Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017
Floor Speech
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Mr. COSTA. Mr. Chair, I thank the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee) for her leadership on this important issue.
Mr. Chair, as the co-chair of the Victims' Rights Caucus with my colleague Congressman Ted Poe, I am a proud cosponsor of this important legislation for victims in America who have suffered from these crimes.
A free and open internet, we all believe, is essential to economic growth, entrepreneurship, and enterprise in the 21st century, and America leads the way. This new technology age has reshaped our lives and allowed for greater access to learning, greater ability to shape our own futures as Americans, and with economic benefits we could not have imagined 15 years ago.
Sadly, there are some people who look at these freedoms and the openness of the internet and see ways to exploit, abuse, and prey on innocent children and teenagers in the name of profit. It is outrageous, and it is a crime. I am speaking of the scourge of sex trafficking, which has impacted the lives of too many young people in the San Joaquin Valley that I represent and throughout America.
Today, here in Congress, we look squarely at traffickers, pimps, and victimizers and say we must do a better job in protecting our citizens. As a result of this legislation, our laws will no longer be manipulated and used as a cover for their abuse. No longer will these people be able to hide behind the shield that the internet provides you when knowingly contributing to this horrible crime.
The Fresno Bee, a local daily newspaper in the San Joaquin Valley, recently ran a 6-week-long series about human trafficking in the Valley. The paper reported that nearly every 16-year-old girl in Fresno has been approached at one time or another by sex traffickers. Imagine that: nearly every 16-year-old girl in our county.
Police have seen sex trafficking victims from every high school in Fresno County and most of the junior high schools. It is horrible. This is a tragedy, and it cannot and should not be allowed to continue.
Today, we say it is time to make important changes. This legislation does that. It will help protect our children and provide them the ability to confront their abusers.
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Mr. COSTA. Mr. Chair, as I had said, it is time to make these important changes, and this bipartisan legislation does that. It protects our children, providing them the ability to confront their abusers, including those who knowingly promote and advertise these crimes.
Mr. Chair, I thank the gentlewoman, and I am thankful for the bipartisan leadership in this effort.
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Mr. COSTA. Mr. Chair, I include in the Record these excerpts from a series of articles entitled ``Slaves of the Sex Trade'' by Rory Appleton from the Fresno Bee: ``Don't kid yourself. Sex slaves are all around us--and you may know some of them'' (November 2, 2017), ``She was a hospital worker. He sold her for sex before, during and after her shifts'' (November 2, 2017), ``Police: 'Every 16-year-old girl in Fresno' has been targeted by sex trade recruiters'' (November 9, 2017), ``Once sold for sex, she now helps lead the fight against human trafficking'' (November 15, 2017), ``How do you rescue women forced to walk the streets at night? It's not easy'' (November 16, 2017), ``To break the cycle of children sold for sex, the legal system is trying something new'' (November 28, 2017), ``All of us must help beat the scourge of human trafficking. Here's what you can do'' (December 7, 2017). The full series can be found at http://www.fresnobee.com/news/ special-reports/human-trafficking/.
These seven articles demonstrate the impact of sex trafficking on our communities. I commend the Fresno Bee on their important reporting. [From the Fresno Bee, Nov. 2, 2017] Don't Kid Yourself. Sex Slaves Are All Around Us--and You May Know Some of Them (By Rory Appleton)
Rebecca Rodriguez-Brown still remembers the room where he imprisoned her--the charming man she met and fell in love with while still a teenager. She mapped it out with her hands as she sat in a central Fresno office nearly 20 years later.
``They would have a little microwave there, and they would have a little ice chest right there by the sink,'' she said. ``I still remember the color of the ice chest.''
Rodriguez-Brown isn't sure whether the room was in an apartment or hotel. But she does remember that for seven months she was kept in this room under guard and forced to perform whatever sex act the strangers entering the room asked for. The room was punishment for refusing to do the same at her trafficker's home. Her captors brought her all of her meals. If she defied them, she'd be beaten--sometimes with her hands bound.
The Bee normally does not identify the victims of sexual assault, however Rodriguez-Brown agreed to be named.
