Hidalgo County DA, Texas Women in Business host anti-child exploitation campaign

The Hidalgo County District Attorney’s Office partnered with Texas Women in Business Thursday afternoon to launch the ‘Not on Our Watch!’ campaign, a state-wide effort to combat child sexual exploitation and sexual abuse.

Buckner International, a Christian non-profit, hosted the campaign on-site in Mission.

“This is our first time holding this event,” said Cris Cuevas, Director of Administrations for Buckner. “Bringing awareness and knowledge to our community is one of Buckner’s missions…One of our pillars is protecting children. And how better than protecting children in making sure our community is educated…?”

Guest speaker Hidalgo County District A Toribio ‘Terry’ Palacios said combating crimes like these need to come from community outreach and networking.

“Reacting to it, that’s the easy part, ” said Palacios. “The hard part is coming together to try to prevent this. To be proactive to teaching, to training, to going out to our public, our schools, our churches, and try to prevent this.”

Expert panelists, such as Jesus Garza, a special agent with the Child Exploitation Investigations division with Homeland Security Investigations RGV, in attendance, discussed demographics and indications of sexual exploitation in young teens.

Within the last two years, Homeland Security Investigations RGV and the Federal Bureau of Investigations continuously investigated an ‘uptick’ of child exploitation cases, as stated by Garza.

Through this uptick in crime trend, male victims are common, especially in the digital age.

“The internet and the dark web — because it does exist — has made it easier for predators, pedophiles to facilitate them, and various activities of sharing [and] downloading child pornography,” he said.

Predators seep through the cracks on social media websites such as Instagram and TikTok, preying on minors as young as thirteen years old.

“They engage in conversation, while immediately sending a direct message, which is known as a DM,” said Garza.

Using catfish methods or concealing their identity, predators gain the victim’s trust to request sensitive information and explicit photos while posing as a girl of the same age group or older.

The cycle continues until the predator reveals themselves, demanding high sums of money before threatening to release the content to family or friends unless paid.

“It’s not a new trend by any means,” Garza said. “It’s a billion-dollar industry, sextortion.”

However, another crime that is part of the billion-dollar industry is sex trafficking.

Dr. Diana Almaguer, Regional Director for the Baptist Child and Family Services (BCFS) Human Trafficking Indirection Division, said one thing the organization is seeing an increase in is digital trafficking post-COVID, especially those who are emotionally vulnerable or experiencing an interpersonal crisis.

Victims, especially, already feel they are the ones to blame when a crime occurs. Almaguer states that despite an adult feeling that, in some cases, young people place themselves in danger, the idea of victim-blaming needs to shift to build strength and rapport.

“We’ve seen an increase in that,” she said.

Now, what are some signs to search for?

Panelist Inex Vargas Ramon, Director of Family Advocacy and Community Engagement, Children’s Advocacy Center of Hidalgo and Starr Counties, offered insight into two components predators use: isolation and the ‘groomer bully aspect.’

“One in particular, she’s an adolescent, female. One big factor in her child abuse was the access that she had to her phone, to different social media platforms,” she said. “And she found more attention from these social media platforms.”

A solution and method of desisting sextortion, sexual violence, and trafficking are being well-educated, no matter if one is a parent, teen, or child.

Cuevas echoes the statement of speaking to your child or loved one, or even finding services to help inform them on the dangers they could face online.

“We, with Buckner, have a Family and Youth Success Program, FAYS, that we operate where our case managers teach young adults the skills needed to protect themselves from online predators,” said Cuevas. “Having that open line of communication and knowing that you can communicate with your children. And knowing how to communicate with them is going to be a key to success in that relationship with your children.”