Since the beginning of 2022, Texas is requiring salons and massage establishments to update signage inside their businesses in an effort to crack down on human trafficking.
Salons and massage business previously had a hotline for victims to call, but now anyone can call 888-373-7888 to report anything they view as suspicious.
"Several industries regulated by TDLR [Texas Department of Licensing & Regulation] including nail salons, hair salons and massage establishments, have a known nexus with human trafficking," said Tela Goodwin Mange, public information officer of TDLR, told Lone Star Standard. "Workers in those industries sometimes experience labor trafficking, while other workers may end up providing services to people who are being trafficked themselves.
"Cosmetologists who are cutting and styling hair or providing nail or other services – or providing massages – may see injuries or hear information that indicate that a client is in danger," Mange said. "The new number for reporting suspicious activity gives service providers an outlet for letting authorities know that someone may need help."
Mange also told KXAN, “Someone who’s being human trafficked may not have access to a phone, or they may not call. [This] is why having this number for DPS [Texas Department of Public Safety], where someone who is maybe not being trafficked, but they see a situation and they think there’s something not right. This number provides them with an outlet for that.”
The organization, Children at Risk, reports that many of the more than 900 illicit massage establishments in Texas are used as a front for prostitution and human trafficking businesses. Since those who are buying sex do not want their credit card statements to show massages, it is resulting in a cash-based sex trafficking industry.
Mange said the updated signs could aid trafficking victims as they are in five different languages and include a contact number.
"Massage establishments have been required to post human trafficking awareness signs since 2017. Cosmetology and nail salons were added in 2019," Mange said. "The updated signage–in five different languages–now includes a non-emergency law enforcement contact number [1-844-643-2251] that someone can call if they have seen suspicious activity possibly related to human trafficking, instead of calling 1-888-373-7888, which is intended to provide assistance to actual victims of human trafficking.
"TDLR employees are actively engaged in the fight against human trafficking in Texas," she added. "Because TDLR employees inspect nail salons, hair salons, massage establishments and other worksites, they can often be the first ally to have contact with potential human trafficking victims."
One anti-human trafficking advocate told KXAN that those in the beauty business may notice signs that the general public does not.
“Beauty workers may have closer relationships, and they may notice things and signs that the public generally wouldn’t see," SAFE CARES advocacy manager Susanne Crane told KXAN. "Bruising, injuries that are hidden by clothing, or hair, one person paying for multiple services for different clients in those businesses. A particular survivor, who was in my chair, getting her hair done, had bruising on the scalp underneath the hair, and was talking freely about her abuser. I would have liked to have been able to speak with her about different options.”
The TDLR's has its own anti-trafficking unit that coordinates with others in the fight against human trafficking.
"The TDLR Anti-Trafficking Unit (ATU) was created in 2019 to bolster TDLR’s efforts in the fight against human trafficking in the agency’s regulated industries," Mange said. "Part of the agency’s fight against human trafficking involves identifying illicit massage businesses within its regulated community, coordinating with local law enforcement, and connecting trafficking survivors with community and social services. The ATU coordinates its activities with local law enforcement throughout Texas, the Labor Trafficking Working Group and the Texas Human Trafficking Prevention Coordinating Council."
According to a 2016 University of Texas report, there are 78,996 minor and youth victims of human trafficking and 234,457 victims of labor trafficking in Texas at any given time, totaling 313,453 victims of human trafficking.