Her story is not uncommon in Fresno, or anywhere in the world. It is one of cyclical abuse, habitual arrest and unspeakable trauma. Women and children are bought and sold every day in Fresno--online, in street corners, while at school. They are raped, branded and beaten. They are taught that they are the problem, not the people who force them into this life--causing psychological scars that may never heal.
It is what many refer to as ``modern-day slavery.''
Full article is available at: http://www.fresnobee.com/ news/special-reports/human-trafficking/article182090031.html ____ [From the Fresno Bee, Nov. 2, 2017] She Was a Hospital Worker. He Sold Her for Sex Before, During and After Her Shifts (By Rory Appleton)
At her lowest point, the days seemed to stretch on forever. Eight hours a day as a hospital administrator, five hours-- sometimes more--as a prostitute.
He would wake her up at 4 a.m. to walk the streets. She hated it--not that the house calls were much better. But when she begged to stop, he would convince her the fault was hers. Eventually, she would apologize and allow him to drop her off before the sun was up.
``He wanted at least $300 before I went to work at the hospital,'' she said.
So she would work the streets for three hours before starting an eight-hour day scheduling appointments in the nephrology unit of a San Diego hospital--a job she had enjoyed before she met him. He eventually forced her to have sex with men during her lunch break, in addition to before and after work. On the weekends, he took her to neighboring cities--a common tactic to avoid law enforcement or reach a new clientele.
``If it were up to him, I would have never slept,'' she said.
The mood-altering drug Xanax helped with the anxiety stemming from the intense guilt she felt. She was ashamed to talk to her friends and family--not that she could have if she wanted to. He had her phone now, and he made sure she never heard about her mother's attempts to contact her.
This woman, now 34, is one of thousands who are sex- trafficked in California each year and one of hundreds of victims now living in the central San Joaquin Valley.
Full article available at: http://www.fresnobee.com/news/ special-reports/human-trafficking/article182089821.html ____ [From the Fresno Bee, Nov. 9, 2017]
Police: `Every 16-Year-Old Girl in Fresno' Has Been Targeted by Sex Trade Recruiters (By Rory Appleton)
It was about 2 p.m. on a Tuesday when the 15-year-old girl left her central Fresno hotel room. She climbed into a car driven by a stranger, who would take her to another stranger with whom she had agreed to have sex for money.
If it had been a few minutes later, the girl could have easily blended in with children walking home from school. She was not dressed provocatively; she wore a red Fresno State sweatshirt and jeans. She was not wearing excessive makeup. She carried a backpack.
Who knows how many times she had followed this pattern-- strange men and strange cars. Online advertisements showed her in various states of undress.
That's how the vice unit of the Fresno Police Department found her. Today, these strangers were both undercover officers. Tonight, she will be safe.
``She said she hasn't eaten in five days,'' Sgt. Curt Chastain said. ``No real family--an unreported runaway. She's in the sex trade to survive.''
``She wants help,'' he continued. ``She wants to be in school, but mom won't sign her up.''
One of Chastain's undercover detectives confirmed this is not a rare occurrence.
``I've had (sex trafficking) victims from every high school in Fresno County--and most junior high schools,'' the detective said. The Fresno Bee is not identifying him due to the sensitivity of his work. These traffickers, he added, use a variety of tactics to lure children and young women into ``the life.''
Full article available at: http://www.fresnobee.com/news/ special-reports/human-trafficking/article183592286.html ____ [From the Fresno Bee, Nov. 15, 2017] Once Sold for Sex, She Now Helps Lead the Fight Against Human Trafficking (By Rory Appleton)
Arien Pauls doesn't look like someone who's been through hell.
She flashes an easy smile as she speaks. Her voice is soft, but her words are deliberate and flow with eloquence. She has a distinct rockabilly style, with one arm bearing a tattoo modeled from Disney's ``The Little Mermaid'' and a hair clip featuring two large pink roses.
Looking at her, it's hard to imagine that a man she loved forced her into slavery. For four years, Pauls was sold for sex on streets and in hotel rooms across the western half of the United States. She was barred from contacting her friends or family. She was arrested multiple times and treated like a criminal--a stigma that even now, five years later, is difficult to shake.
Her worst moments seem unimaginable.
