Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015 -- Continued
Floor Speech
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Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I come to the Senate floor to thank my
colleagues and to ask for their support for our first amendment,
Klobuchar amendment No. 296. I understand it is going to be by voice
vote, and it is something I have worked on for a long time.
I know everyone has put a lot of effort into this bill--certainly
Senator Cornyn and I have--and we are very pleased that it is moving
forward. I thank all my colleagues for their work.
This afternoon, I know we will be considering a number of important
amendments, and, as I mentioned, one is the safe harbor legislation. I
think we have 26 cosponsors on the bill.
Let's first get to why we are doing this bill. The United Nations
considers human trafficking to be one of the three largest criminal
enterprises in the world. The first is illegal trafficking of drugs,
the second is illegal trafficking of guns, and the third is illegal
trafficking of humans. It is not just something, as we know, that is
happening in faraway lands. It happens in our own backyards. It has
happened to 12-year-olds in my own State. As Senator Heitkamp knows, it
happens in the oil patches of North Dakota. That is why this bill and
this amendment No. 296, which passed with the bill unanimously through
the Judiciary Committee, are so important.
This is about treating the children who are victims of these crimes
as victims because that is what they are. Right now, in many States
around the country, these kids can still be prosecuted.
In a State such as mine, the State of Minnesota, we have in place a
safe harbor law that has been very effective. Why? One, it gives the
kids the services they need, whether it is through child protection,
whether it is housing, whether it is getting the kind of medical care
they need. That is what our bill does. On the other hand, if you just
prosecute these kids, do you actually think they are going to turn
against the person running the sex ring? Are they going to turn against
the pimp? No. They are going to go right back into the hands of the
person they were with--the perpetrator--to begin with. In our State, we
have had a lot of success with this safe harbor law. We have obtained
one of the longest sentences ever--40 years--against someone who was
running a sex ring because we give help to the victims of the crime.
As I said, there are 26 of my colleagues across the Senate who have
cosponsored the bill. It has been an honor to work on the issue with
Samantha Power, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and Cindy McCain, wife of our colleague Senator McCain. Senator Heitkamp, Cindy McCain, and I went down to Mexico to talk with them about the partnership we have in going after these cases.
The amendment has the support of the National Conference of State
Legislatures, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children,
the Fraternal Order of Police, Shared Hope International, and the
National Alliance to End Sexual Violence.
As I said, this bill and this amendment simply create an incentive
for States across the country to enact a safe harbor law. Fifteen
States already have these laws. Another 12 States are making progress
in that direction. The House passed a similar bill last year under the
leadership of Erik Paulsen, one of the Congressmen from Minnesota.
Secondly, in addition to creating an incentive for these States to
enact safe harbor laws, the bill also creates a national strategy to
combat human trafficking. The national strategy will encourage
cooperation and coordination among all the agencies that work on this
problem--Federal, State, tribal, and local. That is a major part of the
bill, and it wasn't in the House bill. We think it is very important.
The bill also gives sex trafficking victims the right support they
need. It qualifies them for job-training programs. The bill allows
victims of sex trafficking to participate in the Job Corps program to
help them get back on their feet.
Senator Cornyn, who is the lead Republican on this amendment, and I
were pleased to include a provision that Senators Whitehouse and
Sessions have been working on to clarify the authority of the U.S.
Marshals Service to assist local law enforcement agencies in locating
missing children.
That is what the amendment does. There are incentives for the safe
harbor laws we have already seen in 15 States. There is a national sex
trafficking strategy, which is something we dearly need as we see an
increase in these kinds of crimes. It qualifies victims of these crimes
for job-training programs. Finally, there is a provision to make it
easier for the U.S. Marshals Service to assist local law enforcement, a
measure proposed by Senator Whitehouse and Senator Sessions which is
included in this amendment and which came through the committee.
I want to end by telling you what this is about. It is about a 12-
year-old girl in Rochester who got a text message. The text message
said she was invited to a party. The text said to go meet in a parking
lot. She went there, and then she was thrown into a car, brought up to
the Twin Cities, raped by a man, then sold on craigslist, sold for sex,
and raped by two other men. Finally, weeks later, the guy who did this
was found, and he is being prosecuted federally.
That is what this is about. These are serious crimes. The average age
of a victim is 12 years old--not even old enough to go to a high school
prom, not old enough to get a driver's license.
Again, I thank Senator Cornyn for his work. We worked together on
both the bill as well as this amendment we are considering today. This
has been a lot of work the last month, but I am so pleased we are
advancing this important trafficking bill.
I see that the Senator from Maine is here. She has also been a leader
in this area.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I yield the floor.
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Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I am speaking in favor of the
Klobuchar-Cornyn amendment No. 296. This is a very important policy
amendment.
It basically encourages States across the country--we already have 15
States doing this--not to prosecute victims of sex trafficking and to
treat them as victims--not as criminals--so they don't end up in jail.
It also sets forth a national sex-trafficking strategy. It also
qualifies these victims for job training programs. Then, finally, it
includes a very important bill that Senator Whitehouse and Senator
Sessions had that helps Federal marshals to track down victims of sex
trafficking.
I thank my coauthor and all 26 cosponsors of this amendment. Senator
Cornyn--I know we will talk later about the underlying bill, but this
is a bipartisan effort from beginning to end and a very important
policy bill.
I yield the floor.
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Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I first of all want to thank Senator
Cornyn. We have been working on these bills for over 1 year. I want to
thank Senator Leahy and Senator Grassley for their leadership on the
Judiciary Committee, Senator Murray for her work in negotiating this
agreement and working with us, as well as so many other people who have
been involved in working on this bill.
Through the last month, I think every so often people have forgotten
what this really is about. This is about victims of sex trafficking,
with an average age of 12 years old--not even old enough to get their
own driver's license, not even old enough to go to a high school prom.
Yet this is happening all over the country, from the oil patches of
North Dakota to the suburbs of Minneapolis.
What this bill does and what this Senate is doing today is saying we
want to be there in our country for these victims. We are going to pay
for services. We are actually going to change some policies so that
when we go to the rest of the world and look at something that is now
the third biggest international criminal enterprise in the world, when
we look at what Boko Haram is doing in Nigeria and in other countries,
we can hold our heads up high and say that in the Senate we are finally
doing something about this and our country is united across party lines
against this practice.
Again, I thank Senator Cornyn for what he has done.
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