RICHMOND, Texas (Covering Katy News) — The Fort Bend County District Attorney's Office has entered into a multi-year partnership with the Human Trafficking Institute to combat what D.A. Brian Middleton describes as a modern day slavery that persists more than 160 years after its abolition.
"Our states, United States, abolished slavery in 1865, yet it still continues to persist, which is irreconcilable with our religious beliefs, our laws and the tenets upon which this nation was founded," Middleton said. "We intend to eradicate and combat human trafficking in Fort Bend County."
Through the partnership, police and prosecutors will learn how to better spot trafficking victims and build stronger cases against traffickers. The program focuses on keeping survivors safe and helping them heal during investigations and trials.
Middleton delivered a direct warning to traffickers operating in the area.
"Fort Bend County is moving against human trafficking, and we want traffickers to know, get out of Fort Bend County, we will not tolerate it, we will hunt you down, we will prosecute you and send you to prison," he said.
Mental captivity
Rhonda Kuykendall, human trafficking task force director at the Fort Bend County District Attorney's Office, explained how modern trafficking enslaves victims through psychological manipulation rather than physical chains.
"More than an abduction of the body, it's an abduction of the mind. It's a kidnapping of the mind," Kuykendall said. "Willingly groomed to be able to walk out to their trafficker not knowing what's going to happen to them, believing that it was their fault all along."
Kuykendall said victims often don't self-identify as victims because traffickers use force, fraud or coercion to control them.
"It's one of the only crimes that I know where the victim holds all the guilt for what happened to them," she said. "The really insidious nature of this is that victims don't even understand that they were forced or they were frauded or they were coerced."
She said law enforcement must understand trauma-informed principles to identify victims. Without proper identification, services and prosecutions cannot happen.
Smuggling operations fuel trafficking
Human trafficking is a problem in part due to our proximity to the border. People who pay smugglers to cross the border often end up trapped in modern-day slavery. Criminal organizations and Mexican drug cartels force them to work against their will to pay off debts they can never escape.
U.S immigration officials say smugglers, commonly known as coyotes along the southern border, charge migrants between $3,000 and $60,000 to illegally cross into the United States. When migrants cannot pay the full amount upfront or when cartels demand additional fees during the journey, victims are coerced into debt bondage and forced labor once they reach the United States.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and law enforcement reports, cartels often increase smuggling fees during transit, making it impossible for migrants to back out of agreements. Those who cannot pay face threats of violence against themselves or their families. Migrants who owe money are forced to work in the United States under exploitative conditions until the debt is paid. It's not unusual for young girls and boys to be turned into sex slaves according to ICE.
"I plead with anyone thinking of relying on human smugglers to illegally enter the United States to stop and think about the potential consequences," said Chad Plantz, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Houston. "Not only are you jeopardizing your ability to ever obtain legal status in the country, you're putting your life in the hands of merciless transnational criminal organizations that routinely assault, kidnap and even murder the people they are paid to supposedly help."
Fort Bend County has prosecuted multiple human smuggling cases that involved victims being held captive. In 2023, the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office rescued five victims who had been smuggled from Mexico and were being held in a locked, un-air-conditioned garage in Meadows Place pending payment of additional money.
In 2022, a man was shot and killed in Fort Bend County while trying to escape a human trafficking situation, according to the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office.
A 2006 human smuggling case prosecuted in Fort Bend County resulted in the murder of two migrants who were unable to pay their smuggling fees. Six smugglers were convicted in connection with the case, according to Homeland Security Investigations.
Sex trafficking operations
Fort Bend County has conducted numerous operations targeting sex trafficking, resulting in hundreds of arrests and the rescue of dozens of victims over the past several years.
In 2019, Operation Freedom led to 64 arrests and the rescue of five adults and two juvenile girls ages 15 to 17, according to the district attorney's office. The operation involved 22 agencies at the local, state and federal level and targeted sex trafficking organizations operating in Fort Bend County.
In 2020, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted Operation Patriot which resulted in 46 arrests and the rescue of five victims over a four-day period. The operation targeted both sex buyers and sex trafficking organizations in Missouri City and Stafford.
Between 2021 and 2022, three separate operations resulted in 41 arrests of sex buyers and traffickers with seven victims recovered, including one juvenile victim. The operations included Operation Trick or Treat in October 2021, Operation Front Line in November 2021 and Operation Snow Flake in January 2022.
In 2023, Operation New Year resulted in 29 arrests during a buyer suppression operation in Sugar Land targeting illicit sexually oriented businesses.
"Sex traffickers often rely on physical and sexual abuse, threats of harm, economic and psychological manipulation and cruelty to force their victims to engage in commercial sex," said Mary Magness, assistant special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations Houston.
Building a coordinated response
The Human Trafficking Institute and the Fort Bend County District Attorney's Office hosted a stakeholder meeting and luncheon Monday to announce the partnership. Law enforcement from across the county discussed developing a comprehensive strategy to combat trafficking. Agencies in attendance included the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office, Lamar Consolidated ISD Police Department, Fort Bend County Precinct 1 and 3 constables offices and police departments from Katy, Meadows Place, Missouri City, Needville, Richmond and Stafford.
As part of the partnership, the Human Trafficking Institute and the district attorney's office will provide targeted training for law enforcement and prosecutors on best practices in identifying, investigating and prosecuting trafficking-related cases. The partnership will also develop resources to strengthen case outcomes and support data collection and analysis to track trends and measure impact.
Tyler Dunman, vice president of programs at the Human Trafficking Institute, said the organization is honored to partner with Middleton and his team.
"Fort Bend County's commitment to a victim-centered, data-informed approach will strengthen investigations and prosecutions while ensuring survivors are treated with dignity and respect," Dunman said.
In January, Middleton announced the launch of the Fort Bend Anti-Trafficking Collective, a task force funded by the Department of Justice. The partnership with the Human Trafficking Institute will advance the work being done by the task force and Middleton's existing Human Trafficking Community Awareness Team.
Fort Bend County efforts
Previous efforts to address human trafficking in Fort Bend County began in 2018 when the district attorney's office prosecuted six of seven human trafficking cases referred by law enforcement. In January 2019, the office made combating human trafficking a priority and assigned a full-time investigator to the Special Crimes Division for Human Trafficking, which resulted in prosecutors successfully charging 12 of 15 referred cases in 2019.
The years 2021 and 2022 saw more than 100 investigations each year resulting in double-digit arrests and prosecutions. The same trend continued in 2024, according to the district attorney's office.
Houston is a known major trafficking hub. Two major interstate highways run directly through Fort Bend County — Interstate 59 connecting Laredo to Canada and Interstate 10 creating a pipeline from Los Angeles to Jacksonville — making Fort Bend County vulnerable to human trafficking activity.