[House Hearing, 108 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS: THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S APPROACH TO ERADICATE
THIS WORLDWIDE PROBLEM
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
SUBCOMMITTEE ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND WELLNESS
of the
COMMITTEE ON
GOVERNMENT REFORM
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
JULY 8, 2004
__________
Serial No. 108-247
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Government Reform
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpo.gov/congress/house
http://www.house.gov/reform
______
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
97-774 WASHINGTON : 2004
____________________________________________________________________________
For Sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
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COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM
TOM DAVIS, Virginia, Chairman
DAN BURTON, Indiana HENRY A. WAXMAN, California
CHRISTOPHER SHAYS, Connecticut TOM LANTOS, California
ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida MAJOR R. OWENS, New York
JOHN M. McHUGH, New York EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York
JOHN L. MICA, Florida PAUL E. KANJORSKI, Pennsylvania
MARK E. SOUDER, Indiana CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York
STEVEN C. LaTOURETTE, Ohio ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland
DOUG OSE, California DENNIS J. KUCINICH, Ohio
RON LEWIS, Kentucky DANNY K. DAVIS, Illinois
JO ANN DAVIS, Virginia JOHN F. TIERNEY, Massachusetts
TODD RUSSELL PLATTS, Pennsylvania WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri
CHRIS CANNON, Utah DIANE E. WATSON, California
ADAM H. PUTNAM, Florida STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts
EDWARD L. SCHROCK, Virginia CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland
JOHN J. DUNCAN, Jr., Tennessee LINDA T. SANCHEZ, California
NATHAN DEAL, Georgia C.A. ``DUTCH'' RUPPERSBERGER,
CANDICE S. MILLER, Michigan Maryland
TIM MURPHY, Pennsylvania ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of
MICHAEL R. TURNER, Ohio Columbia
JOHN R. CARTER, Texas JIM COOPER, Tennessee
MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee BETTY McCOLLUM, Minnesota
PATRICK J. TIBERI, Ohio ------
KATHERINE HARRIS, Florida BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont
(Independent)
Melissa Wojciak, Staff Director
David Marin, Deputy Staff Director/Communications Director
Rob Borden, Parliamentarian
Teresa Austin, Chief Clerk
Phil Barnet, Minority Chief of Staff/Chief Counsel
Subcommittee on Human Rights and Wellness
DAN BURTON, Indiana, Chairman
CHRIS CANNON, Utah DIANE E. WATSON, California
CHRISTOPHER SHAYS, Connecticut BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont
ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida (Independent)
ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland
Ex Officio
TOM DAVIS, Virginia HENRY A. WAXMAN, California
Mark Walker, Chief of Staff
Mindi Walker, Professional Staff Member
Danielle Perraut, Clerk
Richard Butcher, Minority Professional Staff Member
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Hearing held on July 8, 2004..................................... 1
Statement of:
Clark, Michele, co-director, protection project, Johns
Hopkins University School of Advanced International
Studies; Charles Song, director, legal services program,
Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking; and Derek
Ellerman, co-executive director, Polaris Project........... 84
Miller, John, Director, Office to Monitor and Combat
Trafficking in Persons, Department of State; R. Alexander
Acosta, Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division,
Department of Justice; and Christopher Gersten, Principal
Deputy Assistant Secretary, Administration for Children and
Families, Department of Health and Human Services.......... 21
Letters, statements, etc., submitted for the record by:
Acosta, R. Alexander, Assistant Attorney General, Civil
Rights Division, Department of Justice, prepared statement
of......................................................... 32
Burton, Hon. Dan, a Representative in Congress from the State
of Indiana:
Information concerning National Geographic............... 76
Prepared statement of.................................... 5
Clark, Michele, co-director, protection project, Johns
Hopkins University School of Advanced International
Studies, prepared statement of............................. 87
Ellerman, Derek, co-executive director, Polaris Project,
prepared statement of...................................... 106
Gersten, Christopher, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary,
Administration for Children and Families, Department of
Health and Human Services, prepared statement of........... 61
Miller, John, Director, Office to Monitor and Combat
Trafficking in Persons, Department of State, prepared
statement of............................................... 24
Smith, Hon. Chris, a Representative in Congress from the
State of New Jersey, information concerning NATO........... 18
Song, Charles, director, legal services program, Coalition to
Abolish Slavery and Trafficking, prepared statement of..... 98
Watson, Hon. Diane E., a Representative in Congress from the
State of California, prepared statement of................. 13
TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS: THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S APPROACH TO ERADICATE
THIS WORLDWIDE PROBLEM
----------
THURSDAY, JULY 8, 2004
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Human Rights and Wellness,
Committee on Government Reform,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:10 p.m., in
room 2154, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Dan Burton
(chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
Present: Representatives Burton, Watson, Smith and Pence.
Staff present: Mark Walker, chief of staff; Mindi Walker,
Brian Fauls, and Dan Getz, professional staff members; Nick
Mutton, press secretary; Danielle Perraut, clerk; Richard
Butcher, minority professional staff member; and Jean Gosa,
minority assistant clerk.
Mr. Burton. We are going to go ahead and get started with
the hearing. We have other Members who will be coming and
going. We have a lot going on around here since we are getting
close to the Democratic and Republican conventions and
everybody is trying to wrap everything up, so there are a
number of hearings going on today but we will go ahead and get
started. Ms. Watson will probably be here in a few minutes and
Chris Smith is planning to come and Congressman Pence and some
others.
A quorum being present, the Subcommittee on Human Rights
and Wellness will come to order.
I ask unanimous consent that all Members' and witnesses'
opening statements be included in the record and without
objection, so ordered.
I ask unanimous consent that all articles, exhibits and
extraneous or tabular materials referred to be included in the
record and without objection, so ordered.
In the event that other Members attending the hearing want
to participate, I ask unanimous consent that they be permitted
to serve as a member of the subcommittee for today's hearing
and without objection, so ordered. Right on cue, here comes
Congressman Chris Smith who has just been covered with that
language.
The subcommittee is convening today to once again examine
the atrocious practices of human trafficking and slavery around
the world and to discuss how the United States is attempting to
combat these illicit practices both domestically and on an
international basis.
The notion that slavery is still practiced in these modern
times is nearly unbelievable in most peoples' minds, but
unfortunately, it remains an all too real and living nightmare
for the 27 million people, this is hard to believe, who have
fallen victim to some form of slavery and who represent the
highest concentration of slaves in the entirety of human
history. We have more slaves now than we did at any point in
history and this is supposed to be a civilized period.
Trafficking in persons is a highly profitable subset of
organized crime accounting for an estimated $13 billion in
revenues every year to the global economy, $7 billion of which
is a direct result of the illicit sex trade alone. In addition,
human slavery is the third largest form of illegal trafficking
closely trailing the drug trade and illegal gun distribution.
Because of the enormous profitability of this industry,
slave holders will stop at nothing to traffic as many slaves as
possible by tricking and victimizing innocent people into lives
of servitude by preying on the most economically disadvantaged
members of society. As soon as victims are deprived of the
opportunity to return to their homes, they are forced into
domestic servitude, sweatshop labor, prostitution and other
types of compulsory labor.
This crisis has affected every nation in the world in some
form including many industrialized and developed nations such
as the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States. No
country is immune from the detriments of these illegal
practices.
Although slavery in all its forms was outlawed nearly 130
years ago in the United States, approximately 14,500 to 17,500
men, women and children are suspected to be trafficked across
American borders every single year. While any instances of
these horrific crimes are deplorable, this is a relatively low
number compared to many other industrialized nations.
Even so, the current administration led by President George
W. Bush is still not taking these offenses lightly. For the
first time in history, the President addressed this problem
head on before the United Nations on September 23 last year. In
his groundbreaking speech, the President stated, ``There is a
special evil in the abuse and exploitation of the most innocent
and vulnerable. Those who created these victims and profit from
their suffering must be severely punished. Those who patronize
this industry debase themselves and deepen the misery of others
and governments that tolerate this trade are tolerating a form
of slavery.''
Under the firm guidance of President Bush, the U.S. Federal
Government has taken many actions to further curve instances of
slavery within our own borders. On October 28, 2000, then
President Clinton signed into law the Trafficking Victims
Protection Act of 2000 sponsored by my good friend who is here
with us today, Representative Chris Smith of New Jersey. This
groundbreaking legislation has been instrumental in combating
human trafficking by supplying the first step toward providing
protection to victims of these crimes as well as strengthening
the law with regard to the prosecution of those who perpetrate
these illicit activities. The bill also requires the Department
of State to submit an annual report to Congress regarding the
status of trafficking in persons around the world.
To address the Department of State actions to combat
trafficking as well as to discuss the recently released
Trafficking in Persons Report, the subcommittee has the
pleasure today of hearing from my former colleague, the
Honorable John Miller whom I just recognized, Director of the
Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons and a
former Member of Congress who represented the First District of
Washington back in 1985-1993 and he is going to speak on these
issues.
The Trafficking Victims Protection Act not only provided
agencies with tools to further monitor and combat instances of
trafficking, but it also gave the necessary resources to
provide assistance to the victims of trafficking. Through the
Department of Health and Human Services, victims and certain
family members are eligible for benefits and services such as
medical care, refugee cash and other social services. The
subcommittee is pleased today to hear from the Honorable
Christopher Gersten, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of
the Administration for Children and Families at HHS. Welcome,
Mr. Gersten. He is going to inform us of the agency's programs
to assist victims of these horrible crimes and improve the
quality of their lives.
