Terminating the National Emergency Declared with Respect to Energy

Floor Speech

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Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, there is an issue that I have spoken about so often on this floor, and it is one that should concern each and every one of us; and that is the issue of human trafficking and sex trafficking that is happening in this country. And what we have learned is that today in the United States a child is either bought or sold for sex every 2 minutes. Now, think about that and think about the harm that is happening to children because of this amount of human trafficking and sex trafficking.

What we also have learned is that, globally, this has turned into a $150 billion-a-year business. This is something that we also have learned affects every town, city, and community in our Nation. It is pervasive.

In Tennessee, my home State, there were 1,170 reports of human trafficking through November of last year, and that is according to the data we have from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations. Now, that number was actually down from the number in 2023, which had been 1,432 reports, and that was because of the effort that our Governor, Bill Lee, the Tennessee General Assembly, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations made into fighting this human trafficking and trying to bring an end to what truly is modern-day slavery.

But, unfortunately, what we saw as we looked at the data was that last year's total of 1,170 was still 62 percent higher than the number in 2019. So as we have looked at this in recent years, what you have seen is an explosion of human trafficking and sex trafficking in this country. While we know that human trafficking has been a problem over a period of time, the concern is this heinous crime and how it has exploded in the recent past.

Now, there are some reasons and some contributing factors to the escalation numbers, and one of them is during the Biden administration, basically they surrendered our southern border to cartels and gangs and criminals and traffickers. Many of us have been to the border. We saw what was happening on the border during the Biden years. And as a result of the inaction that took place there, every town in this country became a border town, and every State became a border State. And because of the drugs, because of the human trafficking, the sex trafficking, the American people suffered the consequences.

Just this month, earlier this month, authorities charged eight Venezuelan illegal aliens in Middle, TN, for trafficking women across our border for the purpose of sexual exploitation. That was eight Venezuelan illegal aliens. After entering our country illegally, the criminals conducted their operation out of Nashville motels between 2022 and 2024. And like so many criminal illegals in our country--no surprise--they are tied to the violent gang Tren de Aragua, which has plagued cities across this country with organized crime.

All too often these traffickers target not only vulnerable women, they also target children. According to our TBI data, there were 514 reports of children being sex-trafficked in Tennessee in 2024. That is 1 year, 514 reports. That was more than twice the number of reports of adult sex trafficking.

The report also notes that there has been an increase in the number of unaccompanied minors who were trafficked into our country and exploited. This should come as no surprise. Under Biden, hundreds of thousands of unaccompanied children have reached our southern border, while many more arrived with adults who falsely claimed to be their relatives. Although Biden had a responsibility to place these children with vetted sponsors, his administration, obviously, did not do that. We have learned that they lost track of more than 320,000 migrant children who face the threat of abuse, trafficking, and sexual exploitation.

Thankfully, after 4 years of failure under the Biden administration, President Trump is working to secure our border, to protect our communities, and to bring human trafficking to an end. And there is so much more that Congress can do to support this effort.

Last week, I introduced the bipartisan GRACIE Act, which would require the recording of all Child Protective Services interviews with children and adults. Although 60 percent of child sex trafficking victims in our country have engaged with the foster care system, too often CPS staffers miss the signs of abuse. By recording interviews, we can increase the likelihood that child trafficking victims will be identified and rescued.

Last month, I also reintroduced a package of bills that will do much to combat human trafficking. My SAVE Girls Act would provide States, local governments, and nonprofits with the resources they need to end the trafficking of young women and girls.

My National Human Trafficking Database Act, meanwhile, would establish a national human trafficking database at the Department of Justice and incentivize State law enforcement agencies to report their data.

To help bring an end to trafficking at the border, I also introduced the End Child Trafficking Now Act, which would require a DNA test to determine the relationship between illegal aliens at the border and any accompanying child. Now, it is so important to note, I have introduced this bill before, and I did it because during the Trump administration, there was DNA testing. It was ended during the Biden administration. They said it took too much time. I inquired about the amount of time. It took 45 minutes.

What we know from the time we did DNA testing, 30 percent of the children that were DNA tested by border agents shared no relation to the illegal aliens who were falsely--falsely--representing themselves as family members. I think 45 minutes is worth it to save the life of a child.

And my PRINTS Act, which has been reintroduced, would give Customs and Border Protection the authority to fingerprint noncitizens under the age of 14 to combat the horrific practice called child recycling.

Just this week, I also sent a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi requesting that they release the complete, unredacted flight logs from Jeffery Epstein's private jet.

In addition, I also requested Ghislaine Maxwell's little black book and all video surveillance footage from Epstein's residence in Palm Beach, FL. After years of stonewalling by former Director Wray, we still do not have all the necessary information regarding Jeffrey Epstein's crime, who his associates were, and who was involved in his global human trafficking and sex trafficking ring. That is information we need if we are going to bring an end to this practice of human trafficking and also if we are going to bring justice for the women and children that were abused and trafficked during these human trafficking and sex trafficking rings.

It is past time to bring this practice to an end. With these efforts, we can provide this administration with the tools they need in order to bring an end to this practice.

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