[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 81 (Monday, May 23, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H2953-H2959]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
1-YEAR ANNIVERSARY FOR JUSTICE FOR VICTIMS OF TRAFFICKING ACT
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 6, 2015, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for
the remaining time until 10 p.m. as the designee of the Majority
Leader.
General Leave
Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members be allowed 5 days to file remarks and revise and extend those
remarks.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Texas?
There was no objection.
Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, this Sunday, May 29, marks the 1-year
anniversary for the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act being signed
into law, or the JVTA, as we refer to it.
This is a vital piece of legislation that the House and Senate passed
and that was signed by the President a year ago that takes this scourge
of human slavery that is taking place internationally, but also here in
the United States, and Congress weighs in on this to deal with this
issue, I think, in a very good way.
It is impressive to me as a Member of the House how many Members of
Congress on both sides were involved in drafting legislation over a
year ago that came to the House and passed. In the House itself, there
were 11 pieces of legislation that dealt with sex trafficking. All of
those bills came up to the House floor in the same week, and all of
them passed with overwhelming numbers.
They went down the hallway to the U.S. Senate. The Senate combined
those bills into one bill, and it passed that legislation. It came back
to the House, we passed that, and it was signed by the President. I
want to thank all of those Members of Congress--Republicans and
Democrats--who worked on this.
Just by way of background, I got involved in this issue in several
ways. One way was when I was in Eastern Europe several years ago and
found out about the human trafficking, sex trafficking, and labor
trafficking that was taking place in Eastern Europe and how young women
were lured into thinking they were going to get a better job--or have a
job--in Africa and the next thing they knew they were in sex slavery in
northern Africa. Most of those women just disappeared over the years.
Then, back here in the United States, we have the problem of the
crime and the scourge of trafficking, and it happens in two areas.
There is international sex trafficking into the United States. About 20
percent of the trafficking here in America is international, primarily
coming from the southern border.
You see those drug traffickers, those drug dealers, who come across
the southern border of Texas. They bring anybody into the United
States, and they will do anything for money.
They will bring young girls, young women, and traffic them into the
United States and turn them over to the criminal gangs, like the MS-13
gang, and then they are trafficked throughout the United States.
That is about 20 percent of the trafficking. The other 80 percent is
trafficking by domestic or young girls, young women. They are
trafficked throughout the United States in the same crime--sex slavery,
sex trafficking.
I had an opportunity to meet a lot of these trafficking victims in my
work as chairman and co-chairman with Jim Costa of the Crime Victims
Caucus. I will tell you about three of those, and those three women
helped get the minds straight of Members of Congress on this issue that
is taking place.
``T,'' as her nickname is, was in foster care. She spent 18 years of
her life in foster care. In foster care, she was abused, treated like
an animal, hardly fed by some of the individuals who were in the foster
care system. All she wanted was a family, someone to love and care for
her.
She met an older boy, and that individual made her feel special. He
promised to love her and take care of her. But as soon as she left with
him, she became a sex slave, and her innocence was crushed. She was
sold around the country in massage parlors, strip clubs, in hotels, and
on the Internet. She was treated like property for 7 years, Mr.
Speaker.
I mentioned that she was in foster care. We now understand that about
two-thirds of the sex trafficking victims in the United States, at some
[[Page H2954]]
time in their lives, were in foster care. That is an issue we have to
deal with. Congress has to deal with that.
Finally, ``T'' was rescued, and now she tells her story wherever she
can. Even Time magazine featured her and her life and her story and her
recovery.
Brooke Axtell I met in Texas. Her mother was extremely ill when she
was about 7 years of age. So the mother turned Brooke over to a nanny,
but the nanny did not protect her. In fact, the nanny did just the
opposite. The nanny sexually abused Brooke and then trafficked her.
It is common with child trafficking victims, as with Brooke, to also
be victims of child pornography. After Mom got out of the hospital,
Brooke was slow to tell Mom what happened, but she finally did. In
working with her mother, she was able to be rescued and get out of this
scourge of sex trafficking. Now she works with Allies Against Slavery
in Texas.
The third person I want to mention very briefly is Cheryl Briggs. She
grew up in an abusive home. She was sexually abused by her father.
Things were so bad in the home that Mama left when Cheryl was very
young to escape the abuse.
At the age of 12, Cheryl didn't know what else to do except get away
from her father. So she ran away. She began hitchhiking with truck
drivers or with anybody who would take her. It led her to get involved
with a motorcycle group, and she started a career, unfortunately, in
sex trafficking hell.
This individual took her to a biker club that was filled with men who
sexually assaulted her. They raped her. She became a trafficked victim
and was forced to do all kinds of just awful, horrible things. She was
trapped in this scourge of human trafficking and didn't know how to get
help.
She was finally able to get help when a patron of the strip club
figured out on his own that she was too young and helped her get
rescued. Now Cheryl works to help those who are in this sex trafficking
in the United States.
Those are just three stories, Mr. Speaker. Let me tell you about one
bill, and then I want other Members of Congress who are here at this
late hour to make comments as well.
