The Life

[Narrator] "The Life: Sex Trafficking and Modern-Day Slavery" is funded in part by Maria Cristina Manrique de Henning, "Literal Magazine" and Bethanie Reid.

Additional contributions come from the following donors.

Thank you for helping us shine a light on the subject of sex trafficking.

- My mom traded me at the fence for $10 and a hit of crack cocaine.

- I basically was kicked out of my home at the age of 16 because of my sexuality.

- We need to be comfortable with being uncomfortable, right?

No one wants to talk about trafficking.

I think as humans we don't wanna face the fact that humans are flawed and we do bad, evil things, right?

But if we don't talk about those horrible, evil things, then how are we going to address them?

[crowd chattering] [horn honking] [Narrator] That night, Lisa, a 16-year-old, willingly jumped out of her bedroom window and into Oscar's car.

And her life would never be the same.

- What people need to understand about trafficking is that it doesn't discriminate.

It doesn't necessarily target people, it targets vulnerability.

It's a crime and it can happen to anyone.

[Narrator] This is modern-day slavery, known as The Life.

[indistinct chatter] [Narrator] Sex trafficking is exploitation, stealing a person's freedom and part of their soul for profit.

And most trafficking is not smuggling or kidnapping.

It's online or behind closed doors in massage parlors, men's clubs, hotels, truck stops, even business conventions.

And most sex trafficking is domestic.

Eighty-three percent of those trafficked in the U.S. are American citizens.

We found the crisis is at an epidemic status.

Despite many organizations fighting to eradicate sex trafficking, the demand for supply is still on the rise.

Buyers of humans are far more robust and harder to prosecute.

Law enforcement agencies continue to fight this war every day, but often they seem to be losing the battle.

[Survivor] I was trafficked from 15 to 17.

I was taken for two years and tortured for two years.

[Parent] Four years ago, my daughter was trafficked, but she didn't make it.

She was murdered.

She was only 18 years old.

- And then he said, "If you tell anybody, I will hurt your family, your mother and your sister."

- And so I went to a friend's place and I went online to a gay chat site, and I found support from a man.

And he picked me up and brought me to Houston where he introduced me to the idea of massage therapy.

I quickly realized that this wasn't just massage, but this was having sex for money.

- And I realized that I was being abused every day and sold.

It was very hard for me to leave because by then, I was brainwashed.

[Narrator] The United Nations found 71% of victims are female.

The average age a girl is lured or forced into sex trafficking is 15 years old.

And as for all male victims, more than a third are under 14.

Traffickers use force, fraud and coercion to engage victims in commercial sex.

Because it is a hidden crime, accurate statistics for human sex trafficking are hard to find.

But the trade is growing, and Houston has more sexually-oriented businesses than any other American city.

- City of Houston and the state of Texas in general has had less restrictions in terms of travel, in terms of business closures and openings.

- Which makes Houston very easy for trafficking.

So you can move people around very easily.

Big city, easy to hide.

- And there are more illicit brothels in Houston than there are Starbucks.

They're near schools, they're near daycare centers, and they're where the money is.

They're not on the wrong side of the tracks.

They're all on the west side of town where there is money.

[siren wails] [David] You're driving by modern slavery, bigger than you've ever seen in the history of the U.S. - It's men that are sitting with us in the pews in church.

These are the men that are buying these girls and these boys.

[Narrator] And these men are largely untouched by the law.

The vast majority of those arrested, about 90% are the trafficking victims.

Less than 10% are the buyers.

[door slams] [Carolyn] Buyers, especially, we call them high-frequency buyers, which are those buyers that are responsible for 70% of commercial sexual transactions.

[sirens wailing] They make on average about $120,000 a year.

[Officer] Got anything on you, man?

[Carolyn] They're also going to be more likely to be college educated and able to plead out, plead down.

It is harder to get a conviction against these buyers, yet so necessary for stopping the demand.

- The law is only as good as it's enforced.

[Officer] We're on the south side of 7-11.

[Narrator] And Houston is the first major city to require that employees of hotels and motels be trained and certified on the subject of human trafficking.

