Stop Exploitation Through Trafficking Act
Floor Speech
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Ms. MOORE. I want to thank the gentlewoman from Texas and the
gentleman from Wisconsin.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 159, the Stop
Exploitation Through Trafficking Act, which has been so diligently
pushed through with the superb partnership of Congressman Erik Paulsen
of Minnesota. It has been a thrill to partner with him throughout this
process.
This is a bipartisan collaboration because, unfortunately, this is a
bipartisan problem. Solving the problem of sexual exploitation of
children will require work on all of our parts because it is a
financial boom. People become multimillionaires in this illicit trade.
Also, the gentlewoman from Texas has worked so diligently to combat
sex trafficking in places like Nigeria, and I joined with her on that
initiative.
It is very disheartening to know that right here, within our own
borders, the FBI estimates that at least 100,000 children in the United
States of America are currently trafficked and another 200,000 are
right on the cusp. They are at risk of sexual exploitation.
These victims are not ``women of the night'' or sexualized women who
are doing it of their own free will--no. The average age of these
victims is 13. It is an embarrassing statistic. It is embarrassing to
report that my own hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has become known
as a sex trafficking hub for both children and adults.
In 2013 alone, just on a random day, the FBI did a sweep and rescued
10 juvenile girls from sex traffickers in Milwaukee. Trafficking is all
too common in communities across the Nation--from urban settings, rural
settings, suburban settings, and from coast to coast.
Predators victimize vulnerable young people such as those in the
foster care system. They prey upon those living in poverty; but what we
do know is they also seek out higher-income children, going after those
children who may have problems in their own homes. Some are LGBT
identified.
There is no safe harbor for children unless we create it through laws
such as this.
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