Carolyn Maloney and I worked on the Justice for Victims of
Trafficking Act. Now, you know Carolyn Maloney. She is a New York
liberal Democrat who talks a little funny. She teamed up with me, a
Texas conservative who talks a little funny, according to her.
The two of us got together and started working on this with lots of
Members of Congress. The Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act, thanks
to the hard work of Mrs. Maloney and others--and especially of the
women in the U.S. House of Representatives--passed the House. It does
three things.
{time} 2115
It does three things. It goes after the trafficker, the slave master,
and makes sure that when prosecutors--Mr. Speaker, as you know about
prosecutors--when they prosecute those cases, that person goes away to
the penitentiary, the do right hotel, for as long as the judge can send
them.
It then goes to the other end and looks at the trafficking victim.
For years, society looked at this victim as a criminal, a child
prostitute. Children cannot be prostitutes. It is impossible, legally
impossible. So rather than treat them like criminals and put them in
the criminal justice system, it rescues those victims and treats them
like victims of crime rather than criminals. This is a major change in
society's thought and thought process about these children and young
women.
Also, Mr. Speaker, it goes after the money, the consumer, the buyer
in the middle. Too long, these buyers of trafficking victims who pay
money to do these awful things to children have kind of skated under
the criminal justice system. Not anymore. Those days are over. The days
of boys being boys are over, and these buyers can be prosecuted to the
same extent of the law as the trafficker.
So the bill does three things: it goes after the trafficker; it goes
after the demand, the money; and it rescues the victims.
How do we pay for this? It is kind of a novel approach. Federal
judges now can impose fines and fees on the trafficker and the buyer
because a lot of them have a lot of money. And that money goes into a
fund, and that fund is used and given as grants to different
organizations, nonprofits throughout the country in States to help
trafficking victims and also to educate police and educate the public.
So it is a good piece of legislation. That was just one of several
pieces of legislation that came to the House floor.
As I mentioned, this was a bipartisan effort. Mrs. Joyce Beatty of
Ohio is here. She filed legislation called Improve the Response to
Victims of Child Sex Trafficking. All of that legislation was included
in the Senate bill and came back to the House and then passed. What it
does is decriminalize child sex and makes it easier for people to
report potential incidences of crimes against children.
I yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Beatty), a great advocate
on behalf of crime victims and trafficking victims.
Mrs. BEATTY. Mr. Speaker, I thank Judge Poe, chairman of the Victims'
Rights Caucus and Representative of Texas' Second Congressional
District, for organizing this evening's important Special Order hour
and for all of his hard work on behalf of the victims of human
trafficking.
I am also very pleased to have the opportunity to partner with my
good friend, Congresswoman Ann Wagner of Missouri, who is my classmate
and a friend. We share the same priority of eradicating human
trafficking.
It is kind of odd, as Judge Poe talked about his relationship with
Carolyn Maloney. They are two people who seem, on paper, very
different. One might say the same about Ann Wagner and me. But, Mr.
Speaker, there is that common thread that puts us together to not only
advocate and fight for something that we need to fight for, but we have
been able to make a difference.
That is why I come to the House floor this evening to recognize and
celebrate a very important anniversary: the 1-year anniversary of
bipartisan, comprehensive legislation, Justice for Victims of
Trafficking Act, that was signed into law.
The Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act, or JVTA, was a landmark
bill, as you have heard, that updated America's effort to combat the
scourge of human trafficking and provided essential resources to
survivors and law enforcement officials. I am so proud to have had my
bill be included in this legislation and to have been able to take part
in its drafting, passage, and enactment.
Mr. Speaker, in the year since JVTA's enactment, we have witnessed
important achievements. For example, the JVTA has reinvigorated
Americans' commitment to protecting our children from cruel
exploitation. And, Mr. Speaker, these children still need our
protection.
Human trafficking, as we have heard, is an estimated multibillion-
dollar-a-year international enterprise that forces the most at risk
among us, both here at home and abroad, into modern-day slavery. It is
one of the fastest growing crimes in the world.
According to the United States State Department, human trafficking is
among the world's top three criminal enterprises. It is forced
prostitution, domestic slavery, and forced labor, which is why
enactment and, now, the implementation of the JVTA is so important. We
must continue to work to eradicate human trafficking and support the
victims.
In the year since the JVTA's enactment, we have seen educators, law
enforcement officials, and service providers working together,
Democrats and Republicans, Mr. Speaker, raising awareness in our
communities that human trafficking is not merely an international
phenomenon. It, unfortunately, happens all too often in our backyards,
just as we have heard Judge Poe talk about ``T'' and talk about Brooke.
And the stories could go on and on.
In fact, in my home State of Ohio, for example, each year, an
estimated 1,000 children become victims of human trafficking, and over
3,000 more are at risk. Ohio is the fifth leading State for human
trafficking because of its proximity to waterways that lead to an
international border and the I-75 interstate that allows anyone to exit
the State, within 2 hours, to almost anywhere.
