Justice For Victims Of Trafficking Act Of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I know the Senator from West Virginia will be giving her first speech in the Senate here shortly and I look forward to listening to that, but I wanted to say a few words about the legislation we will be debating and hopefully passing this week, and that is the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act.

This is without a doubt one of the most shocking and troubling issues facing our country today. It is no exaggeration to say modern-day human slavery, at a time when we believed as a country that slavery was a part of our past and something we only read about in our history books.

Many people are under the impression that human trafficking is a problem somewhere else or at some other time in history, but the fact is human trafficking is a problem right now in all 50 States, right here in the United States of America, the most affluent country in the world. It is not just a problem in Texas, it is not just a problem in Arizona, it is not just a problem in West Virginia, it is a problem in all 50 States.

Thousands of young girls, many of them middle school age, are trapped into a life of bondage where they are abused and sold for sex every day. It is not easy to say, but it is true, and we must say it and we must acknowledge it.

This is of course unconscionable. As the father of two daughters myself, it is simply heartbreaking to hear the stories of young women who have been trapped in this system. Of course, we can imagine it is every parent's worst nightmare.

One woman I have had the privilege of meeting and who shared her very personal story about this is Melissa Woodward from the Dallas-Fort Worth area in Texas. When she was 12 years old--12 years old--she was sold into the sex trade by a family member, somebody whom she had every right to assume cared for her, loved her, wanted her to grow up being a loved and productive person. But she was sold into the sex trade by a family member. Eventually she was pulled out of school and trafficked full time when she was in sixth grade. Her life became a prison.

She was chained to a bed in a warehouse. She endured regular beatings and, of course, she was sexually assaulted with regularity. She was even set on fire by one of her captors. All the while, she was forced to serve between 5 and 30 men every day.

Melissa has said that she wished she were dead. Her story of her time in captivity is gut-wrenching and heartbreaking, but just as sad is the way she was treated once she escaped from her captors. As is the case with so many victims, Melissa struggled for years to distance herself from her past. But instead of being treated as the victim she was, the criminal justice system actually treated her as the criminal. That is an all too common outcome for victims of trafficking, who are labeled as prostitutes and are left with few options but to return to the nightmare that so sadly exists in our country.

That needs to change. That is why I am glad the Senate is taking up the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act, because this begins the process of making that important change. The bill helps law enforcement crack down on criminal trafficking rings and perpetrators of these crimes.

Instead of a slap on the wrist and a fine, the so-called johns--the demand side for this terrible trade--will be treated as the child rapists and the criminals they are. No longer are we just going to deal with the supply side. We are going to pay attention to the demand side too.

Critically, this bill takes fines from the perpetrators of these awful crimes and redirects them into a crime victims fund which will help people such as Melissa and others get a fresh lease on life, to begin to heal and to get the help they so badly need in order to get on with their lives.

This week we have a wonderful opportunity in the Senate, in a town that is too often divided by ideology and partisanship, to do something together on a bipartisan basis that can help people such as Melissa and the thousands of young girls like her waiting to be saved. All of us, Republicans and Democrats alike, are committed to working together to do everything we can to help these victims and to put an end to this abhorrent practice.

This particular legislation we are taking up today passed unanimously out of the Judiciary Committee a few weeks ago. That doesn't happen very often, but it did for this legislation. More than 200 groups around the country--such as the NAACP, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Rights4Girls, the Fraternal Order of Police, and the National Conference of State Legislatures--have all endorsed our work on this issue.

I want to particularly thank some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who joined me on this effort: the senior Senator from Minnesota, Ms. Klobuchar, and the senior Senator from Oregon, Mr. Wyden. They have been great partners in this fight--not just this year but for many years. And there are many others. Another great partner has been the junior Senator from Illinois, Mr. Kirk, who has worked for years to get antitrafficking legislation to the floor. He introduced a bill called the HERO Act which authorizes a program to recruit wounded, injured, and returning veterans and provides them with training in high-tech computer forensics and law enforcement skills to help fight child exploitation.

I also want to acknowledge the great contribution of the junior Senator from Ohio, Mr. Portman, who has a bill called the Bringing Missing Children Home Act, which improves the way cases of missing children are handled, strengthening law enforcement reporting and response procedures.

Both the HERO Act and the Bringing Missing Children Home Act have been incorporated into the underlying bill, and I want to thank both of them for their efforts and willingness to work with us to make the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act even stronger.

I know there are Members who are interested in offering amendments to this legislation. Thanks to the majority leader, we are going to have an open process where anybody with a better idea who wants to add to this base of work that is contained in this bill will have the opportunity to do so, both offering amendments and seeking votes on those.

This is a fight that sadly must be fought, but it is a fight we will win. When we do, we will finally have done our part to help deliver our Nation's promise of freedom to those who are enslaved.

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