[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 63 (Wednesday, April 30, 2014)]
[House]
[Page H3358]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TWELVE DOLLARS
(Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, $12. In Nigeria, $12 is the cost of a
bride slave. Recently, around 200 girls went to school and never came
home. They were kidnapped and, for $12 apiece, sold to the Islamic
militant terrorist group Boko Haram. They were forced into marriage and
raped--modern sex slavery.
This inhuman human trafficking crime is a world problem that needs
action. Today, the United States took a huge step forward in the battle
against this scourge. The Judiciary Committee passed three bills
fighting this growing problem here in America.
The Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act that I sponsored, along
with Carolyn Maloney of New York, was passed and supports and protects
victims of this horrible crime. It punishes the sex trafficker and now
punishes the buyer, the child rapist. It helps rescue child victims and
treats them as victims, rather than child prostitutes.
No life deserves to be stolen and sold for $12. Children should not
be for sale anywhere, at any time, for any reason.
And that's just the way it is.
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