In December of last year, Congress passed H.R. 2620, the
Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003
which authorized continued appropriations for fiscal years 2004
and 2005 for the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. In
addition the reauthorization of certain programs, this new law
added even more initiatives to the Government's anti-
trafficking agenda. Some of the new measures include further
campaigns to combat sex tourism, harsher punishments for those
convicted of trafficking offenses and expanded eligibility for
victims and certain family members for access to further
access. Chris, you worked on that one as well.
The act also dictated that the Attorney General must submit
an annual report of their activities to combat trafficking to
Congress. The first report was released in May of this year and
it gave us an idea to gain further perspective on this report
and the agency's current activities and programs regarding
human slavery.
We have the pleasure today to hear of that report from the
Honorable R. Alexander Acosta, Assistant Attorney General,
Civil Rights Division, Department of Justice. Thank you for
being here.
Not only has the Federal Government worked to strengthen
its own policies and programs on trafficking, but it also has
worked alongside non-governmental organizations and NGO's to
further address this illicit industry and to enhance the
quality of life for victims of these crimes. To better
understand these relationships, the subcommittee will receive
testimony from Mr. Charles Song of the Coalition to Abolish
Slavery and Trafficking and with the assistance of private
donors and the Federal Government CAST has established the
first ever shelter for victims of trafficking in the United
States.
In addition to CAST, the subcommittee will also be hearing
this afternoon from Mr. Derek Ellerman with the Polaris Project
to discuss their activities on the multi-faceted topic of human
slavery. The subcommittee is also going to receive testimony
from Ms. Michele Clark, co-director, Protection Project at the
Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International
Studies to speak on the public policy implications of
trafficking in the United States.
As I stated before, trafficking in persons is a human
rights tragedy that must be eliminated. President Bush's
administration, the U.S. Federal Government and NGO's like
those with us today have comprehensively responded to these
crimes and should be congratulated for their work on this
important issue.
This is something we really need to illuminate. We are
going to try to have more hearings on this in the future. I
hope we will try to keep this on the front burner so that we
can do something toward eliminating this tragedy.
With that, I will yield to my colleague, Ms. Watson.
[The prepared statement of Hon. Dan Burton follows:]
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Ms. Watson. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman.
I certainly appreciate your determined efforts to promote
awareness on the subject of human trafficking. Many people
equate trafficking with other countries' problems. In addition
to the international conflict, we have trafficking problems
here at home as well as abroad and we must address them also.
The United States is a major and growing source of
trafficking activities with some 14,500 to 17,500 victims of
trafficking entering the United States annually. According to
the State Department's Fourth Annual Trafficking I Person's
Report, most women and children trafficked to the United States
come from Southeast Asia and the former Soviet Union. About
half of those are forced into sweatshop labor and domestic
servitude. The rest are forced into prostitution and the sex
industry. Women trafficked to the United States most often wind
up in New York, Florida, North Carolina, Hawaii and my own
State of California. Los Angeles is a major area of human
trafficking activities.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has
provided the committee with some disturbing statistics of
missing children. In my own State, the Center lists 292 missing
children and 26 are from my area in Los Angeles or my district.
With a busy Tom Bradley International Airport, and the close
proximity of the Mexican border, there are several available
pathways to traffic and exploit my constituents.
Although there is a large problem to be addressed, I am
optimistic for progress in the battle to stem human
trafficking. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you for your
constant attention to this particular concern and issue.
In 1998, the Clinton administration and Congress launched a
governmentwide anti-trafficking strategy of prevention,
protection and support for victims, plus prosecution of
traffickers. The resulting legislation was the Victims of
Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000. As a result of
one of the more important provisions, the State Department
issued its fourth congressionally mandated annual report on
worldwide trafficking in June. The current delineation of Tier
1, Tier 2 and Tier 2 Watch List and Tier 3 nations is providing
a stronger spotlight on the worldwide problem.
On December 19, 2003, Congress passed H.R. 2620, or the
Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003.
This authorization for appropriations allows for fiscal funding
in 2004 and 2005 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of
2000.
Recently, the U.S. Government has taken a number of serious
and significant actions to combat trafficking occurring at
home. For example, the Department of Justice has focused on
increasing the number of trafficking victims rescued and the
number of prosecutions and convictions of the traffickers.
The Department of Health and Human Services is running a
major public awareness campaign to alert victims in the United
States that help is available through a new hotline number.
These positive steps must be continued and expanded until the
problems are eliminated.
Mr. Chairman, I join with you to monitor and assist
governmental attention to the issue of human trafficking. This
worldwide problem must be fought on two battle fronts, one
internationally but most of all our own domestic side. The
nature of this crime intertwines the two battles requiring
equal attention to both fronts.
I look forward to the testimony that we will gather today
and I commend the efforts of all who challenge the perpetrators
and assist the victims of this atrocious criminal activity.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman and I yield back my time.
[The prepared statement of Hon. Diane E. Watson follows:]
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Mr. Burton. Thank you, Ms. Watson.
As I introduce Chris Smith, let me say that there is nobody
I have met in my tenure here in Congress that has worked harder
on human rights issues than Chris Smith. He has worked hard on
the slavery issues, worked hard on the people who have been put
into gulags in China and elsewhere and there is nobody who
works harder than Chris. We are happy you are here with us
today, Chris.
Mr. Smith. Thank you very much for your kind remarks and
thank you for your leadership because as some of you may know,
we sit next to each other on the International Relations
Committee and there is never anything that separates us. We
work together on these issues including human trafficking. It
is no surprise that you are again taking the lead with this
hearing and the good work you have done.
There is a close correlation obviously between this and the
good work you do on the abduction cases, particularly the
hearing we had just the other day and you were very prominent
in that. So I want to thank you for your leadership, as well as
the ranking member with whom I have traveled and have a great
deal of respect for.
I would say to my colleagues very briefly that you and the
ranking member have very adequately described the Trafficking
Victims Protection Act of 2000 and the Reauthorization and
Expansion Act of 2003. It is indeed comprehensive, it is
landmark. It tries to give the tools to all agencies of
government to vigorously prosecute those who commit these
heinous acts of trafficking in human persons while
simultaneously ensuring the women, and it is usually the women,
are treated as the victims and provided safe haven and
protective services, all while we work on prevention.
Certainly the tools are there and I want to especially
thank my good friend and former colleague, John Miller, soon to
be Ambassador John Miller, for his leadership, for the fire in
the belly that he has exhibited in carrying out his mandate as
Director of the TIP office. He has been extraordinary.
To our other distinguished witnesses, as well, thank you so
much for your leadership and for doing so much.
I would announce to the committee and I am sure you are
aware, over a year ago, and President Bush never gets credit
for this and it really bothers me, announced through a
Presidential Directive, a zero tolerance policy when it comes
to trafficking and that has had particular application in our
military. There has been an ongoing effort both in South Korea,
for our deployments in Bosnia and everywhere else in the world
to ensure there is absolutely no complicity in trafficking and
as a direct result of the policy enunciated by President Bush,
Secretary Wolfowitz put out a memorandum January 30 that went
into greater detail and a great victory was just realized in
NATO on June 28 with a great assist from Ambassador Nicholas
Burns in Brussels with a new zero tolerance policy for NATO. So
these peacekeeping deployments and very often the traffickers
as we know look for the men in uniform to sell, the Russians,
the Moldavians, the others who have been trafficked, the
Filipinos, and now NATO too has a zero tolerance policy. Next
in line will be the United Nations peacekeeping so that they
too will join the world to ensure there is absolutely no
complicity in this egregious crime.
I would ask that the statement or the broad outline of the
policy that NATO has just approved be made a part of the
record.
Mr. Burton. Without objection.
[The information referred to follows:]
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Mr. Smith. Again, thank you.
Mr. Burton. Thank you, Mr. Smith. Once again, I appreciate
all the hard work you do and everybody should.
My colleague, the young Mr. Pence from Indiana, who dies
his hair gray so he will look more mature, is with us. He is
very active in human rights issues. Mr. Pence, do you have an
opening remark?
Mr. Pence. Thank you, Chairman, for the courtesy of this
invitation. This is an issue that I have admired your
leadership on for many years and that of my other colleagues
and the panel. I am grateful to have the opportunity to
participate.
Mr. Burton. Thank you.
Without further ado, I would like to swear you in. We would
like to keep the opening remarks to around 5 minutes if we can
so we can get to the questions and answers as quickly as
possible.
[Witnesses sworn.]
Mr. Burton. We will start with my former colleague, Mr.
Miller.
STATEMENTS OF JOHN MILLER, DIRECTOR, OFFICE TO MONITOR AND
COMBAT TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS, DEPARTMENT OF STATE; R.
ALEXANDER ACOSTA, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL, CIVIL RIGHTS
DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE; AND CHRISTOPHER GERSTEN,
PRINCIPAL DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY, ADMINISTRATION FOR
CHILDREN AND FAMILIES, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Mr. Miller. Thank you for having this hearing.
