Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act--Motion

Floor Speech

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Mr. PADILLA. Madam President, there are moments in history that shock our national conscience, news so heartbreaking that we will always remember exactly where we were when we heard the news. One of those moments is the day the El Monte Thai garment workers were found enslaved in California.

As recently as August 2, 1995, there was 72 Thai women and men who were discovered held against their will in the city of El Monte, CA, just outside the city of Los Angeles. There, in a series of apartments- turned-sweatshops, packed in between sewing machines, forced to work 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, and hidden behind barbed wire fences and armed guards, some of them believed help would never come.

They were lured by recruiters with the promise of their own American dream. Seventy-two Thai women and men arrived into the United States only to find a nightmare.

When they were liberated by Federal agents on that day, that nightmare wasn't over. Instead, they were placed into holding cells, where they feared they would actually be deported after the horrific experience. It wasn't until a 26-year-old staff attorney for the Asian Pacific American Legal Center by the name of Julie Su, among others, took on their case for backpay and for dignity in this country that they had once only dreamt about.

When the 72 Thai nationals were finally, truly freed, they actually owed nothing to this country. Yet they stood up and they fought to protect others from going through the hell they had endured. Their advocacy led to meaningful protections in America, including the landmark Federal Victims of Trafficking and Violence Prevention Act, which created a new class of visas for victims of crimes like forced labor and trafficking and strengthened the penalties for trafficking crimes.

Just last week, now-Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su--yes, the same Julie Su--had the opportunity to induct the El Monte Thai garment workers into the Department of Labor's Hall of Honor, honoring the courage they have shown and the progress they have made to protect other workers.

I also had the privilege of getting to meet them in Washington last week, and I was proud to join Senators Duckworth and Feinstein in introducing a resolution to honor them by the U.S. Senate.

But, as each and every one of them has shown us, the best way to respond to the atrocities they went through, the best way to honor them is through our action--by keeping up the fight to end human trafficking, by working to end wage theft that exploits far too many workers in the garment industry and passing the FABRIC Act, and by, in my opinion, finally confirming a champion for workers and worker rights like Julie Su to be Secretary of Labor.

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