TYLER \u2014 Human trafficking is a visible global problem. KETK reports Smith County law enforcement held a public seminar on Saturday to bring awareness to fight against human trafficking. Officials say it\u2019s a growing problem in Texas and right here in East Texas. Executive Director JoAnn Fleming of Grassroots America \u2013 We the People remarked, \u201cRight here in our own backyard, so that is just not acceptable.\u201d The issue involves sex trafficking and human smuggling, and officials say it\u2019s targeting innocent women, men, and children every year. <\/p>\n
Grassroots America, ministries, and Smith County law enforcement are tackling the problem alongside federal and state law enforcement, \u201cto bring to justice the people who are trafficking children and women and to rescue the victims and to try to prevent it,\u201d says Fleming. Fleming adds, \u201cIt\u2019s extremely important to make the community aware because they are the eyes and ears of law enforcement.\u201d The public meeting was held to do just that, to bring awareness. \u201cThey are shocked; they have no idea that we have children that (are involved),\u201d says Fleming. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to focus on first the ones that are underage, and try to find out who it is who got them in that situation,\u201d says Larry Smith, Smith County Sheriff. In a recent KETK investigation, \u201cEnslaved in East Texas,\u201d it was revealed that sex trafficking is on the streets in East Texas. \u201cThey come from many of the larger cities, the metroplex areas, to Tyler and do their drug and sex trafficking,\u201d says Sheriff Smith. Smith County officials say help, recovery, and restoration are available for victims of this crime. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TYLER \u2014 Human trafficking is a visible global problem. KETK reports Smith County law enforcement held a public seminar on Saturday to bring awareness to fight against human trafficking. Officials say it\u2019s a growing problem in Texas and right here in East Texas. Executive Director JoAnn Fleming of Grassroots America \u2013 We the People remarked, … Continue reading Local Residents Address Human Trafficking<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-274614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-archive-archives"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-08 08:56:56","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=274614"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":274687,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274614\/revisions\/274687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=274614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=274614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=274614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}