It's a significant ordinance since 75% of sex trafficking victims stayed at a hotel during the course of their victimization.

[Robert] The internet has really facilitated trafficking.

You could go on the internet and order up a young girl faster than a pizza could get to your house.

- If you want to stop all of this, stop what you're doing, stop this work, they can do that for you.

They can help you.

- The internet has enabled this space that pedophiles and predators are able to operate on.

[Narrator] And it is younger victims who are the most vulnerable.

- So about 67% of them were abused as children, and we also know that around 65% of them were often pimped out at an early age.

[tense music] [Janette] We are here to rescue children and we are here to build good cases against traffickers.

If we have developed enough rapport with the victim, we will build a case against their trafficker and hopefully charge them in federal court.

[Officer] Just make sure we don't have any cars visible in that area.

[Narrator] Yet many buyers still feel prostitution is a victimless crime.

- The whole concept, if you've never worked with someone who's been trafficked or someone who has been prostituted, which is the same thing for almost all of it, something happened to them.

They didn't choose it, that's not a natural choice.

[Narrator] Are there prostitutes who choose this life?

Perhaps, but... - I would say 100% of women who have engaged in prostitution have been trafficked at some point.

[tense music] - Yes ma'am, introduce yourself to us.

- My name's Ronnie and uh-- [Narrator] Kathy Griffin is a former prostitute and addict.

- Because all the [bleep] that you kept secret- [Narrator] She was sexually abused as a child and now rehabilitates victims of human trafficking.

- And the buyers of sex think that all prostitutes love having sex.

One of the biggest misconceptions known to man.

It's not true.

- And a lot of them have psychologically trained themselves to believe that what they're doing is okay, and it's all right, and let me justify, rationalize, minimize this pain.

- I once was so lost But now I'm found [Narrator] In a report by the United Nations, only about one percent of trafficked victims worldwide are able to escape the life.

That's because traffickers are master manipulators.

They have a laser focus on vulnerabilities.

- Home [group applauds] [gentle music] [Narrator] Jose Alfaro was trafficked in Houston at the age of 16.

[Jose] If you're straight identifying, and you end up in a situation like human trafficking, people assume, well, men are are strong, men are brave, men can protect themselves and men aren't gonna have that same vulnerability as a woman, and that's completely false.

We've all been in a place or we know people who've been in a place of vulnerability.

Any time that you're in this place where you're looking for that extra support, and someone's willing to give that to you, it's an easy moment to say, well, either I pay my bills on time, I pay rent, I have food to eat, I have a place to stay, or I'm out on the streets and I'm starving, which one would you go with.

[gentle music] - Girl, this is me when I owned my sex store.

[Patricia Gras] [gasps] Look at you.

Pretty girl.

[Nissi] Thank you.

My grandmother trafficked my mom.

My aunt and uncle's father slept with my mother from age 11 to 13.

Not only did she sleep with him, she pretty much slept with every man in our family.

Back then, it was okay if you were a 15-year-old girl to be in a sexual relationship with a 30-year-old man.

[Narrator] Nissi's ordeal began at age seven.

[Nissi] I was abused as a child.

I didn't start being trafficked while I was going to school until about 15 years old.

[Narrator] This went on for years until someone offered to help her start a new life.

[Nissi] I was working at a strip club and I remember grabbing the door to go into the club and I had said a really smart remark to my trafficker.

And he leans over with his hand and he knocks the crap out of me.

[somber music] This is one of the clubs that I was at here, and God, this brings back so many horrible memories for me.

I mean, I was a little girl.

I was 16.

Just being here now creeps me the hell out.

[upbeat music] [Narrator] Today on her birthday, she's talking for the first time to the Navy recruiter who helped her escape.

- I had gotten beat up by the dude that was pimping me out, and you was like, "It's time for you to go.

It's time for you to get out."

And so you took me to take the ASVAB test so that I could leave and go into the military.

[Narrator] By that time, she was worried about her two kids and what could happen to them if she were to leave the life.

- What's the last thing you want your kids to know about you?

That's what made me make the decision.

