BRYAN, Texas — A local group here in Bryan, Unbound BCS, serves to help people avoid human trafficking. 25 News learned about their recent trip to help prevent trafficking at the Ukrainian border.
“What we do internationally really starts locally so you know some of the very similar things that we do here to fight human trafficking and prevent human trafficking we implement internationally as well so I was asked to lead a team over there and that’s kind of how it all started,” said Amanda Buenger, executive director of Unbound BCS.
As people were trying to cross the border, Buenger noticed that a potential case of human trafficking was happening right before her eyes and without thinking twice, she intervened.
“We were able to help them get into the borderline and separated from that trafficker so we literally intercepted a trafficking situation and protected three women and children from being trafficked,” said Buenger.
Buenger states that the three women and children were being asked for their passport information by a driver waiting in Poland. She assured them that this information was irrelevant to crossing the border and saved them from an unsafe situation.
“We were really seeing some exploitative situations where there were individuals taking advantage of the fact that they did not know anybody, how to get across the border, how to get a ride, and they were using that as a vulnerability to exploit,” said Buenger.
Luckily, Buenger and other officials were able to help in this scary situation. Throughout her week-long trip, she continued to inform other women and children on how to stay safe.
“There was so many women and children that I was able to communicate with, love on, and hear their stories,” said Buenger. Hearing the stories of what they had left and what they had gone through in the last 24 hours was just absolutely life-changing for me and it was really an honor to be there and to listen.”
Unbound will continue to help individuals at the Ukrainian border and make sure they know how to stay safe.