A state agency’s anti-human trafficking unit was dismantled after performing poorly on a recent internal audit.
An investigation by the Texas Scorecard discovered that despite having been given a $1.5 million bump in its taxpayer-funded budget, the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation’s (TDLR) anti-trafficking work had been found “unsatisfactory” by internal auditors.
The agency does not intervene directly in suspected human trafficking operations but rather makes referrals to law enforcement agencies, such as the Office of the Attorney General.
However, an audit report dated September 2023 showed that auditors found TDLR’s now-defunct Anti-Trafficking Unit (ATU) to have had incomplete and inconsistently used procedures, resulting in some “high-risk” ratings. This meant that inspections were missing records and that notifications of inspections and requests for assistance were not being completed in a timely manner.
In a statement to the Texas Scorecard, Tela Goodwin Mange, TDLR’s communications manager, explained that while the auditors “found room for improvement,” they “did not find that TDLR or the anti-trafficking unit failed to do their jobs identifying instances of human trafficking at TDLR-licensed establishments.”
Still, the agency did decide to do away with the ATU after the audit, reallocating its members to its enforcement and compliance divisions.
“The Anti-Trafficking Unit has been functionally realigned across divisions to create a more effective anti-trafficking effort within TDLR,” Mange wrote.
She also noted that TDLR had modified its practices per auditors’ recommendations, standardizing its operating procedures and implementing controls to enhance active monitoring.
“TDLR employees take seriously their responsibility to potential human trafficking victims,” she wrote. “TDLR conducts periodic, unannounced inspections of massage establishments and cosmetology salons and aggressively pursues administrative penalties for both licensed and unlicensed service providers found to allow sexual activity on business premises.”
According to Mange, TDLR has revoked 106 massage therapy licenses due to allegations of prostitution since 2021.
Texas has become a critical battlefield in the campaign to end human trafficking. Gov. Greg Abbott recently proclaimed January Human Trafficking Prevention Month to coincide with National Human Trafficking Awareness Day on January 11, a day dedicated to promoting awareness of the issue and advocating for measures to decrease the crime’s prevalence.
“My office has worked tirelessly to bring human traffickers to justice. Through our collaboration with law enforcement partners and community organizations fighting to end this form of modern-day slavery, we have made Texas a safer place,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement.
Last year in Dallas, 118 human trafficking crimes were committed in Dallas, and roughly 99 juveniles were recovered by Dallas police, as previously covered in The Dallas Express. The City of Dallas plans to develop a human trafficking dashboard to help monitor and shed light on this growing issue. At present, black and Hispanic people have been bearing the brunt of human trafficking in Dallas.
Still, there has been a spike of 15.4% in human trafficking offenses compared to 2022 as the Dallas Police Department continues to grapple with a significant officer shortage. DPD currently only fields around 3,000 officers despite a City analysis advising some 4,000 in order to properly maintain public safety. Budgeting only $654 million for DPD this year, City officials will be spending much less than other high-crime jurisdictions, like New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago.