Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, millions of men, women, and children across the world are victims of human trafficking. But it is not a problem that stops at our shores.

Eight years ago, I held a hearing in the Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law entitled, ``In Our Own Backyard: Child Prostitution and Sex Trafficking in the United States'' to raise awareness about this problem.

Sadly, not much has changed since then. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children receives about 9,000 to 10,000 reports of suspected child sex trafficking each year. It estimates that more than 80 percent of the trafficking incidents have occurred online. The worst offender is the website Backpage.com, which the National Association of Attorneys General has called a ``hub'' of human trafficking.

The U.S. Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations spent 2 years looking into sex trafficking and its facilitation online. After a thorough inquiry, the subcommittee found that more than 93 percent of Backpage's ad revenue in 2011 came from its so-called ``adult'' section, with projected revenue reaching nearly $250 million by 2019. However, ``adult section'' is really a misnomer--many of Backpage's ads were designed to sell children for sex.

One of those children was Desiree Robinson of Chicago. When she was 16, Desiree ran away from home. A pimp soon found her and sold her repeatedly on Backpage. On Christmas Eve, Desiree was taken to a garage to meet a john. Hours later, she was found dead in that garage. She had been raped and beaten, and her throat had been slashed.

Last year, Desiree's mother, Yvonne Ambrose, testified before the Senate Commerce Committee about her daughter's tragic murder. She described how her daughter was, quote, ``preyed on and sold online by pimps who took advantage of her.'' She went on to say:

On . . . December 24th, 2016, Desiree, my baby, was brutally murdered and now my life is changed forever. . . . If there were stricter rules in place for posting on these websites, then my child would still be alive with me today.

The truth is [that] Backpage.com and other sites are making millions of dollars by exploiting our children and allowing them to be taken advantage of by predators. If we don't speak up now, these websites will continue to profit off trafficking our babies. It could be your child, your niece, your nephew, your cousins, your friend's children next if you don't stop this.

Yvonne went on to urge the Senate to pass the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act, or SESTA.

SESTA is a narrowly crafted bill that would ensure that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act does not provide legal immunity to websites like Backpage that knowingly facilitate sex trafficking. For years, Backpage and others have successfully exploited this loophole and avoided legal liability, despite hosting advertisements for the sale of sex acts with young victims of trafficking. Their ability to hide behind this reprehensible defense will come to an end with the passage of this bill.

SESTA was incorporated into House companion legislation called the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, or FOSTA. The House overwhelmingly passed this bipartisan, compromise legislation last month, in a 388 to 25 vote.

The combined legislation will ensure that victims and survivors of sex trafficking can seek justice against websites that knowingly facilitated the crimes against them. It would also enable state law enforcement officials--not just the Federal Department of Justice--to take action against individuals or businesses that violate federal sex trafficking laws.

The bill has been endorsed by major anti-trafficking groups, law enforcement organizations, and numerous technology companies.

We need to protect victims of trafficking, and we need to hold websites like Backpage accountable for their exploitative, criminal actions. As we prepare to vote on this bill, consider Yvonne Ambrose's plea:

I would not wish this pain and hurt on my worst enemy. And I pray that Desiree's life can make a difference, so no one else has to ever endure this pain again. I'm asking you, the U.S. Senate, to amend Section 230 and be the change you want to see in this world--not only for justice for Desiree, but for all of the countless Jane Does out here and the other little girls to come who don't have a voice.

I urge my colleagues to support this critical legislation.

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