I think there are thousands of victims throughout the world
that thank you. If they knew that you were holding this
hearing, they would get new hope. Every time you hold a hearing
on this issue, you bring a spotlight and indirectly, sometimes
directly, you are helping to rescue the victims and put the
traffickers in jail.
We are going to talk in this hearing about reports and
figures and all that. I have had the privilege in the last 16-
17 months in this job of traveling to countries in different
parts of the world and coming to realize that this is more than
reports and figures, it is about individual human beings. When
you meet with some of the people described in this last report,
girls and boys like Khan, taken hundreds of miles from Laos to
Thailand, dumped in a Bangkok embroidery factory working 14
hours a day, beaten, industrial chemicals dumped on them; when
you meet with now a young lady but formerly a teenager named
Katia taken from the Czech Republic trafficked to the
Netherlands, forced into brothels through the threat against
her own child, forced to service hundreds and thousands of men,
you understand why this is emerging as one of the premiere
human rights issues of the century.
It does extend to every country in the world. There is all
kinds of slavery, domestic servitude slavery, child soldier
slavery, forced labor slavery, camel jockey slavery and what we
now believe is the largest form of slavery, sex slavery. It
does reach more of the female gender. We estimate close to 80
percent of the victims are women. Around half are children.
The President, as you mentioned, last fall became the first
world leader to speak out on this issue at the United Nations
to urge nations to cooperate. It has been my privilege in the
last year to wear a couple of hats, first, because of your
efforts Congressman Smith and others, there is the Senior
Policy Operating Group that was set up that I am privileged to
chair that involves all the agencies of the U.S. Government
involved in this.
At the President's directive, every one of these agencies
has come up with a strategic implementation plan to fight
trafficking in persons as it is euphemistically referred to or
slavery. Pursuant to those plans, you will hear more about
this, you have the Department of Justice having tripled its
prosecutions in the last 2 years, you have the Department of
Health and Human Services reaching out in the four major cities
trying with media campaigns to reach potential victims. You
have the Department of Defense as Congressman Smith mentioned
issuing a zero tolerance policy. You have this group
coordinating when the President announced at the United Nations
General Assembly a major initiative to fight trafficking in
persons abroad, help the NGO's abroad in rescuing victims and
caring for victims. These gentlemen to my left are going to
talk more about that.
Let me go in the remainder of my time to one of the State
Department's focuses. Along with running a modest amount of
programs abroad on protection and prosecution and prevention,
we issue this annual report every year that you referenced.
This report was required by you and I want you to know that it
has had some results. Yes, the problem is huge, let us not
underestimate it, but after this report which we discussed a
year ago, countries in Tier 3 including some major allies like
Greece and Turkey took some tremendously significant steps, law
enforcement training programs, public service announcements to
victims, prosecutions, convictions, new shelters, etc. This
year in the months preceding this report, 24 new countries
passed anti-trafficking in persons legislation. This past year
there were almost 8,000 prosecutions around the world and
almost 3,000 convictions.
In the report this year, along with our traditional
features, we have some new sections, heroes in the fight
against trafficking in persons and Congresswoman Watson
referred to the Tier 2 Watch List which Congress put in the
reauthorization bill and I had some skepticism about but I
think it is working very well because this Tier 2 Watch List is
helping address the problem which you all recognized that there
were Tier 1 countries that met minimum standards, Tier 3 they
were make no significant efforts, Tier 2 making significant
efforts, Tier 2 was getting bigger and bigger. This Tier 2
Watch List allowed us to deliver a warning to countries that
are in danger of falling to Tier 3, at the bottom of Tier 2. I
think that is having an impact. You will see some very large
countries are on the Tier 2 Watch List, Japan, India, Russia,
for example.
In the report this year there is also more law enforcement
evidence. You mandated that. It is not easy to collect but
there is far more information on prosecutions and convictions
and sentences than we have had in the past.
Last, a word on where we are going, new efforts. We hope
this coming year, the Secretary of State, the President, we
hope to focus more on the demand side of the slavery issue.
Yes, there are source countries, many of them less developed,
but slaves end up in advanced countries, in wealthy countries.
We want to focus more on the destination countries and when it
comes to demand, as the President said at the United Nation's
General Assembly, we want to focus more on child sex tourism
which is one of the major drivers of slavery. Again, we can
work with countries where the sex tourist facilities are, the
Cambodias, the Thailands, the Costa Ricas, the Gambias, but
where are the tourists coming from? The tourists come from the
Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States and
Japan. So we want to focus on the demand side of trafficking in
persons.
It has been 4 years since this report was mandated. Let us
be realistic. There is so much more to do. There are so many
more victims to save and rescue, so many more traffickers to be
thrown in jail, but in the last several years with the United
States taking the lead, you are starting to see governments
around the world awaken to this issue and pushed by NGO's
starting to do some things leading to the abolition of slavery.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Miller follows:]
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Mr. Burton. Mr. Acosta.
Mr. Acosta. Thank you.
Let me echo my colleagues' words and thank you for calling
this hearing. It is so important to shed light on this issue as
we search out and seek victims. One of the challenges we face
is that too many Americans don't realize the existence and the
magnitude of this issue, so hearings like this really are a
great step toward calling attention to what is a critical
issue.
Technically, human trafficking is the acquisition or
holding of human beings through the use of threat, of force,
fraud or coercion. I think it is important to put the law aside
and to try to put a human face on this. In my office, I have a
picture I sometimes use when I am talking about trafficking in
persons. It is a picture of a small room, not much larger than
a twin bed. There are three walls, the fourth isn't even a
wall, it is a ragged curtain that separates that room from the
rest of the house. In this small room, one of the victims in
one of our cases was held captive. The victim was a girl
approximately 14 years old. She was smuggled into this country
by men who brought her from Mexico. In that room, the same room
where she slept every night, she was forced to have sex with up
to 30 men per day, day after day after day. Then she slept
there at night.
Next to the small twin bed there is a night stand, the only
other piece of furniture in this room. On the night stand there
is a teddy bear. This 14 year old girl kept that teddy bear
because that was what reminded her of her childhood. She no
longer thought of herself as a child. Next to the teddy bear,
the picture shows a roll of paper towels. That is human
trafficking. It is evil and I don't use the word evil lightly.
It is evil, it is hideous, it is modern day slavery and it
takes place right here in America. As I said, too many
Americans are aware neither of its existence or its magnitude.
We have estimates that almost 15,000 individuals, as
Congresswoman Watson mentioned, mostly women and children are
trafficked into our Nation each year. Human traffickers are
peddlers in this human misery and they seize their victims by
threat, by trick and smuggle them across our borders in
loathsome conditions often selling them from trafficker to
trafficker, sometimes repeatedly.
We at the Department of Justice over the past several years
have dedicated substantial resources to prosecuting these
traffickers and the results are beginning to follow. Since
January 2001, we have charge 149 human traffickers, more than a
tripling of the rate. This year alone we have charged 39 human
traffickers and our conviction rate thus far is 100 percent, a
testament to the men and the women in my criminal section who
prosecute these crimes. We currently have 168 open trafficking
investigations, a number which shows that the number of charges
will increase.
I think it is important to recognize that this is only a
beginning. Fifteen thousand individuals are trafficked into the
United States. We are proud that we have tripled our rate of
prosecution but we must and we are doing much more. This year
we have implemented an approach that sets up task forces in
various cities throughout the country in cities where we think
the trafficking is most likely to occur. We have established so
far, four task forces and by the end of this year, we hope to
establish well over a dozen task forces throughout the Nation.
These task forces are critical because they allow us to be
much more proactive, much more aggressive in seeking out those
dark places where the traffickers lurk. The task forces rely
heavily on State and local law enforcement. These are the
police on the streets, the police who know their communities,
the police that know those dark places where the traffickers
lurk and who know those places where traffickers are likely to
be that we must investigate and raid.
These task forces also rely very heavily on NGO's because
NGO's are critical to this effort. NGO's are not only service
providers that help rescue and restore the victim but NGO's
have a great and vast wealth of knowledge about the local
communities, about where the traffickers may be found. NGO's
are often the first people to whom a trafficker turns for help.
Trafficking victims are fearful, they are disoriented. They are
far from home, they don't speak the language, they are here
without documentation, they are afraid. They are often going to
turn to an NGO or to a faith-based group for help. So our task
forces need to work with these faith-based groups.
Let me say one thing though. Vigorous prosecutions are only
a start. These convictions aren't going to heal the pain, the
emotional scarring or the suffering that these women, these
girls, these victims have been through. A victim-centered
approach is critical. The work of my colleague at HHS, the work
of service providers is critical but it is critical that our
prosecutors at the Department of Justice also understand and
implement and begin with a victim-centered approach.
Victims typically are going to be distrustful. Interviewers
and prosecutors who address this issue must be sensitive to
victims' needs and must understand that unlike some victims of
crime, trafficking victims may not immediately be ready to
assist police. So our victim-centered approach requires
prosecutors to talk to victims again and again to find out what
the true story is. It requires prosecutors to work with HHS and
with service providers to ensure that victims of these crimes
are kept safe.
Under our victim centered approach, it is the policy of the
Department of Justice that individuals who have been subject to
a severe form of trafficking as outlined in the TVPA are
victims and they are to be treated as victims. That is what
they are and they are entitled to all the protections and
benefits of that statute.
