TAMPA — ICE Homeland Security Investigations field offices in Tampa and Miami have signed a memorandum of understanding with the University of South Florida to expand a victim-service technology that has already connected roughly 100 trafficking survivors to housing, health care and other resources since its 2024 launch.
The agreement, signed May 22, centers on USF’s Bridging Resources and Information Gaps in Human Trafficking Project — known as BRIGHT — a digital tool that rapidly links trafficking victims with local service providers. Directed by USF Criminology Professor Shelly Wagers and built with technology partner Pinkston Rose Rustand Group, the platform is already in use by 145 anti-trafficking organizations, service providers and law enforcement entities statewide, including the Florida Department of Children and Families, the Florida Office of the Attorney General and the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay.
“HSI’s commitment to a victim-centered approach is at the heart of our human trafficking investigations,” said HSI Tampa acting Special Agent in Charge Micah McCombs. “By partnering with the University of South Florida and leveraging innovative tools like BRIGHT, we are not only strengthening our ability to identify, recover and support survivors of human trafficking, but multiplying our impact through enhanced collaboration with federal, state and local partners. This is truly a force multiplier.”
HSI accounts for nearly 50% of all human trafficking investigations and prosecutions annually. Between October 2020 and October 2023, the agency’s Victim Assistance Program assisted 3,715 victims, including 2,044 children who were victims of varying levels of trafficking and exploitation. Under the new agreement, HSI special agents and victim assistance specialists will use an expanded version of BRIGHT tailored to law enforcement needs — allowing agents to coordinate services such as safe housing and medical care in real time when they encounter victims during operations.
“This partnership has already produced evidence-based research that will inform how HSI can more effectively deploy our limited personnel to stabilize victims and ensure traffickers are held accountable,” said HSI Miami acting Special Agent in Charge Jose R. Figueroa. “Together, we are advancing our mission to dismantle trafficking networks and strengthen long-term outcomes for victims across Florida.”
“What makes this partnership unique is that it brings together survivors, service providers, federal partners, university researchers and operational technology into one coordinated response effort,” Wagers said. “Our hope is that this work helps build more connected systems that reduce the burden victims and survivors often face while navigating recovery and support during some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives.”
USF Criminology Professor Joan Reid, director of the university’s Trafficking in Persons Risk to Resilience Lab, said the partnership is designed to produce a scalable model that could extend beyond Florida. “Our hope is that we build more connected, informed and victim-centered responses both in Florida and nationally, which partnerships like this will allow us to do,” Reid said. USF researchers plan to use the collaboration to generate long-term evidence on which victim stabilization strategies prove most effective.