[Patricia] You got emotional when you walked in here.

Why?

- Yes.

Oh my goodness.

- You can't cheat.

- Oh.

[child laughs] [Gina] Hi there.

- Hi.

- I'm Gina.

[Nissi] This is where my dreams came true for me and my children.

Fresh start.

This is where I seen men go to work for me instead of exploiting me or perverting the process of healing for me.

[uplifting music] [Narrator] The trafficking of sex is as old as civilization itself, and a trafficked person usually doesn't even come from far away places.

In most countries, trafficking happens locally.

The same goes for traffickers, also known as pimps, madams, or purveyors, who use intimidation, fear and coercion to exploit their victims.

[Cornelius] I've talked to girls that end up committing suicide, killed by the pimps.

[Narrator] Cornelius Pratt is a rapper who once had a very lucrative job.

- I'm Mr. Cap I go hard in the pain [Narrator] Pimping women for money, a lot of money.

- Make my money Put it all in the bank - I was 14 when I started.

I'm popping locks, I'm breaking chains [Cornelius] There was older men that was in the business that had girls, that had Rolls Royce cars, and I just knew that they was in a lifestyle that I thought was pretty cool.

[Narrator] Cornelius went on to prison when he was 19.

- I'm Mr. Cap I go hard in the pain Cold ass pimp, go hard in the tank [Narrator] But he was more interested in music, so he left the pimp life for good.

- I'm from the heart I speak the truth [Narrator] When he entered the sex trade in the 1980s, Cornelius considered himself more as a pimp than what fits today's definition of a sex trafficker.

[Cornelius] For some years, I just basically, I lied to myself 'cause I'm like, I'm under the presumption that they choosing to be with me.

This is me rationalizing.

I'm trying to rationalize.

I just, like I said, I just didn't know no better.

I'm top spot I drop hits I breathe right [Narrator] But most experts in the field find no distinction between pimping and trafficking.

[Cornelius] I came up in the game thinking I was just doing such a great thing.

I thought I was just a big...

I was making all this money.

I just, I thought I was just a cold ass pimp.

I just feel like, yeah, I was, I was mistaken on a lot of stuff.

[traffic noise] - Hi, I was calling to see if you have a bed available for an individual, an adult.

[Narrator] Kathy McGibbon was 21 years old when she was forced into the life.

- Yes, she does have kids.

[Narrator] Now she helps other victims in the Houston area.

- Oh, you do have space, okay.

[Narrator] Back then, she was the perfect vulnerable target.

- My father left the household at a very young age.

Vulnerability number one, my father left.

[Narrator] Then she and her mom moved from Canada to Texas.

- Vulnerability number two, what do you mean?

I'm moving from my safety, my support system, my friends, my family that I know and love to this new world.

[Narrator] She then met her trafficker.

He was the type known as the Romeo Pimp.

[Kathy] In the course of a year of him grooming me or seducing me, he strategically made sure that he, and he just disrupted my entire life and my support network.

I moved out of my mom's house.

The night that I got there, he turned into a complete monster, and then literally men just started coming to the room, and I was forced to do whatever they wanted me to do with them.

I remember hitting somebody over the head with a bottle because I was being raped and he was strangling me.

I remember a gun being pulled on me.

I remember being held hostage in a hotel and motel room.

[Narrator] The "Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma" found 89% of women in prostitution want to escape, but most can't.

A primary reason is known as the trauma bond.

[Kathy] Remember that he broke down every part of my identity.

Remember that I was under such a strong psychological control that I didn't even know who I was anymore.

I belonged to him.

[Narrator] Eventually, she was able to escape.

[Kathy] Because of my support system is why I'm able to sit here today literally.

It took years and years and years of healing and restoration and it's still...

I say that I'm on a lifelong journey of restoration.

[low tense music] [Narrator] But most victims cannot leave the life.

Traffickers can make as much as $200,000 a year from each victim, abusing them over and over in this very profitable industry.

[Narrator] And even if the victim does manage to escape, they will often leave with a criminal record.

[Adrian] They come with possession of drugs, they come with burglary of habitation, they come with shoplifting charges.