Our record on this front is very strong. To date, the Civil
Rights Division has helped in the granting of 430 continued
presence requests on behalf of victims. The Civil Rights
Division and other law enforcement agencies have helped 518
trafficking victims from 34 countries secure the benefits
assured them under the TVPA. To ensure there is no slippage on
this front in our prosecution of victims, I have formally
directed that before any Civil Rights Division attorney makes
any decision to decline continued presence or makes any
decision to decline a law enforcement certification required
under TVPA, that declination decision has to be forwarded to my
office and to my Deputy Assistant Attorney General that
oversees this so that we know if we are going to decline this,
that we really mean to do that because victims need to feel
safe and secure.
Allow me to conclude by recalling President Bush's words.
His words were alluded to before the United Nations. He spoke
of another humanitarian crisis, a crisis spreading yet hidden
from view and he warned the nations of the inherent evil in the
abuse and exploitation of the most innocent and vulnerable, the
victims of sex trade who see so little of life before they see
the very worst of life on the ground of brutality and fear. He
charged us with eradicating this evil.
Try to picture this and return with me one last time to the
small room, the small twin bed, the night stand with the teddy
bear and the roll of paper towels. That picture tells us our
mission given to us by President Bush to make sure that victims
do not have to return to those conditions again.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Acosta follows:]
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Mr. Burton. Thank you, Mr. Acosta.
Mr. Gersten.
Mr. Gersten. Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member Watson, thank
you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss
the Administration for Children and Families' activities under
the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. Under the act,
ACF is responsible for certifying persons as trafficking
victims and helping them access the benefits and services they
need to rebuild their lives.
Traffickers in the United States imbue their victims with
incorrect but believable stories of their legal
vulnerabilities. Traffickers tell victims that they are illegal
immigrants and therefore, criminals who will be arrested and
deported or imprisoned if they approach law enforcement agents.
Traffickers threaten their victims and their families both here
and in their home countries with physical harm, embarrassment
and legal action. As a result, when victims do come in contact
with law enforcement and judicial personnel, health providers
and other people who would be in a position to assist them, the
victims tend to adhere to the coaching of their captors and do
not alert such persons of their plight.
Outreach is clearly critical to our efforts to help
trafficking victims and I would like to focus my short
statement on two critical ACF outreach efforts, our public
awareness campaign and our hotline.
The first, the campaign to rescue and restore victims of
human trafficking is designed to overcome the barriers the
Federal Government has experienced in identifying and rescuing
victims. The campaign is a call to action for people to contact
the HHS Trafficking Information and Referral Hotline to report
possible trafficking situations. The campaign has developed
posters, brochures, fact sheets, educational materials and a
trafficking Web site. With the chairman's permission, I would
like to share a couple of posters with you.
Here on the right we have four posters that have been
distributed broadly across the country with the headline,
``Look Beneath the Surface.'' These posters are designed to
educate those who may come in contact with victims of
trafficking with health service providers, with law enforcement
personnel so that when they meet someone in a hospital or pick
someone up on the street who seems bruised and battered, they
ask the question, might this be a victim of trafficking. We
believe this is the first line in the effort to communicate
with the public, with the individuals who may come in contact
with victims of trafficking but often think this is a street
person, a homeless person or someone who belongs in the
criminal justice system or someone who should be deported. We
want that person to ask themselves is this a victim of
trafficking and if so, to know there are service providing
agencies that are available to contact.
If you are interested, we would be happy to share with you
and your colleagues the additional material that we developed
for the campaign. We have a packet that has these separate
posters, brochures and other material that we have available
for all members of the committee if you like. We are also
working on Spanish language posters and materials as well as
materials in other languages. The campaign also is employing a
coalition effort that targets intermediaries including law
enforcement, health care and social service providers, faith
and civil groups and other organizations that conduct outreach
to populations vulnerable to trafficking.
As a critical component of the campaign, the Department has
established a nationwide toll free trafficking information and
referral hotline. The hotline provides victims immediate crisis
counseling enabling victims to get accurate information about
their options. Victims and those calling on their behalf are
referred to an organization in their immediate area trained to
serve trafficking victims.
I look forward to working with you and the Congress as we
advance toward our goal of substantially increasing the rate at
which the Federal Government identifies and assists victims.
I would be happy to answer any questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Gersten follows:]
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Mr. Burton. First of all, let me say I think what you are
doing with these posters and everything is extremely important.
Unfortunately, we live in the television age and a lot of these
people that may be in involuntary servitude as sex slaves or
whatever it might be, wouldn't have a chance to see these
posters. Do you do any television advertising?
Mr. Gersten. We have developed a public service advertising
campaign and have actually worked with television spots that
have been developed by the United Nations and gotten permission
from the United Nations to use these spots. They have now
played in 31 cities across the country. This campaign is just
about 6 to 8 weeks old but we think it is a very important
component. We are able to track calls to our hotline in
relation to the number of public service spots that are playing
across the country. You are quite right, for contacting victims
themselves, it is quite important that we be on television. The
public service spots are beginning as we create task forces and
coalitions around the country, we are asking those coalitions
to take our public service spots and walk them into local
television and radio stations.
Mr. Burton. I think that is great. One of the things Mr.
Acosta and you at HHS could do would be to contact the major
networks and maybe even send a letter to as many of the major
affiliates as you possibly can across the country, maybe even
with a copy of some of the public service announcements you are
talking about. I would be very happy, and I am sure Ms. Watson
and Congressman Smith would be as well, to join you in that
effort to make sure these public service announcements are
shown on a regular basis because when you see these posters,
they are very effective but as I said before, I doubt that the
people who might be forced into this kind of situation will
ever see those.
Mr. Gersten. I thank you for that offer. We will work with
you and your staff on that.
Mr. Burton. And if you need more money for that, I am sure
Chris and I and Ms. Watson would be very happy to go to the
appropriators and beat them over the head to try to get some
money for that.
I saw you had some $30 million that you are spending on the
program, is that right?
Mr. Gersten. It is $10 million for HHS and how much is
Justice spending?
Mr. Acosta. $10 million at the Department as well.
Mr. Burton. John, are you guys involved in this at all?
Mr. Miller. We are not involved in that particular effort.
The United Nations spots that were referred to were funded with
your taxpayer dollars and those spots have been translated into
other languages and we are seeing they are played in other
countries around the world.
Mr. Burton. Public service announcements won't cost
anything and I think all of the affiliates and the major
networks are required to show so many public service
announcements. I think the FCC requires that. Since we have
17,500 people a year coming into the country that we know of or
thereabouts, it seems to me this would be a real deterrent. If
I were a trafficker, I think the one thing I would fear most
would be for somebody I brought into the country illegally or
had in involuntary servitude might see television and see that
kind of an ad. Now that we have multilingual television
programs, we have the Spanish-speaking networks as well as
others, I would think it would be something that would really
get through to a lot of these people.
Do you have enough resources to deal with the problem right
now or do you need more and if so, how much?
Mr. Gersten. From the Administration for Children and
Families' point of view, we are in the early stages of this
campaign. We have built grassroots efforts with hundreds of
NGO's in four cities, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Tampa and Phoenix.
We will roll out these grassroots efforts to a dozen more
cities this year and hopefully another 10 or 20 cities next
year. My answer would be it is too early to know at this point
if there is a need for more resources. We have to be very
aggressive about building grassroots coalitions and about
getting public service television and radio. When we come back
next year, if we think the public service is inadequate but are
comfortable with the level of our organized activity, then we
will definitely talk about asking for more money but at this
point, it would be premature.
Mr. Burton. The one thing that kind of bothers me a bit
about what you said is not the effort that has been made thus
far, but you only have six or eight cities right now?
Mr. Gersten. Correct.
Mr. Burton. I know Miami, Chicago, Indianapolis, LA and a
whole host of places that I am sure need exposure as well. That
is why if you haven't had a chance, you won't have a chance to
expand the NGO relationship between now and the next 6 months
or so. It seems to me the television public service
announcements would be a great step in the right direction
until you get all that put in place.
Anyone else?
Mr. Acosta. Mr. Chairman, the Department of Justice
receives $10 million that it distributes in grants in addition
to the resources we have at the Civil Rights Division in the
form of our prosecutors. Certainly in reference to your
invitation to issue a joint letter between HHS and Justice and
perhaps members of the committee, as appropriate, to encourage
public service announcements, Justice would be more than happy
to participate in that.
In addition to that, we received a one-time allocation this
year of $1 million to be used in training. I think the training
of State and local law enforcement cannot be underestimated. So
far this year, we have engaged in 99 trainings of State and
local law enforcement. Our 100th training will be next week and
will be a major conference that will pull together prosecutors
from 27 Federal U.S. attorney districts, more than 27 with
State and local law enforcement and NGO's. We are not spending
the entire amount on the conference, we have some we are
holding in reserve because after the conference our vision is
after they have come and spent 3 days, learning about the
issue, educating themselves on the issue, then follow that up
with local task forces and local conferences. So it is not a
one-time event but these task forces really become real efforts
where individuals coordinate, share information and proactively
approach this.
The resources at this point are adequate. We need to get
the word out through HHS' public service campaign and through
hearings like this so that more Americans realize what is truly
going on.
