educated, you see that. When our posters are up there, then people are aware,” Peters said.
Cheryl Brasuell, chief program officer for Traffick911, said she and other anti-trafficking nonprofits didn’t think the amount of arrests and victim recoveries were going to be “as big as the public thought it was going to be.”
“I do think there was maybe a tiny uptick, but that we were prepared for whatever it brought, but we were not convinced that we were going to get double or triple the numbers,” Brasuell said.
Prior to the World Cup, what is known as the flashlight effect came to North Texas, said Jennifer O’Brien, a social work professor at the University of Texas at Arlington whose research focuses on child sex trafficking in the U.S.
As law enforcement, nonprofits and trafficking resource centers began elevating awareness of sex trafficking, the number of reports also increased.
“Correlation does not mean causation,” O’Brien said. “We do see correlation with a variety of different issues, not just sporting events, but (also) conventions … but that doesn’t mean that it’s causing more trafficking to happen.”
For anti-trafficking nonprofits and advocates, it’s always better to be overprepared than underprepared, Brasuell said.
While the FIFA games have come and gone, there’s more work to be done to combat trafficking, Brasuell said. Looking ahead she hopes organizations can maintain public awareness on the issue, continue to address the demand for commercial sex and address underlying factors that make someone vulnerable to being trafficked.
“There’s a lot of community awareness because once you see this, you can’t unsee it,” Brasuell said. “If we could look at all the intersections that these vulnerabilities come together and create this whole thing, we would see the needle move.”
For O’Brien, the work to tackle the complex issue that sex trafficking is nationwide starts with social determinants. She noted that during the pandemic, a focus began shifting toward addressing community-level factors like food insecurity.
“What we see is kids doing desperate things because they have real needs, and the more that we address those needs, the less desperation we see,” O’Brien said.
Ismael M. Belkoura is the nonprofit editor for the Fort Worth Report. His position is supported by a grant from North Texas Community Foundation. Contact him at ismael.belkoura@fortworthreport.org.
Marissa Greene is the faith and fellowships editor at the Fort Worth Report. You can contact her at marissa.greene@fortworthreport.org.
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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