[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 102 (Wednesday, July 21, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8569-S8572]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
COMBATING HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN SLAVERY
Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the
immediate consideration of S. Res. 414, which was submitted earlier
today by Senator Cornyn.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 414) encouraging States to consider
adopting comprehensive legislation to combat human
trafficking in slavery and recognizing the many efforts made
to combat human trafficking and slavery.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the
resolution.
Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, I want to speak on the resolution that I
believe will be passed by unanimous consent of the Senate which
pertains to something I thought we would never be talking about now in
the year 2004, and that is human slavery and trafficking in human
beings.
The good work that has been done by the U.S. Congress, since, of
course, the ratification of the 13th amendment in 1865 abolishing
slavery and involuntary servitude, includes a remarkable tradition, and
a bipartisan tradition, I might add, starting, after 1865, in 1909,
when the United States Code criminalized slavery.
In 2000, the late Senator Paul Wellstone and Senator Sam Brownback
joined together as the lead sponsors, together with a number of other
Senators and Representatives, to advance legislation to strengthen
those laws, specifically the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of
2000, which was later signed into law by President Bill Clinton. That
legislation was reauthorized in 2003 by a bipartisan effort and signed
into law by President George W. Bush.
I expressly recognize the contributions of Senator Schumer, Senator
Graham of South Carolina, Senator Leahy of Vermont, and Senator
Clinton, who joined in cosponsoring this resolution. Indeed, this
resolution lays out the terrible tale of the fact that as many as
800,000 human beings are literally bought and sold worldwide into
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some form of slavery or involuntary servitude. Approximately 16,000 of
those human beings are brought into the United States each year,
coerced into lives of forced labor or sexual servitude which, of
course, is another way of describing slavery.
This has been a bipartisan effort. It is refreshing to know,
particularly during an election year where there are differences that
divide us, where we know sometimes the rhetoric gets a little
overwrought, that we can come together on such an important issue.
The fact is the current administration has responded to the call by
dramatically increasing efforts into devoting substantially more
resources toward combating human trafficking. This has been done
principally under the auspices of the civil rights division at the
Justice Department which has prosecuted and convicted three times the
number of traffickers over the past 3 years as had been done in the
preceding 3 years, three times more in this last 3 years than had been
done in the preceding 3 years.
The Department of Justice has created the Office of Special Counsel
for Trafficking Issues to coordinate antitrafficking efforts. It has
also published educational and awareness-raising materials and
circulated them to officials across America and provided assistance to
victims of this trafficking by installing among other things a toll-
free hotline. Last week the Department of Justice sponsored a historic
national conference on human trafficking in Tampa, FL, bringing
together Federal, State, and local officials, social service agencies,
and nongovernmental organizations to provide training and coordination
to antihuman trafficking efforts across the country as provided in the
fiscal year 2004 appropriations bill.
The problem we uncovered was brought home during a recent hearing I
chaired for the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and
Property Rights of the Judiciary Committee. We heard testimony about
the men, women, and children who continue to be trafficked into the
United States. Each of these stories is tragic, disturbing, and
heartrending. It is hard to imagine that this sort of thing continues
to happen today. Let me mention two of them.
In January of 2004, several defendants were sentenced to prison terms
ranging from 4 months to 14 years after a ringleader of a human
trafficking ring admitted to running a human trafficking operation
bringing women from Central America and then holding them in this
country once they were smuggled into the country. They were held
against their will. Many of them were sexually assaulted. All of them
were forced to work against their will until their smuggling fees were
paid by their families.
Another instance involved a research assistant and his wife at a
university located in my State of Texas who were prosecuted for leading
a trafficking ring that victimized young women. These young women were
brought from Uzbekistan. They were lured to the United States by
promises of lucrative modeling jobs, extravagant lifestyles, and also
based on the promise that they would be able to bring their families
once they were established here in the United States.
The defendants in this case used fraudulently obtained J-1 visas to
bring women into the United States through El Paso, TX. The visas
purported to show that the women were scientists traveling to the
United States to do scientific research. But once here, their
immigration documents were confiscated, and these women were forced to
work at local strip clubs for the benefit of the defendants who
ultimately collected more than $700,000 as a result of their criminal
enterprise. These defendants were ultimately convicted and sentenced to
5 years in prison and ordered to pay more than a half million dollars
in restitution to their victims.
