When Cristina was 24, she traveled to the U.S. with a man she thought was her boyfriend. But when they arrived in New York, he forced her into sexual slavery in a suburban home. There, he beat and tortured her and several other women, until they submitted to being sold to dozens of men a day for sex.

Cristina was a victim of sex trafficking via what is increasingly referred to as a "Latino residential brothel" or LRB. LRBs exist in nondescript apartments and houses, sometimes in the middle of good neighborhoods. The brothels enslave only Latina women and cater only to Latino men -- sometimes only to people from a certain country or region. A recent news report stated investigators think LRBs can be found in at least 25 states, and each brothel can contain several women and girls.

Investigators are worried LRBs are a growing form of human trafficking in the U.S., but the Department of Justice has yet to create a national strategy or task force to investigate these brothels and learn more about how they and any associated criminal networks operate.

It's time the DOJ got serious about ending sex trafficking in Latino residential brothels with a national strategy and task force.