They come in a multiple of ways because that's how they're exploited by the individuals who are really making the money from their circumstances.

- I think the most surprising, that it's so prevalent.

[Narrator] Dr. Mollie Gordon of Baylor College of Medicine works for the Harris Health System.

She heads a medical and research team studying the mental health of human trafficking survivors.

- We wanted to build out a program that really focused on the patient's mental health and stabilizing their acute and chronic symptoms.

We see physical injuries from neglect, from violence by the trafficker, and we see violence from the buyer.

[Narrator] Texas law requires healthcare practitioners to enroll in continuing education courses for human trafficking prevention.

Since the reporting of trafficking is mandatory, once a victim goes to the hospital, they're automatically connected to social service agencies.

- It was almost as if you're asking someone who's dying of thirst, would they like a glass of water?

The reconstruction of their lives can begin.

[Narrator] Commissioner Adrian Garcia has been a pioneer in changing the mindset of Houston's law enforcement community.

[Adrian] One of the first things I did was I hired someone who had been there and done that, and that was the name of her program.

- I don't care if you had sex with dogs, frogs, fish, flies.

It does not matter.

[Adrian] That life got her on drugs, and the drugs got her on the streets, and that led her into the Harris County Jail, not once, not twice, but multiple times.

- I am their recovery coach.

They can stick with me because I'm wanting to teach them how to become recovery coaches with this population just as I have done.

What made you decide that you thought you could get some help?

- What made me decide?

You decided.

[chuckles] [Adrian] She flipped the numbers.

We now have a 20% recidivism rate, thanks to her good work.

[Kathy] This particular class is a place where they can come, and they don't have to worry about spilling their secrets.

You try having sex 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, up to 50 times a day, and you do that sober.

It's virtually impossible.

- There's a lot of work that's gonna need to be done to help this person realize what the next step even is or that there could be hope.

Most of the women we encounter have no hope at all.

[Narrator] Today we know where some of the trafficking is happening in Houston, but prevention is key.

[Stephen] The first step for a business to help combat human trafficking is to have an effective training program.

That way if you see something, you can say something, you can be proactive.

- I think the first thing we have to do is make an organizational commitment that we will seek out the victims and find opportunity for them.

[Narrator] Traffickers are luring more and more children online every year.

The National Foster Youth Institute found about 60% of trafficked youth were in the foster care system.

- Getting young people who are trying to leave the lifestyle, getting them shelter and getting them support has been very difficult because you have to have consent, because you have to have parents' consent.

And so it's like, well, I don't wanna talk to my family because they were also abusive, or they're trying to escape the foster system.

[Narrator] And so where do they go?

They go back into the streets.

[Adrian] If you have an injured animal, there's a refuge for them, there's a shelter for them.

But if you find a stray human being, an injured young person, good luck finding beds for them.

- And we need to reform the foster care system.

We need to reform the system that takes care of these kids that are falling through the cracks.

[Adrian] So until we have the political will to recognize that this is human capital, if not for a better system to help deal with our foster children, that is a part of our community that is going down the drain.

[Narrator] So many are working to make sure Houston and many major cities are no longer hubs for human trafficking, but it will take community awareness and for citizens to do something when they see something.

- I was so much worse off.

[Narrator] And as for victims, knowing they can get help.

- And I want exactly what you have.

[Kathy] I felt I was a failure, and the judge showed me that I still had worth and that I was worth rehabilitating and fighting for my life.

Because as long as you have life and breath, you have a chance.

Doesn't matter what you've done.

- Even being able to forgive those who have wronged me is to really look deep inside yourselves and realize that we all need work, we all need healing.

- And when I see someone come out of the life simply by hearing my story, that gives me life and gives me motivation to keep going.

[gentle music] [indistinct chatter] [gentle music] [Narrator] "The Life: Sex Trafficking and Modern-Day Slavery" is funded in part by Maria Cristina Manrique de Henning, "Literal Magazine" and Bethanie Reid.

Additional contributions come from the following donors.

Thank you for helping us shine a light on the subject of sex trafficking.