Kathryn Griffin-Grinan's story is one of survival. The former prostitute and victim of sex trafficking shared her story Sunday at Trinity University in order to shed light on the issue of human trafficking, a crime she said is no longer confined to the shadows.
"I've turned that mess into a message," Griffin-Grinan said of her life. "I'm trying to spread it across this country and wherever else it needs to be spread. There's so many different faces to the different branches of human trafficking. You really have to decide which branch you really want to take on."
Through her We've Been There, Done That program in Houston, Griffin-Grinan is working to help rehabilitate victims of sex trafficking, but she said her fight is not limited to the sex trade, it's a battle to eliminate all human trafficking, and not just in Houston.
"It's a dirty secret in San Antonio, what is actually going on with the sale of people in this city," she said.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, one of every four human trafficking victims are taken through the I-10 corridor in San Antonio. Since 2011 the district attorney's office has prosecuted 18 cases of human trafficking in San Antonio.
Griffin-Grinan said a large portion of victims in Texas are Hispanic.
"It is a known fact that there is a humongous market for Hispanic children, boys, girls, men and women for sex because this is a beautiful population of people," she said.
Given San Antonio's demographics, Griffin-Grinan said it's time for the entire city, not just law enforcement, to step up and meet this challenge head on.
"We're losing our children and our future to something that is ugly, devastating and deadly poisonous," she said. "Everybody needs to come together and be willing to discuss a topic that is extremely uncomfortable. We've got to bite the head of the snake off."