HOUSTON (TNND) — Authorities in Texas have rescued dozens of women believed to have been recruited by the cartel for sex trafficking. The victims were reportedly found in “deplorable conditions” inside brothels made to look like bars and nightclubs.

The Texas Liquor Commission and the Alliance to Rescue Human Trafficking shut down nine Houston-area businesses in “Operation Bad Traffic.”

More than 80 women, who were potential victims of human trafficking, were found in facilities, in some cases, where “dirty mattresses” were placed on the floor.

Law enforcement officials in Texas blamed cartels they said had control of the border. “Their childhood was stolen from them, no counseling, no treatment, can ever take away the horrors they experienced,” said TABC President Kevin Lilly.

During a news conference with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, Lilly described the “house of horrors.”

“On the outside it looks like a regular bar or night club with a bar, dance floor, pool tables, but behind them is a maze of hidden rooms, closet-sized cement floors with dirty mattresses” , Lilly said.

He claimed that young women are victimized throughout the day.

“They go through an assembly line of horrible treatment and sexual abuse, about 30 times a day, from four in the afternoon to two in the morning,” he added.

A total of nine bars in the Houston area suspected of involvement in human trafficking have been closed since the raids were conducted on October 18.

Lilly believes the cartel is behind the operations where people were sold like commodities.

Authorities said there is still a larger problem of human trafficking across the country.

We have to close our border. An open border is madness. I experienced it. I have seen evidence of this. Please remove the policy. We must act now. We must put an end to Catch and Release. We have to deal with the cartels. We need to declare him an enemy of our country and take action,” Lilly said.

Law enforcement officials said most human trafficking cases stem from cartels that move people across the border.

“No one crosses the border without the cartels involved, and that involvement is monetary,” Lilly said. “If you’re a family and you cross the border, you have to gamble $10,000, $20,000, $25,000 per passenger, money they don’t have. These are poor people, some who have traveled 500 miles only to find out they have to pay a tax they don’t have.”

According to Lilly, the result for men is paying off debt through slave labor. For the girls, they are told they will work as waitresses, but in reality they are forced into the sex trade for a “life of misery and horror”.

So far, four people have been arrested for sex trafficking and prostitution after 84 victims were rescued in the operation.

“Operation Bad Traffic“This is the largest investigation of its kind into suspected human trafficking at TABC-licensed businesses in state history, according to Lilly.

Licenses and permits suspended during operation:

• El Flamingo Club, 3715 Aldine Mail Route
• Koko Bongo, 955 Federal Road
• Los Escorpiones #2, 1636 Federal Road
• Los Escorpiones #5, 2815 Luell St.
• El Cruzero Sports Bar, 7715 W. Hardy Road
• Bora Bora Sports Bar, 11028 Aldine Westfield Road
• El Rinconcito Nightclub, 743 Freeport St.
• At Condesa, 8810 Jensen Drive
• Las Margaritas Nightclub, 210 E. Little York Road