The fight against human trafficking in Texas has been strengthened with the passage of a Texas Senate bill which will require sexually oriented businesses in the state to use E-Verify, an online system that employers can use to confirm the eligibility of their employees to work in the United States, as well as their age.
“The passage of SB766 represents the first expansion of E-Verify to private sector businesses in Texas,” said TPPF’s Nikki Pressley. “Because the risk of sex trafficking is particularly high in sexually oriented businesses such as strip clubs, E-Verify is a practical tool that will ensure employees and contractors are legal residents and of legal age—preventing traffickers from exploiting these vulnerabilities,” said Pressley.
“E-Verify is a great tool in our fight against human trafficking,” Pressley added. “While E-Verify is already required for state-government employees, by expanding its use to other common industries where human trafficking festers, we can continue to identify and help individuals suffering exploitation.”
Additional Details:
- A recent study estimated that at any given time there are 79,000 minor and youth victims of sex trafficking in Texas.
- E-Verify is an effective and widely supported policy that both public and private sector employers use to check the employment eligibility of their workers.
- E-Verify is already required for employment in Texas state government. TPPF supports expanding the targeted application of E-Verify throughout the state to prevent and identify trafficking in Texas