Mr. Burton. I am going to yield to Ms. Watson now but we
will draft a letter and Ms. Watson will join us in that, I am
sure, and Mr. Smith, and we will ask you as officials at the
various agencies to sign on the letter and we will try to get
that out to as many affiliates as well as the major networks as
possible. It would be great to see some of these commercials
and you can bring some of those rats to justice.
Ms. Watson.
Ms. Watson. I was just wondering, are there any examples of
sanctions against any countries due to their listing in the TIP
report?
Mr. Miller. Congresswoman Watson, last year there were 15
countries in Tier 3, the first year that the sanctions became
possible. The good news was that of the 15 countries, the 10
with which we had civil relations, took significant steps so
that by September as the law provides, the Secretary was able
to recommend to the President that they be raised from Tier 3.
There were five countries that remained in Tier 3 and those
countries unfortunately are countries that either already had
been sanctioned or I can't say that sanctions would have any
noticeable effect. I think the main impact last year was not
the sanctions, it was the threat of sanctions coupled with the
engagement that produced the results.
Ms. Watson. I was sitting here going through the report and
noticing that they have been able to capture the traffickers
and so on. Is there any kind of educational programs going on
in these several countries that would focus on motivation to do
this? Is it all about greed? Is it all about lack of morals and
ethics? Is it just a common criminal disregard for humanity?
Where are we going with that?
Mr. Miller. The motivations are certainly complex. I think
you are right, greed is a big part of it, lust in some cases,
poverty is a driving force, the attraction that lures people
from poor countries to be fooled, to be deceived, they get the
pictures on television from some of the wealthier countries,
that is a problem. Organized crime, by itself, is a factor.
This is not a complete answer to your question but in
looking at education around the world, I think in general,
Congresswoman Watson, education has focused on reaching out to
potential victims. We have helped a lot of countries startup
such programs, whether it is hotlines or brochures or going
through the schools or as I saw in Cambodia, taking out videos
to the villages.
Where we need to have more focus is education on the demand
side. So far there has been very little education directed at
the customer predators. This coming year, one of the things my
office hopes to do is come up with some ideas for education on
the demand side and see if we can spur such efforts.
Ms. Watson. Here in the United States, our problem is the
oldest profession in history and there is a lot of money to be
made. In the State of California, we start to punish the johns
when we catch them. I am wondering if across this country we
can't do more in focusing on our sex trafficking. Some brothels
are legal in some States but we have a lot of work to do right
here. Should we succeed, it could be a role model for other
countries too. Can you comment?
Mr. Hamilton. Yes. Others may want to comment on that but I
do want to comment on that. What you describe as the oldest
profession, I would say it is the oldest form of abuse is what
it is. The evidence is very clear that this is not a profession
in the way other occupations are. The evidence is very clear
that a majority of the people, mainly women engaged in this
profession, are suffering assaults, rapes and harassment and
want to escape.
You mentioned something very interesting to me. That is
prosecuting the johns. I think in the past, speaking worldwide,
the efforts as I look at other countries, have been mainly on
prosecuting the victims, prosecuting those who have suffered in
prostitution but there are starting to be some changes. You see
a country like Sweden, for example, that has just passed a law
that has decriminalized the conduct of the women engaged in
prostitution and criminalized the conduct not only of the
trafficker, the pimp, the brothel owner, but the customer. They
had some well publicized prosecutions of customers. They are
trying to get to the demand side and interestingly enough, in
Sweden, the evidence shows the last year the number of
trafficking victims coming into Sweden from abroad has gone
down significantly. All of this tells us we have to look at
both sides of this equation.
Ms. Watson. Just one more question, if I may. Have we
considered and have we done an international conference on
world sex trafficking and kidnapping?
Mr. Miller. We had a conference just a little over a year
ago.
Ms. Watson. Under the auspices of the UN?
Mr. Miller. No, this was under the auspices of the State
Department, Congressman Smith spoke and the auspices of several
NGO's. We had people from over 100 countries, 400 people from
around the world and they were workers. These were not
primarily government officials, these were people out in the
trenches. They came and exchanged ideas. I think it was
helpful. I have to tell you at this point, conferences are good
but I think we are at the stage when we look at countries in
this report, we are now expecting more than conferences. We
want them to get on with the prosecutions, get on with
protecting victims, get them to get on with education
prevention.
Ms. Watson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Burton. I have one more question after Mr. Smith. Mr.
Smith?
Mr. Smith. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Let me thank you all for your fine work. The presentations
and the material is outstanding.
On conferences, I think Ms. Watson does make a good point.
There are, as you know, a number of conferences. The OSCE, with
which I work very close, has been able to get a number of the
55 countries in Europe, Western Central, including Russia, to
focus on this issue. We will be holding an OSCE parliamentary
assembly conference in Greece in the fall. It will be focused
on best practices and what we can do with lawmakers to ensure
that our laws protect victims and prosecute the perpetrators of
these crimes. So the point is well taken that it is time for
action but we can keep learning and expanding our knowledge and
best practices base.
Frankly, the second bill, Mr. Chairman, really was in part
an expansion act because some of the things we missed the first
time around we threw into the second and we heard from all of
the NGO's, we threw out the net as far as we could and the
administration and thank you, because you all provided all of
us working on that an enormous amount of insight that went into
that second bill.
I do have a couple of questions with regard to
prosecutorial discretion, Mr. Acosta. My U.S. Attorney,
Christopher Christie in New Jersey has been very aggressive in
going after traffickers and protecting women. He has broken up
recently a ring where some 30 Russian women were held in
captivity. They have been protected now and released while the
criminals are in the process of being held to account and here
have been many others he has had success in and ongoing
investigations.
It seems to me because I do talk to a lot of U.S. Attorneys
that not everyone gets it. I know that John Ashcroft has
admonished the U.S. Attorneys a number of times when they have
the ability to decide what cases to proceed with or not,
sometimes there could be a lax enforcement or focus on this.
What can be done to ensure that in each of the locals, every
U.S. Attorney. I know the task forces have to help to raise
everybody's consciousness about this but what can be done to
really make sure this is done today without further delay?
Mr. Acosta. As an initial matter, let me say that the
Attorney General since as early as March 2001 has been speaking
out on this issue. It is an issue of high priority, an issue on
which he has held several press conferences. His priorities
have been conveyed to the U.S. Attorneys. I have met with the
U.S. Attorneys through their hierarchy, through their Civil
Rights Subcommittee and emphasized the importance of this to
the Attorney General, to the administration and they get it.
At the conference that is coming up, we have invited
representatives from over 27 U.S. Attorneys offices including
several U.S. Attorneys who will be attending this conference.
For us, it is really a crucial conference because it is the
first time we are bringing U.S. Attorneys together with local
police and NGO's for a 3-day period to talk about trafficking
and to talk about what trafficking is and how important it is
that we prosecute. So it will be a spring board not only for
task forces, but for more informal mechanisms where U.S.
Attorneys will then return to their jurisdictions and redouble
their efforts. As I said, we have already seen a tripling of
the prosecution rate with better numbers for this year but this
will be a springboard for them to return and redouble their
efforts.
Let me also go back to the point I made about training.
With 99 trainings so far this year, we are putting a lot of
effort into the training because it is not just U.S. Attorneys.
In New Jersey, there are very good relationships between the
U.S. Attorneys Office and various faith-based groups. That
relationship with NGO's is also critical.
Finally, a bit technical but very important is something we
call a blue sheet which is basically a set of instructions for
U.S. Attorneys on the degree to which they need to notify main
Justice when they come across various types of criminal
offenses. A recent change in the blue sheet about a year ago
now requires U.S. Attorneys to notify main Justice, to notify
my office if they become aware of a potential trafficking case.
So that allows us to centralize and to emphasize this issue.
Mr. Smith. Mr. Gersten, in terms of the benefits side, is
there sufficient housing capacity available for those women if
they need shelter? I know you are working in your task forces
with the NGO's. I know Catholic Charities, for example, has
really stepped up to the plate but they are only one of many
others who have done so. The $10 million and the money we have
talked about in the authorizing bill and the appropriations
side, frankly with a good faith guess, we believe very strongly
that number would have to ratchet up significantly.
I would hope, and following on what the chairman said
earlier, as the need arises, notwithstanding OMB's red pen, let
us know what is truly needed. We had a situation on the foreign
aid side a couple of years ago when I offered an amendment on
the floor in the foreign ops bill to fully fund the $30 million
authorized in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and it
passed overwhelmingly, got into conference with the Senate and
all of a sudden it was whittled down to about $22 million
because there wasn't an absorption capacity.
I know and I know soon to be Ambassador Miller knows there
is no doubt shelters abroad and other kinds of interventions
are crying out for dollars. We just have to be a little
creative and make sure we find them but do we have the
resources, getting back to the chairman's original question,
and how is that going in terms of getting the services out to
people?
Mr. Gersten. We have not had a problem yet with inadequate
housing but there is a possibility as this program grows that
we will face new challenges and will have problems we don't
face at this time. This program is growing a step at a time. We
just launched the hotline on April 1, 2004. This campaign is
only 3 months old, so we are seeing an increase each month in
the number of calls to the hotline and ask the hotline grows,
as we get more public service television, and as the coalitions
grow, we are going to identify more and more victims. As more
victims are certified, we may at some point down the road come
back and say we need more resources or we are going to need
more resources but at this point, we have not gone to the limit
of the resources that are available.