One of the things that was brought home to me as a result of this
hearing was that the same routes, the same criminal enterprises that
engage in smuggling of human beings, who prey on their hopes or their
desire for jobs and economic opportunity, it is the same people in many
instances and the same routes and organizations that engage in illegal
smuggling of human beings who want nothing more than to be able to come
here and work and then send money home to their families. It is just
that the ones who are the victims of this trafficking are not freed
when they are brought into this country but literally kept in
involuntary servitude and slavery, some approximately 16,000, we think,
although the numbers have to be suspect. They have to be low because,
indeed, we know the victims of this activity are reluctant to come
forward because they may have come illegally into the country.
This is a persistent problem, one that touches on a larger issue, and
that is, as we go forward with border security measures, to try to make
sure that we protect our sovereign borders and to make sure our
immigration laws are brought into modern times and the realities of our
demand and indeed our reliance on labor provided by immigrants in this
country. I hope we will view this as one of the terrible symptoms of a
larger problem, and that is the need for us, as we establish the
security of our borders, consistent with the post 9/11 world, that we
also address the need to bring our immigration laws into this century.
The President's call for immigration reform is part of it.
Particularly for those who are, once they are brought into this
country based on promises of jobs and opportunity, but then enslaved,
that we redouble our efforts to make sure we bring an end to this
scourge.
I appreciate the bipartisan effort we have seen, the expressions of
support for the work that has been done across the years by this
administration, by previous administrations in combating the scourge of
human slavery. I commend the Justice Department in particular for
tripling the number of prosecutions they have obtained in these last 3
years over the preceding 3 years. This is a fight worth fighting. These
are some of the most vulnerable victims we could possibly imagine.
Their punishment is well deserved.
Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I come to the floor to speak about a
bipartisan measure; that is, the resolution Senator Cornyn and I are
submitting on human trafficking. I thank my friend from Texas for
working with me to address this growing problem that devastates the
lives of so many.
Human trafficking is one of the most heinous crimes in our world
today. Everyone knows it is a heinous crime to take a person, often a
young woman, kidnap her, and put her into, basically, sexual servitude.
It is an absolute abomination.
What I think most people are not aware of is the large number of
people who are so enslaved. Our State Department estimates 800,000
people are trafficked across international borders each year. Some are
for domestic slavery, some are for farm slavery, and many are for
sexual servitude.
According to these State Department estimates, approximately three-
quarters of those trafficked are female, and 70 percent of these women
are trafficked for sexual exploitation. So a little quick math would
indicate it is pretty close to 400,000 a year who are engaged in sexual
exploitation, and you cannot be too relieved that the other half are in
other kinds of slavery.
The victims are kidnapped or lured with false promises of money, and
then thrown into slavery. Their captors subject their victims to forced
prostitution. They are sexually assaulted sometimes 20 times a day. The
lack of protection against HIV and AIDS means an effective death
sentence for many sexual trafficking victims.
The victims of forced labor fare only slightly better.
In the vast majority of cases, they are worked to near death. They
are routinely assaulted, sometimes killed. The truly sad fact is that
at least half of the human trafficking victims are children, sometimes
as young as 9 or 10 years old. The traffickers abuse the children, keep
them in line by threatening to kill their parents or other family
members if they don't comply. Beatings and rape are part of their
everyday experience. Their lives are more horrific than many of us
could even imagine. To think I am the father of two daughters, just
think of your young children being put in this situation, and you can
see the gravity and the horror of the situation.
Here is another thing I will bet most Americans are not aware of. We
think maybe this is happening in Africa or Asia or Europe. No, it is
also occurring
[[Page S8571]]
right here in the United States. Sixteen thousand people are trafficked
into the United States every year. Most are forced into sexual slavery
in our own country. I have read in newspapers in New York about how
some of these rings have been exposed. It is often among immigrant
groups, but we are not immune.
