By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
Once victims of human trafficking are rescued by the Department of Homeland Security, there are many aspects of life where they may need assistance.
Victim Assistant Specialist Tereasa Brown with Homeland Security Investigations says her job is to work with those victims.
Brown says no two victims have the same needs.
"One may need shelter, one may need medical services, one may need some type of counseling," Brown tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post.
Brown says her job is to build rapport and trust with victims to find out their needs.
"And I can't tell them what they need," Brown explains. "I can listen to them, I can let them explain what it is they think they may need, because me telling them this is what you're going to do, this is what you're going to need, that's re victimizing them all over again."
Brown says people need to understand these people haven't been trafficked for just a day, it's been a while, building up trust issues.
"But first, in building that trust, they have to know that they're safe," Brown says. "A victim that doesn't feel like they're safe, they're not going to talk to you, a victim that doesn't feel that they're safe they're not going to open up and you're not going to know what they really need."
Brown says in her job those trust issues cannot be taken personally
"They don't know me and if all they know is that traffickers voice and what the trafficker has been telling them, they tend to believe what the trafficker said, opposed to what I'm letting them know these are the things I can help you with," Brown points out.
Brown says her goal with every victim is to help get them back to some sense of normalcy, from before their trauma occurred.
"But I always like to remind them that this is something that happened to them, this is not their whole life, and that they can recover, they can start over," Brown says. "But again, you have to meet those basic needs first, they may be hungry, they may need shelter, they may need counseling, or mental health services."
Brown says one of the hardest parts of serving those needs is finding shelter, because victims of trafficking do not fit well in a domestic violence shelter.