Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mrs. GILLIBRAND. Mr. President, I rise to offer an amendment to
Senator Cornyn's bill, S. 178, the Justice for Victims of Trafficking
Act.

Under current law, there are many trafficking victims who, even after
gaining freedom from their captors, have to live their lives stuck with
a criminal record because of things they were forced to do in
captivity.

Imagine being freed from the hell of sexual slavery only to find
yourself unable to get a job or stable housing because the law
considers you a criminal.

My amendment, the Federal Criminal Procedure Post-Conviction Relief
For Victims of Trafficking Act, would vacate the criminal convictions
of trafficking victims who were forced to break the law while they were
trafficked. It would expunge the criminal records of trafficking
victims and it would give trafficking victims a chance to restart their
lives without stigma and without a criminal record.

These boys and girls were snatched into captivity. They were forced
into sexual slavery, and they were denied the freedom to make their own
decisions, including the chance to say no to committing a crime.

These victims are not criminals. Their bodies are scarred. Their
memories are shaken by trauma. The least Congress can do is give them
the dignity of a clean record and a new chance to lead a fulfilling
life. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

I also wish to urge my colleagues to support a bill Senator Rubio and
I introduced called the Strengthening the Child Welfare Response to
Trafficking Act. This bill would require each State to develop a plan
to protect young victims of labor and sex trafficking from falling back
into captivity after they have escaped.

As it stands now, many of the various services and programs that are
meant to keep children from these dangerous, oppressive cycles are
failing to do their jobs. Instead of being protected and comforted as
victims of violent crime, young trafficking survivors are sent into the
juvenile justice system and treated as criminals--as if it were their
own fault and their own choice that they were held in captivity and
forced into exploitation. This is just not the case.

This bill would give American children better trained protective
service workers, better lines of communication between victims and
protective services, and better data on where trafficking crimes are
actually occurring, how often, and whom traffickers are targeting.

I commend my colleagues for bringing this issue of human trafficking
so boldly to the Senate floor, and I encourage everyone in this Chamber
to support these legislative efforts to solve our country's trafficking
problem.

I yield the floor.

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