Human trafficking
The problems against anti-trafficking raids are related to the problem of the trafficking concept itself, as raids' purpose of fighting sex trafficking may be conflated with fighting prostitution. The Trafficking Victims Protection Re-authorization Act of 2005 (TVPRA) gives state and local law enforcement funding to prosecute customers of commercial sex, therefore some law enforcement agencies make no distinction between prostitution and sex trafficking. One study interviewed women who have experienced law enforcement operations as sex workers and found that during these raids meant to combat human trafficking, none of the women were ever identified as trafficking victims, and only one woman was asked whether she was coerced into sex work. The conflation of trafficking with prostitution, then, does not serve to adequately identify trafficking and help the victims. Raids are also problematic in that the women involved were most likely unclear about who was conducting the raid, what the purpose of the raid was, and what the outcomes of the raid would be.
Human trafficking in Texas
Southeast Asia is the world's largest hub for the trade in women and children, and accounts for a third of the world's human trafficking trade. Southeast Asia is also the largest regional source for trafficking into the United States, with 60% of all internationally sourced trafficked persons in the U.S. originating from Southeast Asia. Source countries include Burma, Thailand, Laos, Nepal, Philippines, Cambodia, India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. The majority of trafficked persons from Southeast Asia are involved in forced prostitution, but there are some isolated cases of forced domestic labor. The main social determinant for sex trafficking in Southeast Asia is poverty, with many women promised an opportunity to earn money for their families. In addition, poverty is also linked with other social determinants, such as lack of formal education and low class status. Another large social determinant for sex trafficking from Southeast Asia is the low value placed in women and girls. This is a result of the custom for women to change loyalties to their husbands' families following marriage and the financial burden of marriage dowries, which is placed on the bride's family and which is especially high in countries like India.