Mr. Smith. Let me compliment you on the creativity and I
think what will be the effectiveness of this approach.
I do have one other question about the victims' families.
One of the things that we know for certain, Mr. Miller, you
might want to comment on this, is the retaliation against
family back home a problem when a woman is freed in the United
States or any other country or destination. As you know, we put
into law the ability to bring their families to join the victim
here in the United States. Has that been utilized yet? Have we
gotten many women or men who have sought to bring over their
families? How is that proceeding?
Mr. Acosta. Congressman, the answer is yes it has been
utilized. I don't recall the exact figure but I know in several
instances, families have received TDs or are in the process of
receiving them. I believe it is a T-2, T-3 and T-4 as opposed
to T-1.
Mr. Smith. Let me again compliment you on the task force
idea. I think the absolute vital importance of bringing local
law enforcement into the equation--Philadelphia was I heard a
resounding success. I am sure each of these rollouts will be
very successful. It is part of the learning curve and getting
police fully engaged at the local level is absolutely critical
if we are going to succeed.
I would ask Mr. Miller to comment. One of the drawbacks we
found or one of the hindrances we found to passage originally
was the idea of having sanctions. I think this idea of having
smart sanctions naming countries has proven itself and perhaps
we can apply to other areas of human rights law where people
have been reluctant to name names because there was vigorous
opposition to that before the bill was passed in 2000 and
linking it to the withholding of non-humanitarian foreign aid.
Of course the humanitarian aid we want to have that flow
unfettered.
In your view, Mr. Miller, if this proves when you have a
smart sanction focused and you have a vigorous implementation,
and I want to say again how grateful all of us who worked on
this legislation are to the Bush administration for so
faithfully implementing this and for taking it so serious. It
is making a difference. Our Ambassadors are our representatives
in country x, y and z and so many of them have made this a
cause for which they are deeply committed. I wondered if you
would comment on the smart sanctions idea?
Mr. Miller. I think you are absolutely correct that
Congress was very wise to include sanctions in the original
legislation, to continue it in the reauthorization. I think the
threat of sanctions provides a very useful tool. It is not the
only tool. You have to have diplomatic engagement, you have to
have NGO's that are aggressive, you have to have a lot of
things but it really helps to focus the mind when you have
that. I think adding the Tier 2 Watchlist further helps to
focus minds on this issue.
Mr. Burton. Let me just conclude the questioning of this
panel. I was reading this National Geographic article which was
from the Department of State which says this gentleman, if you
want to call him that, Milorad Malakovic is in Bosnia and he
says, is it a crime to sell women, they sell footballers, don't
they? He says in this article that the United Nations
international police forces in Bosnia and visa and immigration
officials have been among his most valued customers. What is
being done for instance in places like Bosnia where we are
giving a great deal of aid and assistance to the various
governmental agencies there? What is being done in those areas
to clean up the public officials, policemen and immigration
officials who are participating in this kind of activity. In
addition to trying to get these people arrested and put out of
business, what about the people that are in government? Are we
doing anything about that?
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Mr. Miller. Government complicity, if you look around the
world, all the causes when I was listing the causes for
Congresswoman Watson, I should have mentioned government
complicity. In your legislation you say that should be a
criteria in judging countries. We name governments, we say
which governments in which we think there is complicity.
Mr. Burton. Are we doing anything about it with those
countries? I heard what Chris said about sanctions and that
sort of thing.
Mr. Miller. That is one of the key criteria in deciding
whether a country goes into Tier 2 Watchlist and Tier 3. Our
embassies are instructed when they carry the flag on slavery to
focus on the complicity issue. In the conversations I have had
with our Ambassadors, I think they are doing that, Mr.
Chairman.
Mr. Burton. Thank you very much.
We will now go to our next panel. I really appreciate your
testimony and we will probably have you back. We will be
sending you that letter. We are all going to sign it and if you
will sign it, we will see if we can't work with you to get that
out.
Mr. Miller. As you know, I like to stay for complete
hearings and you have a distinguished panel of NGO speakers
that I can learn from. Somebody from my staff will be here.
This is one of those rare occasions where I have to go to
another meeting and I hope you will excuse me.
Mr. Burton. No problem.
Our next panel consists of: Mr. Charles Song, director,
legal services program, Coalition to Abolish Slavery and
Trafficking; Ms. Michele Clark, co-director, Protection
Project, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced
International Studies; and Mr. Derek Ellerman, co-executive
director, Polaris Project.
[Witnesses sworn.]
Mr. Burton. We normally start from my left to right but
since Ms. Clark is the prettiest of the three of you, we will
start with her.
STATEMENTS OF MICHELE CLARK, CO-DIRECTOR, PROTECTION PROJECT,
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF ADVANCED INTERNATIONAL
STUDIES; CHARLES SONG, DIRECTOR, LEGAL SERVICES PROGRAM,
COALITION TO ABOLISH SLAVERY AND TRAFFICKING; AND DEREK
ELLERMAN, CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, POLARIS PROJECT
Ms. Clark. I accept your compliment with gratitude. Thank
you.
It is an honor to be before you today. I am Michele Clark,
the co-director of the Protection Project of the Johns Hopkins
University School of Advanced International Studies. Over the
past 2 years, members of our staff have traveled to over 30
countries on five continents on behalf of child victims of
trafficking in the jungle regions of Peru, of women in tiny
villages in Moldavia, of women enslaved in the cabaret cultures
of Cypress and women, men and children in the neighborhoods of
Washington, DC, Atlanta, Chicago and San Francisco. I would
like to thank this committee for your vocal support of the TVPA
and your concern evidenced by this hearing that this act be
fully and efficiently and expeditiously implemented.
Trafficking in persons continues to be complex. I would
like to talk about some misperceptions about trafficking as
well as some policy concerns that remain necessary to be
addressed. Despite the excellent campaigns of the Department of
Health and Human Services, there is still a lot of confusion
surrounding this issue globally and within the United States.
We still tend to confuse human trafficking with smuggling which
puts in danger of feeling less sympathy for the victims and
thinking instead that they are criminals complicit in what
happens to them. We remain ignorant about domestic servitude in
our own cities. We find it hard that this kind of slavery could
exist or be perpetrated by our own neighbors. We tend to
believe that if there is trafficking it is for sex and as Ms.
Watson stated, because it is the world's oldest profession, why
should we worry about it?
We find almost impossible to understand that a clandestine
brothel can exist in an affluent suburb right where we might
live. If we do pause long enough to consider that trafficking
could be real, we associate it with large ports of entry and
border States. We don't recognize that the trafficking trends
in this country have shifted to the Midwest, the Northwest, New
England and the Southwest. According to the excellent report
put out by the Department of Justice assessing U.S. Government
efforts to combat trafficking, there have been investigations
in all but four States in this country. Finally, we tend to
believe that trafficking in this country is limited to foreign
men and women, boys and girls. We are very reluctantly ready to
admit that this could happen to our own.
What should we do? Public awareness notwithstanding,
outreach not withstanding, the work ahead is still long and
tough. I would like to make some comments and express concerns
and let you know some recommendations that we have of
particular relevance to public policy.
First of all, I would like to underscore the desperate need
for committed, deeper, more intense work in the area of victim
identification. We have visited shelters, we have visited
countries where shelters have been funded but where they remain
empty with people scratching their head in confusion wondering
where are the victims. We look at the statistics of individuals
served in this country and compared to the numbers, they are
low. The efforts are good, the organizations work very hard. We
need to ask the right questions. If we don't, we run the risk
of several severe consequences.
The first is that without accurate and comprehensive victim
identification, the sense of urgency required to combat
trafficking in persons will diminish. I am concerned that
reports of empty shelters and limited services will make donors
and funders question the expenditures and will look at limiting
funds rather than wondering how can we best infiltrate the
areas where we know these problems exist.
The benefits of proper victim identification are multiple.
It ensures rapid intervention, ensures quick recourse and
rescue. It has to include two main components obviously raising
the level of awareness of the full extent of the problem within
different communities but it has to go deep into the indigenous
ethnic areas where we know victims of trafficking to be, in the
language expressed by the representatives of that very
community so that in addition to information, there will be an
element of trust strong enough to bring the victims out.
This leads me to my next point which is the need to expand
our notion of partnerships and to look at what our own
legislation says about that. I have traveled this country and
overseas and I am so impressed with the work of community based
organizations and the expanded NGO community. However, in an
analysis of funding grants to NGO's for trafficking projects in
this country of 40 grants awarded in 2002 and 2003, only four
have been given to faith-based organizations. In its public
relations campaign, the Department of Health and Human Services
indicates that among its strategies includes the placement of
notices in religious media. They recognize the role of that,
however, the funding has not followed the recognition that is
perceived in some other areas.
We have noticed an interesting thing when we travel.
Although some shelters remain empty, faith-based shelters,
whether it is run by Peruvian nuns in Lima, a Russian orthodox
priest who got his diocese to fund a building in Cyprus, these
are full. I would like to suggest several reasons for their
success. They conduct active outreach to the communities where
they know they will find victims. They are trusted by the
victims because they speak the same language and are often from
the same cultural background. They allow for longer stays and
in many cases, several years, allowing not only for immediate
recovery but for deep emotional healing.