[[Page H2955]]
Lastly, I am very thankful for having amazing advocates in Ohio for
victims of human trafficking, like Theresa Flores, the founder of SOAP,
Save Our Adolescents from Prostitution, and State Representative Teresa
Fedor, a member of the Ohio House of Representatives, who has made a
lifetime commitment to working to protect our victims.
We must remain vigilant in the implementation of JVTA, as we were
when we passed it, so every child, every woman and man is free from
this form of modern-day slavery, which is why I am proud to have joined
Judge Poe and Congresswomen Wagner and Maloney of New York in leading a
letter to United States Attorney General Loretta Lynch supporting the
Department of Justice's implementation thus far of the JVTA and
requesting needed information on what more can be done within the
confines of the current law.
Mr. Speaker, this is what happens when we work together. This is a
great example of what we can do when Democrats and Republicans come
together to change lives.
And that is just the way it is.
Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Ohio. I
like your tag line. I might use it myself.
You point out several good things, and I think everybody listening
can understand why legislation like this got passed because of your
passion and--I will say it again--because of the women in the U.S.
House that pushed this last year and were relentless until all this
legislation came up.
You point out many good things. There are two things, though, that I
want to point out myself that you mentioned. One is about the money.
People may ask, Mr. Speaker, why is there so much money involved in
this? Well, drug dealers, when they sell drugs, you sell drugs one
time. The cost of apprehension, the consequences, are great, and the
chances of getting caught are great.
On the other end, you have sex trafficking. Unfortunately, these
children are sold multiple times a day--sometimes 20, 25 times a day.
The risk of getting caught is very low, and the punishment, up until
now, has been very low. So that is why it is the second or third
biggest monetary system of criminal enterprises anywhere.
That, Mr. Speaker, in itself is a disgrace to us as a people to allow
this to happen, where slavery is the second or third money maker for
the criminal gangs who primarily run all of these enterprises.
I yield to another gentleman from Texas (Mr. Weber). He has been in
the antitrafficking movement a long time. He worked in the Texas
Legislature and helped Texas get ahead of the curve on the movement
before we actually did here in the House.
I yield to the gentleman from southeast Texas (Mr. Weber).
Mr. WEBER of Texas. Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to be here and to
work in a bipartisan fashion across the aisle for this very worthwhile
cause.
I will tell you, Judge Poe is exactly correct. In Texas, we like to
say that things are bigger in Texas. But, unfortunately, Texas has one
record that we really didn't want, and that is that we have 25 percent
of the sex trafficking in the country. We are 1 of 50 States, and yet
we have 25 percent of the victims of sex trafficking going on right
there in Texas.
We were able to pass Texas House Bill 4009, which did a number of
things. It actually instructed the enforcement officials to take a look
at some of these young girls that were picked up--and, I guess, for
that matter, young men as well--and to not just assume that they were
willfully participating in the sex trade, but to look deeper into the
background there.
Some of these girls we found out were actually held against their
will, were drugged and beat into submission. Some, as young as 12, were
dancing in some of these strip clubs and, like Judge Poe said, some of
the patrons would take notice of that and would actually get them help.
In Texas, we did identify that pretty early on, about 5 or 6 years
ago now, and were able to pass legislation to get the HHSC to put law
enforcement together, to get some training for these officers, to get
these NGOs together to say, look, we need to get some programs for
these young girls to rehabilitate them. How in the world do you ever
get them back to normal life after something like this? We needed more
facilities, more beds, more training. So I am proud to say that, in
Texas, we actually did take the lead on that.
One of my favorites was in the town of Waco. You mentioned three
things: going after the perpetrators; going after the demand, the
money; and, of course, helping the victims. Well, the town of Waco had
a way of dealing with the johns. What they did was, when someone was
arrested in Waco, they would put that john's picture on a billboard in
the city with the headline, ``Arrested for solicitation of
prostitution.''
Now, that will ruin your family life at home and in a little town
like Waco. So we took some lessons from that to say, look, we are going
after the demand, after the johns, to try to dry up that money stream
Mr. Speaker, Judge Poe ought to be commended. It has been almost a
year since the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act was signed into
law. This comprehensive legislation tackled a number of issues to
combat human trafficking. It took a stand against the seller, which we
have been talking about, and the buyer by criminally pressing charges
on both for the first time.
It also provided smart solutions to help victims of trafficking get
back on their feet, which is what I said from my days in the Texas
Legislature. They needed a program. They needed people to understand.
They needed counseling. Good Lord, how do those young girls ever get
back to some semblance of normalcy after something like that?
Thanks to the JVTA, States are now incentivized to draft and pass
what we call safe harbor legislation, which helps victims of
trafficking expunge their criminal records in an effort to start fresh
without the ghosts of their past haunting them.
Legislation like this also addresses the need for shelter, for more
beds, for facilities for those NGOs, a place for rehabilitation.
