Human trafficking, also known as “modern-day slavery,” is the illegal trade of human beings by means of force, fraud, or coercion for the purposes of forced labor, debt bondage, or sexual exploitation. Human trafficking is one of the fastest growing criminal enterprises in the world. The majority of this criminal activity involves sex trafficking.
- Hold complicit hotels accountable for their role in the sex trafficking industry. Common criminals are not the only ones responsible for the sex trafficking crisis. Businesses, such as hotels, are making millions of dollars a year by knowingly supporting, promoting, aiding, and abetting modern-day slavery. Hotels are one of the most common venues for sexual exploitation and there are hotels that consistently turn a blind eye to clear and well-known red flags indicating that their rooms are being sold to sex traffickers. With civil lawsuits, these hotels may be held accountable for knowingly profiting off of a survivor’s abuse and trauma.
- Provide survivors with compensation. Survivors may ultimately receive compensation for the immense hardships they were forced to endure as a result of a hotel’s complicity. Compensation may help survivors to obtain resources to continue to rebuild and reclaim their lives.
- Provide survivors a chance to safely tell their stories. We hope to give each survivor a platform to safely tell their story, speak out against the companies that profited off of their abuse, and potentially make a difference for the next victim. For additional support, we’ve also partnered with survivor leaders that stand ready to support other survivors in participating in these cases.
- Assist survivors in defending or mitigating criminal charges. To better equip and support survivors as they pursue justice, we’ve teamed up with an experienced criminal defense attorney who can provide legal representation to survivors if they concurrently face criminal charges or have prior convictions.
- Make an impact on the Texas sex trafficking market. Because these hotels’ profits are high and they experience few negative consequences for their participation in this criminal enterprise, far too many of them continue to participate. But if the legal repercussions for their participation begin to cost them more than the financial incentives, then they may take meaningful steps to put a stop to this activity in their hotels. Without the cooperation of legitimate businesses, traffickers would struggle to carry out their criminal enterprise. Through civil litigation, we can apply pressure on such complicit hotels, and strike a fatal blow to this criminal industry.
ALL SERVICES ARE PROVIDED AT ZERO EXPENSE TO ANY VICTIM, UNLESS A RECOVERY IS MADE.
- Over 40 million people around the world are victims of human trafficking.
- Globally, human trafficking represents a $150 billion a year industry.
- Sexual exploitation accounts for $99 billion a year in profit in the United States alone.
- According to a 2016 study, Texas has more than 300,000 human trafficking victims, including nearly 79,000 youths or minors who have been forced into prostitution.