We have taken some important strides against this evil. In the year
2000, President Clinton signed into law the bipartisan Trafficking
Victims Protection Act. This act gave law enforcement real tools to
fight against sexual trafficking and the money to fund that fight. Last
year I was proud to join Senator Brownback as the Democratic sponsor of
the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003.
Of course, with the death of Senator Wellstone, who had been such a
leader on this issue, a void has been left. I am doing my best to at
least fill a little bit of it. We added new tools to fight against
these traffickers and refined the tools we already had created to
better serve law enforcement. We have made some strides. The laws are
working. But the bottom line is, there is still a whole lot more to be
done.
I am pleased to join Senator Cornyn today in sponsoring this
resolution. I thank him for his important work on this issue. The
resolution recognizes the fact we need more awareness of this horrible
crime, particularly at the State and local level. State and local law
enforcement officers are often the first point of contact with victims
in trafficking in the course of their normal work. This resolution puts
the Senate on record supporting efforts to educate and empower State
and local law enforcement officers in identifying trafficking victims.
By raising awareness at the State and local level, we can better make
use of the many tools we have in this fight.
T-visas are a vital part of the fight against sex trafficking. These
visas enable victims of trafficking to testify against their
traffickers and help put these criminals in jail. We have had the
situation where we have the victims and they are sent home, and the
people who did it go free. Currently, we issue less than 2 percent of
the T-visas available, and yet we know that tens of thousands of
victims go without T-visas every year, condemning them to lives of
abuse and terror instead of the protection they deserve and that is
available under the visa.
By educating and empowering State and local law enforcement officers
to recognize trafficking crimes and raising awareness of this issue, we
can identify more victims and get them the help they need and, most
importantly, take their traffickers off the streets. We are also
calling on the States to do a close examination of their current laws
to see if they are adequate in the face of the human trafficking
threat.
We must make sure we are prepared to deal with this crime at all
levels. We must also make sure the victims of trafficking receive the
same level of services regardless of what laws are used to prosecute
their traffickers.
Far too often we find ourselves at odds with one another in the
Senate. Our efforts on this issue show we can work together in a
bipartisan way to protect some of the most endangered children in our
world and put some of the most awful criminals behind bars. This
resolution is an important step in the battle to save the lives of
hundreds of thousands of women and children who are trafficked each
year.
Along with Senator Cornyn, I urge my colleagues to support its
immediate passage. Together, if we work hard, we can greatly and
dramatically reduce this horrible crime.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan.
Mr. LEVIN. Madam President, I thank the Senator from New York for
submitting the resolution about which he has just spoken.
Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, I am pleased to sponsor this anti-
trafficking resolution with Senators Cornyn, Schumer, Lindsey Graham,
and Clinton, and to have worked with Senator Cornyn to emphasize the
bipartisan commitment to eliminate trafficking. The resolution
encourages States to join the 106th and 108th Congresses in passing
legislation to combat human trafficking.
We cannot know with any certainty how many people are trafficked, but
some experts estimate that nearly a million people worldwide every year
are bought, sold, or trafficked, with about 16,000 of those people
trafficked to the United States. These people are forced into
involuntary servitude or, often, prostitution. Until recently, this
issue was not a priority for governments around the world, but we are
seeing signs of change, some prompted by our passage in 2000 of the
bipartisan Trafficking Victims Protection Act, (TVPA) and last year's
reauthorization of that law.
In 2000, I served on the conference committee for the TVPA, which
passed in the House and Senate by overwhelming margins and was signed
by President Clinton, whose Justice Department was intimately involved
in the legislative process. This bill--on which our late colleague
Senator Wellstone worked so tirelessly--signaled a bipartisan
congressional commitment to the prosecution of traffickers and the
protection of their victims. I am proud to have played a role in
creating the law, and in reauthorizing it.
In forging the TVPA, Senators Wellstone and Brownback, and
Congressmen Christopher Smith and Gejdensen, sought both to eliminate
trafficking at home and to make combating trafficking and slavery a
foreign policy priority. We are seeing signs of progress in this area,
and I believe we will see even more if States become more involved in
this issue.