As you know, currently, 34 out of the 50 States have versions of safe
harbor legislation, which is an increase of 14 States just since the
passage of the act. Training on the identification of trafficking
victims has also increased within the airline, the hotel, and even in
the medical industries.
{time} 2130
Mr. Speaker, victims of human trafficking are men, women, and
children. This is not a victimless crime, I might add. We all have
undoubtedly passed these victims in an airport, at a hotel, or maybe
even at the fuel station. Until society at large stops sexualizing our
children, we will be unable to prevent the predators' interest in our
minors.
We have made crucial steps, Mr. Speaker, toward combating human
trafficking, as evidenced by the very success of the Justice for
Victims of Trafficking Act we are talking about here tonight. Yet, we
still have a long way to go to eradicate this scourge of human slavery.
But we have a good start on it, and we are committed to seeing it
through to the end and making a difference. Mr. Speaker, you know I am
right.
Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for
his several important comments that he made about facilities to take
the victims once they are rescued by law enforcement or by nonprofit
organizations.
Mr. Speaker, there is no place to put them. Sometimes that is why the
police arrest these young girls and put them in juvenile detention, is
because there is no facility to take them. I am not blaming the police.
They have no other place for them to go.
There have been some studies done on how many beds are available for
trafficking victims. The latest comes out of the State of Illinois.
They did some research, and there are about 600 to 700 beds nationwide
for trafficking victims--600 to 700 beds; that is it--in a country of
350 million people.
Compare that to animal shelters. I love animal shelters. I have got
three Dalmatians. I call them the weapons of mass destruction. I got
one of them from a Dalmatian rescue in Dallas. But there are 5,000
animal shelters in the United States, and that is good. We need every
one of them.
[[Page H2956]]
Six hundred to seven hundred beds for trafficking victims is not near
enough. That is one thing this legislation does. It provides resources
so we can have places to take these crime victims, and that is what
they are.
They are victims of crime. They are not criminals. They are hard to
deal with. They are not easy to help. They have had their whole lives
destroyed in front of them. So it takes time, it takes facilities, and
it takes resources.
One other comment you made about the signs. Of course, I am a big fan
of criminals carrying signs in front of businesses that they commit
crimes in. I did that as a judge and some other things.
You are exactly right. If we could add an amendment to this
legislation--and I think we should--to give Federal judges the option
to allow the posting in the county in which the crime was committed on
a billboard or a sign of a photograph of the child molester who has
been convicted of trafficking children, that would get the attention of
some of those folks out there who are trying to hide their criminal
conduct.
And maybe those billboards ought to pop up right before some big
sporting event that cities have as well. That is just a thought, Mr.
Speaker. I think we ought to work on that.
We also have with us another person who has worked on this whole
issue of trafficking victims and justice for them. Mr. Yoho is one of
our newer Members of Congress, Ted Yoho from the Third District of the
State of Florida. I yield to the gentleman at this time.
Mr. YOHO. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Texas.
You wouldn't have hurt my feelings if you would have said one of the
younger Members, but that wouldn't have been true.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in solidarity with the growing army that is
fighting human trafficking worldwide. I rise to speak out against this
heinous crime known as human trafficking, the scourge of our time in
the 21st century, a $32 billion industry.
The statistics are overwhelming, as we have heard all the estimates
of over 22 million people being trafficked worldwide. Sometimes,
though, they seem far away. It is estimated that the individuals in the
adult entertainment are often victims of human trafficking, people in
farm camps, people in domestic servitude. There are people being
trafficked for human body parts. It goes on every day.
People often say, ``That kind of stuff happens overseas'' or, ``That
doesn't happen here.'' There is an acronym called NIMBY, not in my
backyard. People don't think this happens. No, it happens in our own
backyards. It happens here at home. It happens in your State, in your
county, and more than likely it happens in your town.
Human trafficking happens as we speak. Human trafficking knows no
skin color, no gender, no socioeconomic background. It only knows how
to exploit, abuse, and victimize.
Who is guilty of this? Well, nation-states are guilty of this,
criminal gangs, drug cartels, people needing labor, and terrorist
organizations. People are doing this for greed, profit, and power. They
are the scum of humanity, the people who are involved in this.
ISIS, as we all know today, traffics people for terrorist reasons.
They sell children from 1 to 9 years of age. Children 1 to 9 years of
age bring the most for ISIS, $168. Young women between 9 and 18 have
dropped in value. They are worth $128. ISIS even gives away slaves for
rewards of deeds that we deem are bad deeds.
The alarming estimate of more than 1 million teenagers run away every
year in the United States. Runaways are the most at-risk youth and
susceptible of trafficking. Runaways are the most at risk when they
leave. In fact, runaways are typically picked up by the pimps or
traffickers within the first 48 hours.
Who does this sort of thing? Well, the perpetrators aren't of a
certain stereotype. They are of all backgrounds. I don't want to name
any backgrounds, but they are people of low, no, and high profiles.
This year in my hometown of Gainesville a trafficking ring was
discovered and six people were arrested.
