Testimony by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services on the human trafficking of domestic minors.

In recent years, there has been increased awareness of a large number of children who are U.S. citizens and are being trafficked. The National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children estimates that there are at least 100,000 U.S. being trafficked. The majority of American victims who become sexually trafficked are runaways and homeless youth. Identifying and tracking these children who are trafficked can be challenging, in part because these youth do not often self-identify, or they come into the child protection system for other reasons and are not identified as trafficking victims. Between 2009 and 2011, 768 human trafficking victims were reported in Texas, including 183 children (FBI Innocence Lost Task Force). On a typical weekend night in Texas, an estimated 130 youth under the age of 18 years old are commercially sexually exploited through internet classified sex ads.