In North Texas, traffic enforcement was monitored by the Dallas office of the Department of Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Secret Service and the Columbia Police Department, with support from HSI’s El Paso and San Jose offices and the Texas Department of Public Security. The Institute’s 2019 report on trafficking in persons revealed that Lone Star State was ranked first in the country in terms of the number of human trafficking cases brought to federal court the previous year. With 19 open cases, Texas also leads the table on the number of new criminal cases in 2018. He is accused of registering the domain names of several of these sites just a day after the closure of FBI Backpage.com, which was once the primary source of advertising for prostitution and sex trafficking on the Internet. In recent years, Texas has launched major initiatives to combat sex trafficking and human trafficking. The prosecutor’s office accused Backpage of placing advertisements on its website about child trafficking for sexual exploitation and helping advertisers copy them so they would not exaggerate that sex is for sale. Persons accused of child trafficking under the age of 14 years face federal prison sentences of at least 15 years and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Conviction for child trafficking for sexual exploitation is a first-degree offense in the state of Texas. The U.S. Attorney General said Martono would make more than $21 million on several illegal sites that promote prostitution and sex trafficking. This led to the prosecution of Carl Ferrer, CEO of Backpage.com, who pleaded guilty to money laundering and conspiracy to facilitate prostitution in Texas and California. Texas tends to have more arrests for sex traffic than other states. Texas always leads the country in commercial sex crimes. Despite the government’s tough stance on trafficking for sexual exploitation, there is evidence that victims who are forced into prostitution are often punished and put behind bars. Investigators have identified numerous underage victims in a CityXGuide ad, including a 13-year-old girl found in North Texas in November 2019. Cases of human trafficking for sexual exploitation are often brought before federal courts.