Last week a person of high profile, one of the leaders of the Black
Lives Matter movement, was arrested for sexually trafficking a minor in
New York.
Just last year a 15-year-old girl was discovered by police in a motel
room being sexually abused and trafficked several times a day. When I
say several times a day, we are talking 15 to 20 times a day their body
is being sold, like an amusement ride.
Her parents had been handing out missing child flyers in the
neighborhood when somebody recognized her picture from an online ad.
That young girl went from being a runaway to a trafficking victim in
less than a month. That 15-year-old girl could be the son or daughter
of you, your friends. It could be your niece or nephew, your brother or
sister.
However, it is not just runaways that become victims of trafficking.
Traffickers don't discriminate based on economic class, race, gender,
or age. Traffickers are motivated by profit. The average cost of a
slave worldwide--worldwide--is less than $90. That is the value the
scum of the earth puts on the value of a human's life.
As the world's fastest growing and third largest criminal enterprise,
it is shocking how little people know about this horrendous practice.
Further, it is appalling how little is put toward the effort to stop
it.
In my district, we have created the North Central Florida Human
Trafficking Task Force, which is aimed at bringing together community
partners from the Federal, State, and local levels to combat
trafficking.
For many, education awareness is half the battle. We teamed up with
the Department of Homeland Security and used their Blue Campaign to
raise awareness. This week here on Capitol Hill we celebrate the 1-year
anniversary of the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act sponsored by
Judge Ted Poe of Texas, and I am a proud cosponsor of this important
legislation. I thank my colleagues for their support of this bill as
well.
This issue, the issue of human trafficking, is not a Republican or
Democratic issue. Back in January, several of us took to this very
House floor to speak of the horrors of this crime.
But taking a stand on one particular day or highlighting the issue
once a month doesn't even begin to cover what the victims experience on
a daily basis or the horrors and nightmares they have for a lifetime.
We must always, always be vigilant and active in our fight. If we
become aware and educate just one other person to know what the signs
are, we can help end this horrific tragedy.
Mr. Speaker, no neighborhood is immune. No city is exempt. These
slaves, or victims, are a part of our daily lives quietly suffering,
but being traded like livestock and treated beyond comprehension.
We cannot in good conscience continue our daily routines without
making every effort to stamp out the practice of forced labor, domestic
servitude, sex trafficking, or the selling of body parts. Whether you
are a college student, businessowner, or stay-at-home parent, we all
play a role.
First, I ask my colleagues to stand with me as we take another step
in taking down trafficking. Thank you to all those both here at home
and abroad who are fighting every day to make this modern-day slavery a
thing of the past. All it takes for evil to succeed is for good men,
women, or people to do nothing.
Finally, thank you to my colleague, the gentleman from Texas (Mr.
Poe), for hosting this Special Order.
Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida. I
appreciate his comments. He made several excellent points, the NIMBY
attitude that some people have, not in my backyard.
I met with a father last week. He came to my office and told me the
story of how his daughter had been trafficked. He went to the local
sheriff in another part of the State and told the sheriff what had
happened. The sheriff said: It doesn't happen here.
It does. It happens everywhere. It is in our backyard. It is
everywhere. We need to recognize that. The gentleman worked on his own,
then, to find his daughter and take her back home.
The gentleman from Florida (Mr. Yoho) makes another good comment
about how these young kids are prey. A trafficked child, like the one I
just mentioned, they had been working on her for 18 months, seducing
her, talking to her, using the Internet. She
[[Page H2957]]
thought these people were her friends. They were not her friends. They
were all involved in the trafficking process.
We need to understand that traffickers are not old guys in trench
coats wandering around and snatching kids. They are not. Many times
they are young people, young, good-looking guys who will strike up a
conversation with a middle schooler at the mall and then talk to them
again later and then later and then, finally, that individual gets in
the vehicle or meets the individual, the trafficker, someplace, and
then she is gone.
This father that I talked to knew the statistics, that, if you have a
child that is trafficked, you have about 3 weeks to find her or she is
gone because those traffickers move those kids all over the country,
selling them every day. It is in our backyard, unfortunately.
I yield to another Texan, the gentlewoman from Houston, Texas, Ms.
Sheila Jackson Lee, who has worked on this issue of trafficking here
and also back home in our hometown of Houston.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, let me thank the gentleman from Texas
for his persistence, his determination, and for this exciting
commemoration of the Justice for All Reauthorization Act of 2016.
Let me thank the Congressional Victims' Rights Caucus and co-chair
Jim Costa, along with Congressman Poe, Judge Poe, who famously has
said, ``And that is just the way it is,'' and I see all of us seemingly
adopting those words. So he has now put the English language in a form
that we just can't help ourselves. So I thank Judge Poe so very much.
I remember his beginning. I want to thank him for a year or 2 ago
when he joined me and Chairman McCaul for a Committee on Homeland
Security human trafficking hearing in Houston, Texas.
I believe we have had other hearings since then because we know that
Houston, Texas, Harris County, and in Texas has been called one of the
center points of human trafficking, to our dismay. Many stories have
come to our attention.
