In honor of our 30-year anniversary, Mosaic Family Services is on a mission to train 3,000 people about labor trafficking in 2024 through our latest initiative, Liberty in Labor. This program is available to businesses, corporations, community groups, and others to receive a one-hour training about labor trafficking.  

Mosaic is proud to be one of the few organizations in North Texas that serves survivors of both sex and labor trafficking, and we have an in-depth understanding of this hidden crime and the role we all play in addressing labor trafficking and supporting survivors.  

Most of the focus and awareness about human trafficking is about sex trafficking, but most trafficking that occurs in Texas is indeed labor trafficking. According to a 2016 study done by the University of Texas School of Social Work, there are approximately 313,000 trafficking victims in Texas, and of those, about 234,000 have been subjected to labor trafficking. 

Labor trafficking happens throughout a diverse array of industries, including the construction industry, agriculture, factory/warehouses, domestic servitude, bars and restaurants, hotels, and massage parlors, just to name a few. Simply put, human trafficking is the exploitation of people for profit and involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain labor or commercial sex.  

Because there is less awareness of labor trafficking, there are also fewer resources and services available to labor trafficking survivors. This impacts survivors’ ability to leave their situation and can leave them vulnerable to being trafficked again. This is even true throughout the judicial process; the lack of understanding of labor trafficking impacts survivors’ ability to seek justice and prevents offenders from being held accountable.  

Mosaic started the first anti-trafficking program in Texas over 20 years ago and has served more than 750 trafficking survivors ever since. When labor trafficking survivors come to Mosaic, they often don’t self-identify as human trafficking survivors, but they know something is wrong and they need help to escape the violence and abuse. This is common with labor trafficking survivors, and bringing awareness about what labor trafficking is can help survivors self-identify and access help.  

We hope this initiative will expand the public’s perception of human trafficking. By teaching North Texans what trafficking looks like, we are all more equipped to prevent trafficking and protect our community.  

To schedule a Liberty in Labor training, click the button below!

Human Trafficking is the exploitation of human beings through force, fraud or coercion for the purposes of commercial sex or forced labor. Simply put, human trafficking is the exploitation of people for profit.

It’s easy to only know the trafficking narrative we see in movies and social media: the one that involves kidnapping, white vans, and cages. But the reality is much more complex. In most situations, victims are trafficked by someone they know, like a family member, friend, community member or employer.

Human trafficking often involves gaining a person’s trust before using that trust to exploit them. Though anyone can fall victim to trafficking, those facing instability and unmet needs are particularly vulnerable, including those living in poverty or unstable living situations, those with histories of abuse and violence, children in the foster care system, runaway youths, immigrants, refugees and racial or sexual minorities. In fact, many survivors don’t self-identify as victims of human trafficking.

In labor trafficking, traffickers make victims work against their will, often for little or no pay. Victims of labor trafficking are often exploited in various industries, including domestic work, construction, agriculture, hospitality, and manufacturing. Traffickers may use debt bondage, document manipulation, physical violence, and threats of deportation to control victims and keep them in exploitative situations.