Senate Supports Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons

On July 21, the Senate approved, by unanimous consent, a resolution (S. Res. 414) supporting the bipartisan efforts of Congress, the Departments of Justice and State, and local law enforcement to combat human trafficking and slavery.

Sponsored by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), the resolution contains a number of findings, including:

• According to federal government estimates, approximately 800,000 women and children are bought, sold, or forced across the world’s borders each year;
• The Department of Justice, under the leadership of the Civil Rights Division, has worked to strengthen anti-trafficking laws and to increase its own efforts to combat human trafficking in accordance with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-386) and the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003 (P.L. 108-193);
• The State Department Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons continues to fight human trafficking and slavery around the world;
• The enactment of comprehensive state laws criminalizing human trafficking may be necessary to ensure that federal efforts are accompanied by “robust” efforts at the state and local levels; and
• At the first “National Conference on Human Trafficking” in Tampa, Florida, the Department of Justice announced a comprehensive model state anti-trafficking criminal statute and encouraged states to adopt laws based on the statute.

Addressing the number of victims who are smuggled into the country willingly, but then are forced into involuntary servitude and slavery, Sen. Cornyn stated, “I hope we will view this as one of the terrible symptoms of a larger problem, and that this is the need for us, as we establish the security of our borders, consistent with the post 9/11 world, that we also address the need to bring our immigration laws into this century. The President’s call for immigration reform is part of it..”

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) explained that victims of trafficking “are kidnapped or lured with false promises of money, and then thrown into slavery. Their captors subject their victims to forced prostitution. They are sexually assaulted sometimes 20 times a day. The lack of protection against HIV and AIDS means an effective death sentence for many sexual trafficking victims.” He stated, “By educating and empowering State and local law enforcement officers to recognize trafficking crimes and raising awareness of this issue, we can identify more victims and get them the help they need and, most importantly, take their traffickers off the streets. We are also calling on the States to do a close examination of their current laws to see if they are adequate in the face of the human trafficking threat. We must make sure we are prepared to deal with this crime at all levels. We must also make sure the victims of trafficking receive the same level of services regardless of what laws are used to prosecute their traffickers.”