I think it was about 2 years ago, Judge Poe, when they found a stash
house out in the county. I actually went to that site where teams of--
when I say teams, tens upon tens of individuals, including children,
were in that particular place. We had to shut down a cantina in and
around the inner city that had been used for human trafficking in the
city of Houston.
{time} 2145
The one point that is very important that I will make--and I will
comment on some other aspects that are in this bill--is that human
trafficking is profitable. Human trafficking is profitable. That means
that slavery is not dead. Human trafficking is profitable.
The reason is, tragically, the young child, the young teenager, the
preteen, the young woman, or the young man or boy is recycled,
tragically, over and over again, which makes human trafficking more
than profitable and vicious and vile. They have to keep that human
being who needs to be free and enjoy the freedom of being a child and
enjoy the various special things of being a child, like being loved and
nurtured, going to picnics, going to school, they have to keep that
young woman, that young man in bondage.
That is what this bill, as spoken of previously, and certainly among
other things, speaks to today. In the many bills that were incorporated
in this bill, it was to eliminate, if you will, the pain and
viciousness of human trafficking.
Let me quickly say that I want to congratulate the fact that this
bill reduces the rape kit backlog and provides resources for forensic
labs in cities all over America. As a member of the Judiciary
Committee, we were hearing the stories about backlogs of rape kits. So
this bill requires at least 75 percent of amounts made available to the
DOJ for forensic testing and to be used for direct testing of crime
scene evidence, including rape kits.
It improves the sexual assault nurse examiner program by
incentivizing the hiring of full-time nurses, particularly in rural and
underserved areas, and reauthorizes and improves the Paul Coverdell
Forensic Science Improvement Grants, which awards grants to States and
local governments to improve the quality of forensic science services,
which is so very important.
I also say that I acknowledge that numerous studies have shown that
at least 75 percent of youths involved in the justice system have
experienced traumatic victimization, making them vulnerable to mental
health disorders and perceived behavioral and noncompliance and
misconduct.
This legislation deals with best-evidence research to be able to help
our youth as well, and to ensure that they get the kind of treatment
they need, particularly after sexual assault, which is what human
trafficking mostly is, besides the heinousness of being held by another
human being.
So I am very glad that we are moving forward on the reauthorization
for Justice for All for 2016. So many things have been made better.
I want to cite one example as I close. I am reminded of this because
of the floods that we dealt with recently. There were incidences of
women living in places where their name was not on the lease. So, for
example, if a man gets evicted for abusing his live-in girlfriend, the
girlfriend who is not a named tenant on the lease, but is a resident,
would automatically be evicted. That is so very important. Many times,
that girlfriend is living there with her children. She would be
permitted to stay for a reasonable time to establish her own
eligibility to remain in the public housing unit.
Let me say this: this is not a one-size-fits-all, but it is not one
community. It is not any race of people, it is not any economic level
of people. It is people who are egregiously abusing and violating
another human being. In many instances, Judge Poe, it is a child.
So I want to thank you for this legislation. Let us continue to walk
this pathway together in a bipartisan manner. Certainly, as a very
valued member of the Judiciary Committee, a lot of your work is part of
that legislative agenda, and I am very glad to join in. A lot of your
work is also on the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Let us work together to save lives and to protect our children.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleagues of the Congressional
Victims' Rights Caucus, Congressman Ted Poe (R-TX) and Congressman Jim
Costa (D-CA) who are anchoring this Special Order in support of the
Justice for All Reauthorization Act of 2016.
The Justice for All Act, which I co-sponsored in 2004, enhanced
protections for victims of Federal crimes, provided resources to
improve the use of DNA and forensic technology to combat crimes, and
established safeguards to prevent and reverse wrongful convictions.
This legislation reauthorizes and improves many of the programs
created by the original law and responsibly reduces overall funding in
response to current economic conditions.
The bipartisan Justice for All Act of 2004 increased resources
devoted to DNA and other forensic technology, established safeguards to
prevent wrongful convictions, and enhanced protections for crime
victims.
This legislation builds on the Justice for All Act to improve the
criminal justice system and ensure public confidence in it.
The Justice for All Act of 2016 increases access to restitution for
crime victims and requires that interpreters be available to all
federal crime victims who wish to participate in a court proceeding.
Reauthorizing important programs used to notify crime victims of
their right to be heard in court, this legislation provides them with
legal assistance.
Additionally, the bill improves housing rights for domestic violence
victims and protects Violence Against Women Act (VA-WA) funding from
federal penalties.
The bill makes payment of restitution a mandatory condition of
supervised release for any defendant convicted of a Federal felony or
misdemeanor and ordered to pay restitution.
The bill will also amend the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure to
give the court authority to appoint an interpreter for any victim
present during proceedings.
Importantly, this legislation supports programs that inform crime
victims of their rights and helps ensure that those rights are enforced
by reauthorizing the Crime Victims Legal Assistance Grants and Crime
Victims Notification Grants.