My time is running out. I am also concerned that to
substantiate some of the claims I have made, I would also
encourage the monitoring and more full implementation of
Section 12(a) of the Trafficking Victims Protection
Reauthorization Act in which the President requests there shall
be carried research included by providing grants to NGO's as
well as to relevant U.S. Government agencies and international
organizations. This research will include economic causes and
consequences of trafficking, the effectiveness of programs and
I would say we should really examine the role of the faith-
based organizations in some of these initiatives and the
interrelationship between trafficking persons and global health
risks.
I could obviously go on but I will allow these excellent
witnesses to speak and thank you again so much for your
consideration.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Clark follows:]
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Mr. Burton. Thank you, Ms. Clark. We will be asking
questions in just a minute.
Mr. Song.
Mr. Song. Thank you for the pleasure and honor of speaking
with you this afternoon on behalf of non-governmental
organizations working to combat trafficking and the thousands
of survivors of trafficking and their families that are working
hard to rebuild their lives. I would also like to commend
Chairman Burton and Congresswoman Watson for their leadership
in championing the rights of survivors of trafficking.
As the staff attorney at the Coalition to Abolish Slavery
and Trafficking, I have been privileged to work collaboratively
with non-governmental organizations, pro bono attorneys and law
enforcement officials to ensure that survivors of trafficking
receive comprehensive legal services and social services. Since
its inception in 1998, CAST has been dedicated exclusively to
assisting all victims of human trafficking and modern day
slavery and working toward ending all instances of such human
rights violations.
CAST achieves its mission by providing comprehensive social
and legal services to victims, conducting training and advocacy
to improve survivors' access to services and resources. CAST
has been a trailblazer since its establishment by creating a
social service model tailored to the needs of trafficking
survivors and drafting comprehensive training curricula with
its partners to provide practitioners with the tools to better
serve trafficking victims. The latest milestone in CAST's
continued leadership in the anti-trafficking movement is the
opening of the first shelter for trafficking survivors in the
country.
This afternoon, I would like to highlight key portions of
the 2004 Trafficking in Persons Report and convey our
recommendations on the way the U.S. Government can further
strengthen its pioneering efforts to combat trafficking and
assist victims of trafficking both at home and abroad.
First, we urge the U.S. Government to amend and improve
implementation of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence
Protection Act of 2000. Second, we urge the Government to
expand efforts to prevent trafficking from source countries.
Third, we urge the Government to increase its collaborative
efforts with non-governmental organizations nationwide and
worldwide that directly serve victims of trafficking.
In 2000, thanks the wisdom and leadership of Congress and
anti-trafficking advocates nationwide, the VTVPA was passed to
prosecute traffickers, protect victims of trafficking and
prevent further trafficking. This landmark legislation
recognized that survivors of trafficking urgently need
protection for themselves and their families in order to
cooperate in a Federal investigation and prosecution.
Today, we have discussed a number of continued presence
request granted and certification requests granted. Curiously
we have failed to discuss the number of the most important
VTVPA benefit granted, visas. Of the approximately 800 or so
visa applications that have been submitted thus far, only 371
have been granted. This number, especially in light of the fact
that 14,500 or approximately 15,000 persons are trafficked into
the United States each year is a very disturbing figure. These
numbers indicate that less than 3 percent of the estimated
15,000 victims trafficked into the United States every year are
provided this critical victim protection.
When we consider this figure to be an underestimate, the
portion of victims receiving assistance is even smaller.
Current officials have set trafficking as a top priority for
its government. If the United States is to continue leading the
struggle to end trafficking, it must and can do better. Our
recommendation is to amend and improve implementation of the
benefits provisions of the VTVPA.
CAST commends the U.S. Government on its outreach campaign
to raise awareness of trafficking in the United States. As the
wealthiest nation in the world, the United States is a major
destination country with its alluring promise of the American
dream, yet the TIP Report does not mention how the U.S.
Government works with its embassies and consulates worldwide to
provide information in various languages about workers' rights
and immigrants' rights to all foreign nationals applying for a
visa to enter the United States. Many trafficking victims
receive inaccurate information from their traffickers before,
during and after enslavement and many are threatened with
inaccurate information to prevent them from escaping.
We at CAST have seen many instances where the very
knowledge of one's rights in the United States could have saved
a slavery victim from further abuse and possible death. Victims
usually do not self identify as victims of trafficking because
they are isolated, threatened and live in fear for their well
being under the thumb of the traffickers. In fact, this lack of
self identification as victims of trafficking is one of the
biggest obstacles in discovering and identifying victims of
trafficking. Once they become aware that what is being done to
them is a violation of their rights, it will be easier for them
to come forward to denounce their traffickers.
Conferences have been useful forums for practitioners of
all backgrounds and ideologies where they congregate to
exchange new ideas, best practices and lessons learned so that
innovative programs will be replicated and tailored to meet the
needs of victims enslaved in any U.S. State or country in the
world. We would like to encourage the U.S. Government to
organize international conferences open to all practitioners at
home and abroad to allow for transparent and free flowing
information and resources so that victims worldwide will be
served in the most effective and efficient manner possible.
As the number of trafficked people grows exponentially and
traffickers become more savvy in skirting law enforcement, it
is critical that governments collaborate closely with non-
governmental organizations to find and assist victims.
Furthermore, government estimates of the number of people
trafficked into the United States every year have changed from
50,000 in 1999 to 18,000 to 20,000 in 2003. In 2004, the
estimate was revised further to 14,500 to 17,500 a year citing
methodology changes rather than a decline in trafficked
persons. CAST and many of the NGO's working in the field
believe this number does not fully capture the scope of the
trafficking problem in the United States and are concerned that
trafficking may be construed as a waning problem.
While we recognize the difficulties associated with
measuring this virtually invisible underground activity, we
urge the Government to apply more consistent and accurate
measurement tools to quantify this increasingly ubiquitous
problem that could be as close to the average person as the
neighboring home.
On behalf of CAST and other NGO's working to eradicate
trafficking and assist victims of trafficking, we praise the
work of the U.S. Congress in addressing one of the most
egregious human rights violations in the world today and look
forward to continuing to collaborate closely with Members of
Congress to protect survivors and abolish human trafficking in
all of its forms.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Song follows:]
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Mr. Burton. Thank you,
I have been advised by my staff that we are going to have
between seven and eight votes starting between 4 and 4:30 p.m.,
so I want to make sure that we hear our panel and have time for
questioning, so we will try to move along as quickly as
possible.
Mr. Ellerman.
Mr. Ellerman. Thank you for convening this hearing on
modern day slavery and for giving me the opportunity to share
with you our experience in combating trafficking in the United
States.
I want to begin with a personal note of thanks. We work
every day with women in the sex trafficking networks, we work
with women who have been brutally abused, who have been raped,
who have been threatened with death and many of whom have very
little hope or very little trust. It means a tremendous amount
to me to be able to say to them that my government does care
about their situation. I know that is not something that can be
said in every country, so I want to thank you for today
demonstrating again your commitment to me and to all the
victims with whom we work.
Polaris Project is a multicultural, grassroots, nonprofit
and committed to combating sex trafficking. We are based in
Washington, DC, and will be opening offices in New Jersey and
in Tokyo, Japan in the fall. In the D.C. area, we operate the
Greater D.C. Task Force Against Trafficking in Persons working
closely with law enforcement to identify trafficking operations
in the sex industry. Our multicultural staff conducts outreach,
providing information on our 24 hour hotlines in Korean, Thai,
Spanish and English. In partnership with the Metropolitan
Police of D.C., we operate a Sex Trafficking Assessment Team
that accompanies the MPDC Prostitution Unit on raids of
brothels to conduct culturally sensitive victim assessment
services.
Many people have very little understanding of the enormity
and the brutality of sex trafficking in the United States. When
we think of sex trafficking, we normally think of Thailand or
Nepal. We don't think of a suburban house outside of D.C. with
$400,000 homes and manicured lawns where women are being
beaten, raped and prostituted under the threat of death.
We were able to get those women out but there are many
other women and children who are still under the control of
traffickers. Polaris Project has a data base of around 175
commercial sex operations that are at high risk for trafficking
in the greater D.C. area in Korean, Latino, Chinese and
internal trafficking networks. D.C. pales in comparison to the
massive networks that are present in LA, New York and other
areas. With more funding, we could all expand our efforts to
other cities and to other hot spots in the United States.
Some of these operations are based out of residential
houses, many of them unknown to law enforcement. They are
advertised only to men of certain ethnic background. Others
operate much more openly as commercial front massage parlors
advertised in places like the Washington Post and Super Pages.
Within a 1 mile radius of the White House alone, we are aware
of 12 brothels in Korean and Latino networks that have high
risk for trafficking. So we should all understand that modern
day slavery could not be closer to home.
Our Victim Outreach Team has begun to break into the
isolation of these networks using outreach techniques designed
in collaboration with survivors the sex trafficking networks
but we have still barely scratched the surface. The Government
and the NGO groups have barely scratched the surface.
