Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Deterrence and Victims Support Act of 2010

Floor Speech

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I thank my good friend Judge Poe for yielding, and I rise in very strong support of the legislation. I want to thank Chairman Scott and Carolyn Maloney, with whom I have worked very closely on the House companion bill.

I will say at the outset, Madam Speaker, as the prime sponsor of the historic law to combat human trafficking known as the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, and as a Member of Congress who has devoted more than 15 years seeking to prevent trafficking, protect victims from exploitation and abuse, and prosecute those who enslave with up to life imprisonment, I am happy to say that in many of our States, laws have been passed that closely mirror the TVPA so that they too now have powerful weapons and tools to use against those who would so cruelly mistreat others through trafficking.

Just by way of definition, you are considered a trafficking victim if you have not yet attained the age of 18 and have been sold for commercial sexual exploitation or for labor trafficking, or if you are 18 or over and there is an element of force, fraud, or coercion. So I do rise in strong support of this bill which takes us even further, S. 2925.

Madam Speaker, human trafficking, or modern day slavery, is the third most lucrative criminal activity in the world. The ILO estimates illicit profits gleaned each and every year as something on the order of $31 billion. Under both Presidents Bush and Obama, domestic task forces to combat human trafficking have been established in over 40 cities, almost 900 American children have been rescued, and much thanks is owed to the FBI, State police, and local law enforcement.

Still, Madam Speaker, much more needs to be done. The National Center For Missing and Exploited Children believes that at least 100,000 American children, perhaps tens of thousands more, some estimates put it as high as 300,000, mostly runaway girls, average age 13, are exploited in the commercial sex industry each year.

S. 2925 seeks to address the lack of shelter, the lack of a safe place to go for domestic trafficking victims. As Carolyn Maloney said a moment ago, estimates may be as few as 100 beds--some put it at 50--and that is unconscionable.

As highly vulnerable victims, juvenile detention or some type of incarceration just doesn't meet the need. These girls require a place, a safe haven, a place where they can go where they will be helped to deal with the huge trauma that they have experienced.

The legislation authorizes six pilot grants of between $2.2 million to $2.5 million each in order to provide safe havens and psychological care to address trauma. The legislation also provides law enforcement training and beefs up reporting requirements so that missing children are immediately entered into the national missing children's database, the latter so that law enforcement finds a missing girl before the pimps do.

Madam Speaker, this is a good bill, it is a bipartisan bill, and will very tangibly assist our young runaways who sadly are so cruelly exploited by human traffickers.

As prime sponsor of the historic law to combat human trafficking--the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000--and as a Member of Congress who has devoted more than 15 years seeking to prevent trafficking, protect victims from exploitation and abuse and prosecute those who enslave up to life imprisonment, I rise in strong support of S. 2925.

Human Trafficking--modern day slavery--is the third most lucrative criminal activity in the world. The ILO estimates illicit profits of over $31 billion a year.

Under both presidents Bush and Obama, domestic task forces to combat human trafficking have been established in over 40 cities. Almost 900 American children have been rescued and much thanks is owed to the FBI, state police, and local law enforcement.

Still, much more needs to be done. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and Shared Hope International believe that at least 100,000 American children, perhaps tens of thousands more, mostly runaway girls of the average age of 13 years old, are exploited in the commercial sex industry each year.

S. 2925 seeks to address the lack of shelter--the lack of safe place to go--for domestic trafficking victims. One estimate is that there are between 50 and 100 beds for victims of domestic trafficking.

As highly vulnerable victims, private detention or some other type of incarceration fails to recognize these young girls as cruelly exploited victims desperately in need of help.

The legislation authorizes 6 pilot grants of $2-2.5 million in order to provide safe havens and psychological care to address trauma.

The legislation also provides for law enforcement training and keys up reporting requirements so that missing children are immediately entered into the national missing children database--the latter so that law enforcement finds a missing girl before the pimps do.

Madam Speaker, my distinguished colleague Carolyn Maloney and I crafted the House version of the pending bill in a way that absolutely precluded the use of funds authorized by the bill from being used to subsidize the killing of the child in the womb by abortion. S. 2925 as amended includes the identical language.

The Gentlelady from New York and I have deep differences on abortion, but worked in a spirit of cooperation and resolve in order to tangibly assist domestic victims of trafficking.

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