Reducing current Rape Kit Backlog, the Justice for All Act requires
that at least 75% of amounts made available to the Attorney General for
local, state, and Federal forensic activities must be used for direct
testing activities described in the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant
Program.
Requiring law enforcement agencies to conduct audits of their
backlogged rape kits, this
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law also creates tracking mechanisms, and prioritizes testing in cases
in which the statute of limitations will soon expire.
The Act also amends the Sexual Assault Forensic Exam Program Grants
to give preference to entities which will: operate or expand forensic
nurse examiner programs in rural areas or for underserved populations,
hire full-time forensic nurse examiners, or support training programs
for forensic nurse examiners.
Critically, the Act provides community health centers, colleges and
hospitals with information about resources available to address
domestic violence, sexual assault, and elder abuse.
Clarifying requirements for housing protections in the Violence
Against Women Act, the act will extend protection against automatic
eviction to any ``resident'' in a public housing unit--who is not a
tenant listed on the lease--in situations where the named tenant is
evicted.
For example, if a man gets evicted for abusing his live-in
girlfriend, the girlfriend, who is not a named tenant on the lease but
is a resident, would not automatically be evicted. She would be
permitted to stay for a reasonable time to establish her own
eligibility to remain in the public housing unit.
The Justice for All Reauthorization Act of 2016 strengthens the
Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA).
PREA currently requires that all states to comply with its
requirements or suffer a 5% reduction in DOJ funds they would receive
for ``prison purposes.''
States can still receive the funds however, even if they are not in
compliance, if the Governor submits an ``assurance'' that the state
will reallocate 5% of those funds to PREA implementation.
To ensure compliance, states are required to have all of their
prisons audited for at least once every three years.
The bill requires Governors to submit with their annual certification
or assurance information about the state's PREA implementation efforts,
including which correctional facilities were audited in the most recent
audit year, a proposed schedule for completing an audit of all prison
during the next three audit years, and all final audit reports.
Numerous studies have also shown that at least 75% of youth involved
in the justice system have experienced traumatic victimization, making
them vulnerable to mental health disorders and perceived behavioral
non-compliance and misconduct.
Over the years, clear evidence has emerged from federal
investigations, class-action lawsuits or authoritative reports written
by reputable media outlets or respected public or private agencies
showing that youth corrections facility across the country have
repeatedly failed to protect youth from violence by staff or other
youth, sexual assaults and/or excessive use of isolation or restraints.
(Annie E. Casey Foundation--Maltreatment Report, 2015).
Despite costly law suits and periods of federal supervision, inhumane
conditions of youth confinement remains rampant and a national
epidemic.
Despite national outcry for compliance with PREA, Many states have
failed to implement and enforce its standards for youth in correctional
and detention facilities.
Current law provides that states not conforming to required protocols
will lose 5% of all funds they receive from the U.S. DOJ grant
programs.
However, financial penalties will not begin until 2017, and expected
that DOJ will extend deadline and/or disperse funds to non-compliant
states (provided they use the money toward implementing PREA
requirements). (AECF Report).
Further, the bill requires the Attorney General to post all final
audit reports on its website and to update the site at least annually.
Expanding the reach of these valiant efforts, the Justice for All
Reauthorization Act of 2016 clarifies that grants authorized for victim
assistance may be used to support nonprofit entities which assist
victims of crime on a nationwide basis or Americans abroad who are
victims of crimes committed outside of the United States.
Truly, improving the administration of criminal justice programs, the
bill increases accountability for federal funds spent by state and
local governments by requiring that states receiving funds under the
Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program develop a
strategic plan detailing how the funds will be spent.
The bill directs the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) to
promulgate best practices for evidence retention within eighteen months
of enactment and requires NIJ to assist state, local, and tribal
governments wishing to adopt those best practices.
Because this bill has tremendous potential to improve victims' access
to justice, support law enforcement, exonerate the innocent, and
strengthen and improve the criminal justice system, we urge the
committee to bring this bill up for timely consideration and passage.
As a member of the Congressional Victims' Rights Caucus, I thank my
colleagues Congressman Ted Poe (R-TX) and Congressman Jim Costa (D-CA)
) for hosting this Special Order in support of the Justice for All
Reauthorization Act of 2016.
It is an invaluable and much needed effort.
Mr. POE of Texas. I thank the gentlewoman for her comments. As the
gentlewoman knows and has been mentioned on the House floor, I think,
by Mr. Weber, Houston, Texas, is a hub for child sex trafficking in the
United States, and it is because of our location. We are using that,
though, to change the dynamics of the city, working with our new mayor,
Sylvester Turner, who was in the State legislature for a long time.
Our new mayor has now come up with a protocol for the city of Houston
to work to eliminate this scourge. I think it is a protocol that cities
throughout the country will be able to use themselves to address the
issue, admit the problem, and then deal with it on a multilayer basis,
working with all the nonprofits and all the government agencies and
different types of law enforcement.
