House of Representatives Passes Legislation to Combat Human Trafficking

Press Release

The House of Representatives has passed a series of legislation supported by Congressman Kevin Cramer to combat human trafficking. Twelve bills passed the House today and yesterday which will address the entire scope of this crime, including issues related to law enforcement, victim support, foster care, awareness training, and welfare.

As a $32 billion a year industry, human trafficking is second only to drug trafficking as the most profitable form of international crime. The Department of Homeland Security estimates more than 20 million victims exist worldwide. A recently published white paper which discusses this epidemic, along with the legislative solutions passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, is available here.

"These twelve bills represent twelve different directions coming at the same problem. Each perspective is an important one, it deals with a different aspect of this scourge of human sex trafficking in our country. It's a great illustration of the diversity and the talent on exhibit in the U.S. House of Representatives. You've got Republicans and Democrats, conservatives, liberals, men, women, locking arms and bringing their talents together in this package of bills that cannot be ignored any longer. The previous Senate for some reason wasn't interested in this topic, but we think the current Senate is much more interested with its new leadership. We already know the Senate judiciary chairman has agreed to take these up, and we expect they will end up on the President's desk yet this year," said Cramer.

The legislation passed by the U.S. House today will complement work currently underway in the North Dakota state legislature. The U.S. House's Stop Exploitation Through Trafficking Act encourages states to establish their own "safe harbor laws" to ensure victims of trafficking are treated as victims and not defendants, and are properly directed to child protective services. The North Dakota state legislature is set to vote on its own safe harbor law during the 2015 session, which is supported by Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem.

This afternoon Cramer also participated in a bipartisan news conference to bring attention to the issue.

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