[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 5 (Thursday, January 9, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H75-H76]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    HUMAN TRAFFICKING AWARENESS DAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Royce) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, this Saturday on January 11, people 
throughout our country here, people throughout the world will be 
observing Human Trafficking Awareness Day. The start of this new year I 
think is a fitting time to focus on the shameful fact that human 
slavery is not a relic of ancient history, that in fact it is with us 
today. It is a brutal reality. A reality faced by more than 20 million 
victims around the world, many of them trafficked for labor, but 
increasingly for underaged girls. For young women, this is a case where 
they are exploited in this trafficking as well.
  Even in my work as chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, I have 
learned that human trafficking is no longer just a problem ``over 
there.'' It is a problem in our communities here. It is a problem in 
developing economies, but also it is a problem in the United States and 
in Europe. It is a scourge even in the communities that we serve here 
and that we represent.
  In my own community in the last two years, the Orange County Human 
Trafficking Task Force assisted 250 victims. Ninety-three percent were 
women, most of them underage, 80 of them from foreign countries. At our 
November field hearing in Fullerton, the Orange County district 
attorney testified that, shockingly--we are speaking now about 
trafficking, sexual trafficking--``shockingly the average age of a 
child being trafficked in this country is 12'' years of age. ``A little 
girl who has not even reached her teens.''
  We also heard from one brave survivor, Angela Guanzon, who was 
trafficked from the Philippines into forced labor in Long Beach, 
California.
  I have heard many other stories from the members of the Human 
Trafficking Congressional Advisory Committee that I established last 
year in my Los Angeles district office. The forum for communicating on 
trafficking between law enforcement, advocates, service organizations, 
and survivors has contributed profoundly to my own knowledge, my own 
understanding of this issue. I encourage my colleagues to get to know 
those on the front lines of the fight against human trafficking. Get to 
know them in their districts and know of their work. You are going to 
be informed, challenged, and inspired by what you learn.
  This January designated as National Slavery and Human Trafficking 
Prevention Month is a perfect time to shine a spotlight on the dark 
issue of trafficking, but awareness is only a first step. More needs to 
be done.
  To that end, I would urge my colleagues to join me in cosponsoring 
H.R. 3344, the Fraudulent Overseas Recruitment and Trafficking 
Elimination Act, to combat one critical form of recurring abuse: 
namely, that is unscrupulous recruiters. By targeting the recruiters we 
can do a lot--these recruiters who bait foreigners to travel to the 
United States with promises of good jobs, but trap them in sexual 
exploitation or forced labor once they arrive.
  For example, in my home county, the Salvation Army's Network of 
Emergency Trafficking Services reports that a full one-third of their 
clients--33 percent of their clients--were recruited in a foreign 
country by a labor recruiter. They got here and found it was a very 
different job than the one they enlisted for. This represents not only 
an assault on the dignity of the victim but also a subversion of United 
States labor laws and our nonimmigrant visa system.
  In response, this legislation requires that prospective foreign 
workers be given accurate information about the terms of employment and 
be given anti-trafficking protections by U.S. laws. It prohibits 
recruitment fees or hidden charges used as coercive leverage against 
workers. In other words, once you get here to the United States, you 
can't find out afterwards, because they didn't disclose to you, that 
there are fees that you owe. Those fees are no longer allowed. Up front 
the employer pays those fees.
  It requires foreign labor recruiters to register and remain in good 
standing with the Department of Labor, and it provides new incentives 
and enforcement mechanisms to ensure that recruiters and employers 
follow these disclosure and registration requirements.

[[Page H76]]

  Members may contact the Foreign Affairs Committee to join this 
important anti-traffic initiative. I encourage you all to sign on to my 
legislation.
  As people of goodwill around the world observe Human Trafficking 
Awareness Day this weekend, let us move beyond mere awareness, let us 
abolish this injustice, and protect and restore the dignity of those 
who have survived such exploitation.

                          ____________________