SAN ANTONIO -- When Linda Smith first started a global fight against sex trafficking she didn't realize how big of an issue it really is. At least not here, not in America.
Years of investigating revealed a painful truth.
"And what was for sale was middle school kids," said Smith, who is with Shared Hope International, an organization dedicated to promoting zero tolerance for child sex trafficking.
Kids as young as 12 years old are being sold to what Smith referred to as "the typical common man."
It's happening across the country. It's happening in San Antonio.
"Unfortunately there is a demand for it," said Chris Burchell of the Texas Anti-Trafficking Organization. "They're working online, they're working in truck stops."
In some cases, children are even sold by their own families.
UTSA professor Robert Ambrosino spent several months with 23 of his students producing a domestic sex trafficking documentary called "Behind Closed Doors." Those interviewed said they were sold in San Antonio when they were only children.
"The people we interviewed had been trafficked by their parents," Ambrosino said.
Although Texas laws are getting tougher at defining prostitution and sex trafficking, Linda Smith said there are still big gaps nationwide. She said other states will hopefully follow suit and also crack down hard on domestic sex trafficking.
