Houstonians get birdseye view of locations where human trafficking allegedly occurred

HOUSTON - Members of the community spent about two hours Thursday night on a bus ride through the Heights and Oak Forest.

With its two major airports, the Ship Channel, and its proximity to the Mexico border, Houston is a known hot bed for human trafficking.

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"People can spend two or three days here, make thousands of dollars, and be gone to the next city, whether it's San Antonio Phoenix or somewhere in Florida, and nobody has any idea what happened," said Joshua Webb, Program Coordinator for Crime Stoppers. 

For several years now, Crime Stoppers has offered the community a chance to see locations where the crime of human trafficking allegedly occurred. 

On Thursday night, the chartered bus stopped at massage parlors, a nightclub, and even residential homes.

"There's a huge misconception that oh it can't be happening here, it's not happening in our neighborhood, when really it's happening right around the corner in most places of this city," said Webb.

"I'm a survivor of human trafficking," said Dr. Nissi Hamilton.

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Hamilton told bus riders human trafficking goes on in just about every part of the city.

"Right now, we have over 35,000 Texas children that are attending school near illicit massage businesses every day," Hamilton said. "It's in your face, it's there, this is how you see it, this is how you deal with it, this is how you can be involved."

Remember anytime someone takes advantage of people and mistreats them, that is human trafficking.

You can report human trafficking crimes anonymously to Crime Stoppers.