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Karla Jacinto Romero, a human trafficking victim who became an anti-trafficking advocate, told CNN's Rafael Romo that she was not trafficked by Mexican drug cartels. She also said she was not trafficked in the U.S. and was kept in captivity from 2004 to 2008, during a time when former President George W. Bush was in office.
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The movie is being criticized as a vehicle for conspiracy theories and misleading depictions of human trafficking — landing it in the middle of the country's politically polarized culture wars.
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The Refuge's license was suspended last year when it was discovered an employee had offered to sell nude photos of two girls in exchange for drug money. The nonprofit sex-trafficking treatment center reached a settlement with the state that allowed it to reopen.
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Irma Reyes came to court to get justice for her daughter. Instead, the defendants received far less than what she thought they deserved. Reyes considered the sentence a betrayal.
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Despite allegations that made national headlines and drew statehouse investigations and federal court attention, no charges were filed against the facility, which was created to care of sex trafficking victims. Former residents at the heart of the scandal are frustrated by what they see as evasions of responsibility and the lack of justice.
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Despite a child sexual assault investigation, a San Antonio foster executive kept his job at Texas Foster Care & Adoption Services for months.
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Shawna Rogers died at 17, after years of abuse, violence and exploitation. The compounding cost of failures — from law enforcement and rehabilitators as well as family — finally proved fatal. In the end, she was blind to those who wanted to help her as they had been blind to her needs for years. Her life stands as a haunting example of how far Texas still has to go to help victims like her.
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U.S. District Court Judge Janis Jack said she was very disappointed in Texas' investigation into sex trafficking allegations at The Refuge and wants federal law enforcement involved.
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Texas' troubled foster system was roiled by allegations at a facility intended to help victims of trafficking. Since the news emerged, criminal investigators said the allegations documented by the state's foster system have been inaccurate. Now the state's foster care investigative director is leaving his position.
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UNICEF warned about the higher risk for children fleeing the conflict. More than 500 unaccompanied children have crossed from Ukraine into Romania since the Russian invasion began.