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You’ve heard the stories about cantina busts and illegal immigrant roundups.

But did you know that many of those taken in were being held against their will?

A boy we will call Diego is the face of human trafficking.

“I felt more like a slave,” he told 11 News in Spanish.

While often invisible, the stories are strikingly similar.

“They were making sure I was so scared so that I wouldn’t walk out, or immigration would come get me.

“It was really hard for more it was tiring my feet had blisters,” Diego said.

11 News

This teen says he was a victim of human trafficking in Texas.

At just 14, Diego journeyed alone from Honduras to El Paso with an American dream, one that quickly turned into a nightmare when ranchers took him in and forced him to clean stalls seven days a week, he said.

“It’s an eye-opening situation,” counselor Luz Agah said. “It’s heart-wrenching.”

And Diego’s story is the story of tens of thousands.

The federal government estimates more than 17,000 men, women and children come into the United States, many illegally, only to be sold into some form of slavery.

What’s more: Many live right here in Houston.

“I think it’s more serious than we realize,” Sister Ceil Roeger said.

Sister Roeger is with the coalition against human trafficking, which tracks the number of cases in the Houston area.

“Trafficking of humans is right up there with trafficking with drugs and guns or weapons,” she said.

Federal officials have only identified 1,000 human trafficking victims, and of those, 150 are here.

Most of the victims come from local cantinas and bars where young women are allegedly forced to work as prostitutes, threatened by their traffickers with deportation.

So why is Houston a hub for this?

Sister Roeger said because of the city’s size, traffickers can easily hide their victims.

Add to that, Houston is a port city, a convention town and a sports town, and the opportunities for trafficking, especially in the commercial sex business, are endless.

“When you look at poverty, you look at gender discrimination, you look at exploitation of women and children,” Sister Roeger said. “Greed plays a major role.”

As for Diego, he’s going to school, learning to read and write for the first time.

His captors are awaiting trial on human trafficking charges.

Perhaps this is the face of human trafficking few realize are getting help in Houston.