[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 40 (Tuesday, March 10, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1344-S1345]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           HUMAN TRAFFICKING

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, every year millions of human beings around 
the world are forced into slave labor and sold for sex. This includes a 
large number of children. While these crimes are especially prevalent 
in countries where prosecution of trafficking is lax or essentially 
nonexistent, the truth is that human trafficking occurs in every 
country, including right here in the United States. Every year 
thousands of Americans--most frequently women and children--are 
trafficked within the borders of the United States.
  A large number of the victims are children who are bought and sold to 
feed the twisted desires of sexual predators. That is a key phrase, 
``bought and sold,'' because to the criminals who prey on these 
children, that is what it is about--buying and selling. It is a 
business. That is right--the sexual exploitation and brutalization of 
children, some of them not yet teenagers, is a business to the 
traffickers who ensnare them, and many of them get rich off of the 
horror these children endure.
  Traffickers identify vulnerable targets--often children who are 
already living in difficult circumstances or come from broken homes. 
They then engage in calculated campaigns to win the trust of these 
vulnerable children and lure them into their orbit. After the child has 
been trapped, he or she is brought into a lifestyle whose horrors are 
difficult to adequately describe. These children are forced into a life 
of prostitution, their innocence repeatedly and brutally violated 
hundreds or thousands of times in a year. They are controlled by a 
combination of sexual, physical, and psychological abuse at the hands 
of their traffickers. Many of them become hooked on drugs as well 
thanks to their captors, who see drug dependence as a useful means of 
control.
  Some children never escape from this life. They end up dead before 
they have even left their childhood behind, the victim of a dangerous 
encounter with a sexual predator or too violent a beating at the hands 
of a pimp. Those children who do escape can take years or decades to 
recover from the trauma. Post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, 
and lasting physical injuries are just some of the challenges victims 
can face as they attempt to rebuild their lives. Some never recover.
  All of this is nothing more than a business to the traffickers, who 
enrich

[[Page S1345]]

themselves off the violation of the innocent. I am reminded of the 
verse in the Gospels ``For what does it profit a man to gain the whole 
world but forfeit his soul?''
  If there is any crime against which the human person revolts, it is 
the sexual brutalization of children. It is well known that even 
hardened criminals despise those who have hurt children in this way. 
Going after those who traffic in children should be a priority for 
local, State, and Federal law enforcement agencies.
  This week we are considering the Justice for Victims of Trafficking 
Act, a bill put together by my colleague, the senior Senator from 
Texas. I cosponsored this legislation because I believe it provides a 
number of important tools to strengthen our efforts to eradicate 
trafficking in this country and to help its victims.
  This legislation would give law enforcement additional resources for 
targeting traffickers, including increased access to wiretaps for State 
and local task forces conducting human trafficking and child 
pornography investigations, authorization for programs targeting child 
exploitation, and offering law enforcement training for returning 
veterans who want to focus on combating human trafficking.
  A large portion of the bill is focused on providing assistance to 
victims as they seek to regain their lives. Among the bill's many 
victim-related provisions are, first, a deficit-neutral domestic 
trafficking victims fund to increase the Federal support available to 
trafficking victims, financed by increased penalties for those 
convicted of trafficking-related crimes; second, a new block grant 
program to help State and local governments expand the resources they 
offer to trafficking victims and strengthen their law enforcement 
efforts; third, a provision written by my colleague from South Dakota, 
Representative Kristi Noem, that would help expand the extremely 
limited housing available to recovering underaged trafficking victims; 
fourth, a notification requirement to ensure that trafficking victims 
are told of any plea bargains or deferred prosecution agreements in 
their case; fifth, a provision to give victims of child pornography 
access to the same services available to trafficking victims by 
classifying child pornography production as a type of human 
trafficking; and sixth, a human trafficking advisory council made up of 
trafficking survivors to make recommendations to the Federal 
Government.
  This legislation has been endorsed by some of the leading 
organizations in the fight against human trafficking, including the 
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Shared Hope 
International, Rights4Girls, and the National Association to Protect 
Children. It is also supported by a bipartisan majority here in the 
Senate, and I am looking forward to passing it in the very near future.
  The sooner we get these tools in the hands of law enforcement, the 
better. If we succeed in anything as a society, it should be in 
protecting the innocent. I hope this legislation will help advance the 
fight against trafficking in this country and help promote the healing 
of human trafficking's many victims.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania.

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