The standard I use to evaluate how well the U.S. Government
is doing or how well groups like us are doing on this issue is
asking have the majority of the traffickers noticed yet,
particularly have the victims noticed yet? I think
unfortunately even almost half a decade after passage of the
TVPA, the answer is overwhelmingly no.
There has been an increase in prosecutions as Mr. Acosta
talked about but less than 1 percent of the estimated 17,000
victims that are trafficked into the United States each year
have been officially identified and assisted by the U.S.
Government so far. That is a shocking statistic. I think if
there is one statistic that reminds us how far we still have to
go, that is certainly the one.
Based on our experience working in the field with law
enforcement, working with survivors and working with service
agencies, I want to share three areas where I think we must
improve. The U.S. Government and some of the witnesses here
have mentioned that one of the largest obstacles to our
progress so far has been the identification of trafficking
victims. Many victims cannot leave their brothels, they don't
contact third parties and so the dominant approach that the
Federal Government has taken so far which is encouragement of
third party reporting is inherently limited. It is a vital
component to have if third parties are not aware of the
victims, they cannot report on their cases.
Federal and local law enforcement have the responsibility
to proactively investigate commercial sex operations that are
similar to networks that have trafficked victims before. Given
the gravity of the crime and its importance to the U.S.
Government, the Federal law enforcement should not assume that
locations are primarily just places of prostitution. They
should verify that trafficking is not present. Unfortunately,
too often this is not possible because of resource constraints
at the Federal level and prioritization of other crimes besides
modern day slavery.
The second is combating the root causes of trafficking in
the country. Trafficking persons is the fastest growing
criminal industry for two primary reasons. The first reason is
that traffickers are rarely prosecuted. There is almost no risk
to trafficking persons. The second reason is that there are
very large profits that can be made very quickly. Both of these
causes can be addressed through aggressive enforcement at the
Federal and local level. People who are willing to exploit the
most vulnerable of victims will not think twice if they think
it is more likely for them to receive a parking ticket than to
be prosecuted for modern day slavery. The men who buy the sex
will not stop adding to the industry's coffers if they believe
they will not be held accountable. So we must facilitate
increased prosecutions if a deterrent effect is to be created
and we must create funding opportunities in particular for
local enforcement to give them the encouragement to work more
on this issue.
We have also found in the course of our work that
traffickers are using techniques that amount to coercion but
that fall outside the statutory language defining the offense
of trafficking in persons. We must look at adjusting to the
reality of trafficking on the ground. We must broaden the
statutory language to include these new, more sophisticated but
widespread control techniques including use of verbal
intimidation, use of hierarchy within a cultural context,
exploitation of vulnerability of the victims, things that are
covered under the U.N. protocols but not covered under the
Federal law.
The last thing I want to mention is recently a girl shared
her story with me about how since she was an early teen, she
was forced to provide sex for men. She was beaten, she was
raped by her trafficker. Remarkably enough most untrained law
enforcement in the United States probably would not consider
her a victim of trafficking because she is a U.S. citizen. The
Federal law protects U.S. citizens and foreign nationals
equally but in practice, most U.S. citizen victims continue to
be prosecuted as prostitutes and have not received the type of
protection that they need.
In the DOJ assessment of trafficking released last year,
the report almost ignored the internal trafficking of citizens
in the United States except for a footnote that stated that
there are an estimated over 200,000 American youth that are
trafficked into sexual exploitation. That was the only mention,
a footnote, and it went on to say it would not be covering that
in the report.
Mr. Burton. We are going to have about six or seven votes
and we will be tied up for over a hour and I don't want to hold
the panel, so if you could summarize so we could ask a couple
questions, I would appreciate it.
Mr. Ellerman. If any country can cross the trafficking
industry within its borders, it is the United States. Thank you
for your continued work. Your efforts have not and will not go
unnoticed by the people to whom it matters most which are the
victims themselves.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Ellerman follows:]
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Mr. Burton. Thank you.
Let me make a couple of quick comments and questions and I
will yield either to Ms. Watson or Mr. Smith and we will move
on.
You said there are 175 sex operations in the D.C. area. If
you could give us some information on that, I would really
appreciate that.
Mr. Ellerman. Absolutely.
Mr. Burton. I know you want to keep that kind of under
wraps so we can nail these bad guys but we would like to have
that if we can.
You indicated there were some grants that were necessary
that could be expanded that would be helpful. We would like to
know also about those grants that you think could be expanded
that would be helpful and in what way. If you could get that to
us, we would appreciate it.
Also, the three of you, in addition to the members that we
had on the first panel along with the Members of Congress, if
we could urge you to contact State or local affiliates of the
networks as well as the major networks themselves on getting
public service announcements, it would be very helpful. It
would help your cause as well as making the public more aware
of this issue who are not really as aware as they should be.
You said only 1 percent of 17,000 people were being helped
out of the 17,000 victims coming in each year to the United
States or the people being prosecuted. If you could give us
some data on that, I would like to know that. I thought
according to Justice we were doing better than that. If you can
give us that, we would appreciate it.
Finally, you said we needed some change in statutory
language to go after some of the people that are falling
through the cracks right now. If we could have something so
that Chris Smith and I could work on that. I know Chris is
probably writing all this down as we speak but we would like to
have any information on that we can so we can pursue that and
maybe clean up or expand the language so it would be more
effective.
Chris, go ahead.
Mr. Smith. Again, Mr. Chairman, thank you for your
leadership for many years and not just in today's hearing.
I have a couple questions to Mr. Song. You mentioned the T
visa not being utilized as effectively as it could be. I raised
that a number of times with Justice. Are they issuing continued
present status in lieu of the T visas in your opinion or what
do you think is happening there?
Mr. Song. They are issuing continued presence when
appropriate and when necessary. I think part of the problem
with continued presence is it is not being granted as quickly
as it could be. Some trafficking victims, once they come out
and have the courage to report to law enforcement, they are
asked to undergo interviews with the U.S. Attorneys' office,
the FBI or ICE to determine whether they are a victim of a
severe form of trafficking so they can decide whether to issue
the continued presence or not. Some officials unfortunately
still don't understand what continued presence is or that it is
even available, so that is one problem.
Some of them don't understand it well enough to know that
they should be issuing the continued presence as soon as
possible. Sometimes victims who have escaped rape, abuse for
years at a time are told before we give you anything, any
benefits, any kind of protection, you have to sit through
grueling, detailed interviews for hours at a time or days at a
time and then we have to think about it for days or weeks or
months to decide whether you are a continued presence
applicant. I think that kind of application is not what you
intended when you drafted the TVPA and I think a lot of it is
information and training issues but that needs to be
implemented much faster. Imagine if you will that it was your
son or daughter or somebody close to you that was trafficked
and put in these situations. Would you tell them before we
provide you any benefits, you have to sit through these
interviews when they are in urgent need of care? I don't think
so.
In regard to the T visa, I am in agreement with Mr.
Ellerman that there are a few barriers, unintended barriers
albeit, but a few barriers that exist that make it difficult
for people to want to apply and to get the T visas. I think the
fact we have less than 400 T visas granted in 4 years is just
unacceptable.
Mr. Smith. As you know, for the first year it wasn't even
up and running, the regulations had not been promulgated.
In terms of the intra versus the inter country, it reminds
me of the whole argument about refugees versus IDPs, a
distinction without a difference for the poor soul who is
suffering and doesn't have food and has to live in the
equivalent of a refugee camp but they are still in-country. One
of the things I think we need to do in addition to legislation
is, as Mr. Ellerman mentioned before, to capture not just for
statistical purposes but for action oriented purposes of
helping those people, both in our country and in places like
India and elsewhere where there are large numbers of people
moving in the State or in the country to ensure they get
protection. I think that would skew our Tier 3 list rather
dramatically if we were to include those who have been so
malaffected but are not counted because they don't cross over a
border.
Any ideas any of you have, again, I look to all three of
you and your organizations and some of the other NGO's have
provided great, useful suggestions and we want to receive them
again for a third look and a third iteration if you will of
this bill so that we can expand it.
Ms. Clark, you mentioned the clandestine brothel. Just a
case in point, in Plainfield, NJ, a wonderful town, our U.S.
Attorney found a brothel with trafficked Mexican girls under
age every one of them and those who did it got 17 and 18 years,
those who committed these crimes and those girls have been
protected and are now living in freedom.
It is right, literally under our noses and so we need to be
much more vigilant and hopefully we will be to capture them and
to liberate the women.
Thank you.
Mr. Burton. I am so sorry that we have eight votes and it
is going to take a hour before those votes are concluded. I
don't want to hold you but if you would give us the information
we requested, I promise you that we will do what we can to
maybe talk to the local police and let them know we are
watching what is going on to see if we can do something about
that.
Mr. Smith. Would the chairman yield?
Mr. Burton. Yes.
Mr. Smith. Mr. Ellerman made a very good point about the
Washington Post and I am sure many other reputable newspapers
have the same problem. If you go to their sports pages or in
other parts of the newspaper, the advertisements for these so
called massage parlors are very often fronts for trafficked
women. It is a scandal that the Washington Post should carry
such advertisements for such nefarious practices. Hopefully we
can get them to pull it.
Mr. Burton. In any event, thank you very, very much for
being here. We will probably be talking to you real soon.
We stand adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 4:05 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned,
to reconvene at the call of the Chair.]