AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas Trucking Association is partnering with lawmakers and sex trafficking awareness advocates to launch a new campaign called, “Boys and Young Men are Sex Trafficked Too.”

The goal is to have semi-trucks driving up and down the state with signs on them raising awareness about the risks boys face.

The non-profits Ranch Hand Rescue and Bob’s House of Hope report that up to 50% of sex-trafficked youth are boys.

Those nonprofits will take part in a press conference at the Texas State Capitol South Steps on Wednesday at 9 a.m. to discuss their new campaign.

Ahead of it, Bob’s House of Hope and Ranch Hand Rescue Founder and CEO Bob Williams talked with affiliate KXAN about the impact he hopes it has.

This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

Tom Miller: Why are you launching this now?

Bob Williams: This is an epidemic in our country, and Texas is number two for the human trafficking issue, so the trucking campaign is huge. It’s never been done before. (The) stickers that boys are sex trafficked too create awareness about this problem. We’re hoping that in our partnership with the Texas Trucking Association and Titus Transportation, that other trucking companies are going to sign on.

Tom: You mentioned Texas is number two in the country with this being a problem. How do you quantify how big of an issue this is?

Williams: We really believe 50% of human trafficking victims are boys and young men. We know that the average age that people are trying to buy boys is 13, and we know that typically four to five out of 10 are looking for boys versus girls. It’s critical that people get their heads out of the sand, and that we start to bring education and awareness to the fact that this is happening to boys and young men too. It’s not that it’s not horrific with girls and women, it is. But we must start to educate the public that this is a problem. If it’s not front and center and in your face people don’t realize it.

Tom: When it comes to looking for signs of trafficking, whether it’s boys or girls, what should the public be aware of?

Williams: If you see something, say something. There’s all kinds of red flags. They control these kids with drugs and fear, right? ‘If you don’t do what I tell you to do, we’re going to kill your mother, your father, your brother, your sister, etc.’ The thing that keeps them coming back is the drugs. And so when asked, ‘Why didn’t you tell anybody,’ the number one answer is, ‘Nobody ever asked me.’

Tom: What is Bob’s House of Hope and how did you get involved in this work?

Williams: I’m a survivor. I was raped at 17, and I couldn’t process what happened to me. When my dad picked me up from the hospital, he said, you’re just going to man up and we’re never going to talk about this again. That was a different time back then. I turned to drugs and alcohol, barely graduated high school, and I struggled for 12 years in my addiction. When I found out that there was not one safe house in the country for young men to go to, I said, ‘we can fix that.’ You know, we can open one. So we opened on June 1 of 2021, and we’ve learned a lot since we opened. We’re going to open for minors this year, and that’ll be 12 to 17 years old. We get on average of a couple of calls a week for boys that have been sex trafficked that are under 18.