So I know that the gentlewoman is working with the mayor on this
project. I want to congratulate you and the mayor for taking this issue
and solving it so that Houston now will be an example of what to do in
solving this scourge.
I also thank you for being on the Victims' Rights Caucus. As you
mentioned, it is bipartisan. Jim Costa and I started this in 2005.
There are 80 members: 40 Republicans, 40 Democrats.
Mr. Speaker, the Victims' Rights Caucus promotes victims of crime
before Congress.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. I express my appreciation for being a member of the
Victims' Right Caucus because it is bipartisan. I should say it is
multicommunities. All different people.
Let me thank the gentleman for mentioning Mayor Turner. This is an
exciting effort. If you don't take notice, you are not going to be able
to solve the problem. And that is what the city is doing. It is taking
notice and putting in infrastructure for being helpful.
Let me close by simply saying that, as Judge Poe knows, in the last
couple of days of Houston we have been mourning the killing of an 11-
year-old child on his way home from school. We have not determined who
it is, but all I can say to you is that even our children are
vulnerable, whether by a heinous individual that maybe was trying to
pick the child up--we don't know--but the child is now deceased. My
sympathies to his family, the Flores family in my congressional
district. All I can say is that it is our responsibility to protect
these children and not for little Josue to have died in vain in the
tragic way that he lost his life.
Again, I thank the gentleman for allowing me to offer sympathy to his
family and his community and say that we are doing the right thing by
trying to protect those who are most vulnerable.
Mr. POE of Texas. The gentlewoman is exactly correct. That is really
what we are supposed to be doing, is helping those that are the least
fortunate, the most vulnerable in our community. And there is no more
vulnerable people than our children.
Mr. Speaker, I also want to recognize numerous Members of Congress
who have worked on all this legislation. Before I do that, though, I
want to recognize a person on my staff, Blair Bjellos, who is leaving
the Hill and going to work for one of these groups that is trying to
save the world, which is great. They are.
Blair has worked for me for almost 6 years. She is my victim
advocate. I think I am the only Member of Congress that has a victim
advocate who works on victims' issues. She was, in large part,
responsible for drafting this legislation, Justice for Victims of
Trafficking Act. I want to thank her publicly for the work she has done
on the victims' movement, working on the Victims' Rights Caucus, this
legislation, and for other victims' issues as well. I am fortunate to
have a person who is so passionate working to help those who are most
vulnerable in our community, and that is victims of crime. So I want to
thank her for doing that.
I want to mention some other Members of Congress and just put in the
[[Page H2959]]
Record some of the things they have been doing. It is not all of them,
but in limited time, I am going to mention the ones I can.
Two Members, bipartisan--one Republican, one Democrat--Renee Ellmers
and Debbie Wasserman Schultz--introduced the Trafficking Awareness
Training for Health Care Act.
Remember, Mr. Speaker, all these bills were combined, passed the
House, go to the Senate, and Senator Cornyn and Senator Wyden combined
them into one bill, it came back to House after it passed the Senate,
and was signed by the President.
Also, Erik Paulsen, a Republican, and Representative Gwen Moore, a
Democrat, introduced the Stop Exploitation Through Trafficking Act.
Joe Heck of Nevada, who was going to be here tonight to speak,
introduced Enhancing Services for Runaway and Homeless Victims of Youth
Trafficking Act.
Ann Wagner, as has been mentioned already, introduced the SAVE Act;
Mark Walker, Human Trafficking Detection Act; Kristi Noem, Human
Trafficking Prevention, Intervention, and Recovery Act; Tom Marino and
Karen Bass--one Republican, one Democrat--Strengthening Child Welfare
Response for Human Trafficking; Joyce Beatty, who has spoken here
tonight, also worked with Ann Wagner and also introduced Improve the
Response to Victims of Child Sex Trafficking Act; and Sean Maloney
introduced the Human Trafficking Prevention Act.
There were lots of individuals, lots of folks who helped in the
House. Then we had support from over 200 organizations throughout the
country, trying to get this legislation passed. Some of those are
Rights4Girls, Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, Shared Hope
International, End Child Prostitution and Trafficking in the USA,
National Children's Alliance, National Association to Protect Children,
Equality Now, National Conference of State Legislatures, and the
National Criminal Justice Association were all on the same page of the
hymnal singing the same song, Mr. Speaker, and that song is that we are
going to do everything we can to stop this scourge of human
trafficking.
We want those folks to know that trafficked young children have no
place to hide and that those customers that buy those kids have no
place to hide. There is no safe place for them. And we want victims to
know there is a safe place and that we will help them to recover from
what has happened to them and hold people accountable for what they do,
especially when they commit crimes against the most vulnerable people
in our culture.
And if we are not to help kids, why are we here, Mr. Speaker?
I want to thank Members of Congress for passing this legislation
overwhelmingly. Many of these bills passed the House unanimously. That
doesn't happen a lot over here.
We are all working on this. We are not through. But we want people to
know--victims of crime--that there is hope and there is rescue.
And that is just the way it is.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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