Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT), the Texas Trucking Association (TTA), and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton brought the trucking industry and law enforcement together today for a collaborative coalition build on human trafficking at El Paso’s Region 19 Education Service Center.
During Thursday’s news conference, Attorney General Paxton praised the public-private partnership between his office, TAT, TTA, and law enforcement, citing it as an innovative and effective approach in the fight against human trafficking.
“Truckers are the eyes and ears of our Texas highways,” Attorney General Paxton said. “This partnership brings law enforcement and the trucking industry together, educating them on the signs of human trafficking and how to report it. It helps ensure that victims will be identified and rescued, and that traffickers will find themselves behind bars.”
Last year, Attorney General Paxton’s office partnered with TAT on a series of coalition builds in Lubbock, Tyler, Houston and San Antonio. The El Paso training event was the fifth and final build planned across the state.
In addition to the coalition builds, the attorney general’s Human Trafficking and Transnational/Organized Crime Section has conducted 106 trainings statewide since January 2016 — educating nearly 8,000 Texans on human trafficking and the pertinent red flags related to this form of modern-day slavery.
Attorney General Paxton was joined at Thursday’s news conference by Kylla Lanier, Deputy Director of Truckers Against Trafficking, El Paso County District Attorney Jamie Esparza, state and local law enforcement officials, elected officials, and representatives from the attorney general office’s Human Trafficking and Transnational/Organized Crime Section.