Combating trafficking has been a bipartisan issue. Senators and
Representatives who are otherwise ideological opposites have worked
together closely on anti-trafficking legislation, and the Justice
Departments under both President Clinton and Bush have made it a
priority to prosecute those who would deprive others of their most
basic liberties. This resolution, too, provides an example of Senators
from both sides of the aisle working together to further the cause of
eliminating trafficking by punishing its perpetrators. I urge the
Senate to pass it today.
Mr. FRIST. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the
resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to
reconsider be laid upon the table, and any statements be printed in the
appropriate place.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The resolution (S. Res. 414) was agreed to.
The preamble was agreed to.
The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:
S. Res. 414
Whereas it has been nearly 2 centuries since the abolition
of the transatlantic slave trade, and well over a century
since the ratification of the 13th amendment to the
Constitution of the United States;
Whereas most Americans would be shocked to learn that the
institutions of slavery and involuntary servitude continue to
persist today--not just around the world, but hidden in
communities across the United States;
Whereas according to Federal Government estimates,
approximately 800,000 human beings are bought, sold, or
forced across the world's borders each year--including
approximately 16,000 human beings into the United States each
year--and are coerced into lives of forced labor or sexual
servitude that amount to a modern-day form of slavery;
Whereas the 13th amendment to the Constitution of the
United States, ratified in 1865, abolishes the institutions
of slavery and involuntary servitude;
Whereas numerous provisions of chapter 77 of title 18 of
the United States Code have criminalized slavery since 1909;
Whereas the late Senator Paul Wellstone joined in a
bipartisan manner with Senator Sam Brownback and many other
Senators and Representatives to advance legislation to
strengthen those laws, leading to the enactment of the
Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7101 et
seq.), which was signed into law by President Bill Clinton;
Whereas Congress made further bipartisan improvements to
the law when it enacted the Trafficking Victims Protection
Reauthorization Act of 2003 (Public Law 108-193), which was
signed into law by President George W. Bush;
Whereas the Department of Justice, under the leadership of
its Civil Rights Division, has worked during the Clinton and
Bush presidencies to strengthen anti-trafficking laws and to
increase its own efforts to combat human trafficking and
slavery in light of those recent bipartisan enactments;
Whereas the Trafficking in Persons Office of the Department
of State continues to fight human trafficking around the
world;
Whereas many nongovernmental organizations have made
exceptional contributions to the prevention of human
trafficking and
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to the care and rehabilitation of victims of human
trafficking;
Whereas survivors of human trafficking crimes risk their
lives and the lives of their families to assist in the
investigation and prosecution of their former captors;
Whereas effective prosecution of human trafficking crimes
will not be possible unless adequate protections are offered
to the survivors;
Whereas the fight to eliminate human trafficking and
slavery requires the involvement of State and local law
enforcement officials, as well as Federal law enforcement
efforts;
Whereas the enactment of comprehensive State laws
criminalizing human trafficking and slavery may be necessary
to ensure that Federal efforts are accompanied by robust
efforts at the State and local levels;
Whereas the States of Texas, Washington, Missouri, and
Florida have recently enacted comprehensive State criminal
laws against human trafficking and slavery;
Whereas the Department of Justice recently announced a
comprehensive model State anti-trafficking criminal statute,
and encouraged States to adopt such laws, at its first
``National Conference on Human Trafficking,'' held in Tampa,
Florida; and
Whereas the Department of Justice's model State anti-
trafficking criminal statute is available at the Department's
website, http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/crim/model_state_law.pdf:
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) supports the bipartisan efforts of Congress, the
Department of Justice, and State and local law enforcement
officers to combat human trafficking and slavery;
(2) strongly encourages State legislatures to carefully
examine the Department of Justice's model State anti-
trafficking criminal statute, and to seriously consider
adopting State laws combating human trafficking and slavery
wherever such laws do not currently exist;
(3) strongly encourages State legislatures to carefully
examine the Federal benefits and protections for victims of
human trafficking and slavery contained in the Trafficking
Victims Protection Act of 2000 and the Trafficking Victims
Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003, and to seriously
consider adopting State laws that, at a minimum, offer these
explicit protections to the victims; and
(4) supports efforts to educate and empower State and local
law enforcement officers in the identification of victims of
human trafficking.
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