Pauls' trafficker--a man she believed to be her boyfriend-- refused to take her to a hospital when one of the men he sold her to raped her. When she became pregnant with her trafficker's baby, he forced her into an illegal, late-term abortion. When her reeling body began to produce breast milk after the abortion, her trafficker saw it as a moneymaker: Those with certain fetishes would pay extra now, he told her.
It took a daring late-night escape--her trafficker's SUV roaring behind her getaway car on a Las Vegas street--to get out of that life. But once she returned to Fresno, her arrest record kept her from working in her chosen career, and she has struggled with the mental scars inflicted during her past life.
Full article available at: http://www.fresnobee.com/news/ special-reports/human-trafficking/article184943988.html ____ [From the Fresno Bee, Nov. 16, 2017] How Do You Rescue Women Forced to Walk the Streets at Night? It's Not Easy (By Rory Appleton)
For decades, the women rescued from the hotel rooms and apartments in Fresno where they had been raped, beaten and forced to have sex with strangers for money had few alternatives.
The first--and it was seldom optional--was jail. They could also go to rehab, provided they had a drug problem. But more often than not, they returned to the sex trade.
That is no longer the case.
In 2012, human trafficking became a crime in California, carrying with it new language for dealing with the crime and harsher penalties for traffickers. Local law enforcement found success against traffickers by treating girls and women in the sex trade as victims, not complicit criminals.
Over the past few years, a growing network of advocates has added new avenues of help for the hundreds of women who are trafficked. These groups have provided victims with shelter, counseling and the tools to rebuild their lives.
Many who work with human trafficking victims consider the practice to be modern-day slavery. If that's true, this advocacy coalition is the underground railroad.
Full article available at: http://www.fresnobee.com/news/ special-reports/human-trafficking/article184943793.html ____ [From the Fresno Bee, Nov. 28, 2017] To Break the Cycle of Children Sold for Sex, the Legal System is Trying Something New (By Rory Appleton)
Defense attorney Kristin Maxwell remembers when a client came to her Fresno office shortly after being discharged from a hospital.
The teenage girl had been beaten, raped and dumped in a neighboring county. Police found her unconscious, lying naked in an alley.
``There are some parts of the body that bruise easily, and some that don't,'' said Maxwell, who's worked in the Fresno County Public Defender's office for 11 years. ``Looking at her, you knew she had been through it. She had been beaten really badly.''
This case stands out for its brutality, Maxwell said. But it was the sheer number of human trafficking cases crossing her desk when she took control of the Public Defender's juvenile office in 2015 that shocked her into action.
The legal community has partnered with advocacy groups, law enforcement and the Fresno County Probation Department to improve the criminal justice system in an effort to get children out of the sex trade permanently. Their work will soon bear fruit: On Jan. 19, Fresno County's juvenile court will establish a courtroom dedicated solely to human trafficking cases.
This new court--patterned after similar courts in Sacramento, Los Angeles and other California counties--will allow a judge with specialized training to work with the various partner agencies to ensure children caught up in the sex trade receive help that's customized for their needs.
Full article available at: http://www.fresnobee.com/news/ special-reports/human-trafficking/article186937063.html ____ [From the Fresno Bee, Dec. 7, 2017] All of Us Must Help Beat the Scourge of Human Trafficking. Here's What You Can Do (By Rory Appleton)
Pimps have ensnared Fresno middle-school students who were selling their bodies for extra spending money. Young women have been tricked, blackmailed and forced into having sex with strangers to support men they believed were their boyfriends. People--especially children--with low self- esteem, mental illness, unstable home lives or living in poverty are the preferred targets of an industry operating in the shadows.
Human trafficking is a complex issue. Police, advocacy groups and the Fresno legal community have formed a unique partnership to tackle the growing problem in new ways. But what can the rest of Fresno do to fight human trafficking?
Talking to your children or younger family members about the issue can educate them and help keep them out of harm's way. Nonprofits that help trafficking victims would welcome financial donations. Residents can urge governments to allocate more resources to those policing and prosecuting traffickers. And far larger strides can be made to address a major underlying issue in the sex trade: the people, mostly men, who buy sex.
Full article available at: http://www.fresnobee.com/news/ special-reports/human-trafficking/article188526804.html
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