[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 117 (Wednesday, July 12, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H5488-H5492]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     EMPOWERING LAW ENFORCEMENT TO FIGHT SEX TRAFFICKING DEMAND ACT

  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 2480) to amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets 
Act of 1968 to include an additional permissible use of amounts 
provided as grants under the Byrne JAG program, and for other purposes.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 2480

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Empowering Law Enforcement 
     to Fight Sex Trafficking Demand Act''.

     SEC. 2. ADDITIONAL AUTHORIZED USE OF BYRNE JAG FUNDS.

       Section 501(a)(1) of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 
     Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3751(a)(1)) is amended by 
     adding at the end the following:
       ``(I) Programs to combat human trafficking (including 
     programs to reduce the demand for trafficked persons).''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte) and the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson 
Lee) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Virginia.


                             general leave

  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous materials on H.R. 2480, currently under 
consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Virginia?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Today, Mr. Speaker, we continue our battle against the scourge of 
human trafficking with H.R. 2480, the Empowering Law Enforcement to 
Fight Sex Trafficking Demand Act. This bill, introduced by our 
colleague, Congresswoman Hartzler of Missouri, adds antihuman 
trafficking efforts as an allowable use for funds under the Byrne JAG 
program, the Justice Department's flagship grant program for State and 
local governments and law enforcement. It specifies that the JAG funds 
may be used for demand reduction operations.
  Mr. Speaker, there is no question that the fight against human 
trafficking starts at the local level. It infects every community, and 
our local officials and law enforcement are on the front lines in this 
battle. They are in the best position to assess how to address this 
issue in their communities and how to use these taxpayer dollars.
  As part of any comprehensive approach in combating trafficking, local 
government and law enforcement must address what many call the demand 
issue; that is, going after those who are buying young victims off the 
street and, very often, off the internet. This is simple economics 
applied to a horrific crime.
  Human trafficking is driven by the demand for commercial sex, and 
this is costing victims their sense of worth and their dignity. By 
deterring demand, traffickers will have fewer buyers and may abandon 
their illegal and horrifyingly reprehensible activity.
  These demand reduction operations and programs are most often carried 
out at the local level, and it is important to ensure local governments 
have the tools they need to prevent this destructive crime by deterring 
people from buying victims.

                              {time}  1530

  We cannot tolerate sex trafficking and must be able to act swiftly to 
combat this horrific crime. H.R. 2480 ensures our communities will be 
able to do just that.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Congresswoman Hartzler for introducing 
this legislation, and I urge my colleagues to support her bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, let me thank the chairman and ranking member of the 
Judiciary Committee for the work that we have done in a bipartisan 
manner on human trafficking, sex trafficking. Let me thank the 
gentlewoman, the sponsor, and the cosponsor, Mr. Clay, for their 
leadership on this legislation and for recognizing that we must give 
direction, as Members of the United States Congress, to how grants are 
to be utilized. This is a very, very important initiative to be able to 
help our law enforcement.
  Let me give you the real life of some of those who have been sex-
trafficked.
  The life of Esperanza: She was waiting for a cousin outside her high 
school in Mexico one day when a strange man drove up in a car and 
forced her inside with him and sped way. At that moment, Esperanza had, 
in effect, become a sex slave. ``He beat me; he raped me,'' she told 
CNN.
  A few times, she tried to escape and failed to escape. The gentleman, 
the person, the perpetrator, the heinous man, Poncho, now 47, always 
tracked her down and then beat her again.
  Eventually, Esperanza realized she was pregnant. Three months later, 
she said Poncho drove her across the Mexican/U.S. border and on to 
Houston, Texas, where he forced her to work in a cantina called La 
Costenita.
  This is a story that reads inside Houston's sex trade. I am a 
Representative of the congressional district in Houston where we have 
recognized that it is one of the hot spots of the sex trade.
  But I do want to acknowledge that law enforcement, a sheriff, the 
police chief, the mayor, the head of the city, local government, and 
county government have all come together, Members of Congress, faith 
organizations, and recognized and made a resistant stance

[[Page H5489]]

to stand against this sex trade. In fact, I want to applaud them for 
recognizing the plight of Esperanza.
  I want to, with enthusiasm, support a bill that would amend the 
omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to include an 
additional permissible use of amounts provided as grants under the 
Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant, also known as the Byrne 
JAG Program, to combat human trafficking, sex trafficking, including 
programs to reduce the demand for trafficked persons.
  The legislation was introduced by Mrs. Hartzler and joined by her 
colleague, Mr. Clay. I am glad to be a cosponsor, as are members of the 
Judiciary Committee and others.
  Sadly, sex trafficking, like labor trafficking, is a modern-day form 
of slavery. It is slavery. The epidemic of this abhorrent practice of 
sex trafficking continues.
  First, sex trafficking occurs nationwide, and the data from the 
National Human Trafficking Hotline shows that reports of human 
trafficking were almost doubled, from 372 reported cases in 2012 to 670 
reported cases in 2016, with sex trafficking accounting for more than 
75 percent of all human trafficking.
  Let me be very clear that sex trafficking is easy. It is very 
profitable because, unfortunately, you use the vulnerable victim over 
and over again.
  Take Esperanza. She was waiting to go to high school. She became 
pregnant. You would think there would be some form of mercy, but she 
was forced to be used again, to be sex-trafficked again, and to find 
herself in a cantina in Houston, Texas, all the way from Mexico.
  ``I really wanted to speak up, to ask the police for help,'' 
Esperanza said, but she got caught up by the threats he would make 
against the little baby girl that she was now raising.
  After waiting for this horrific nightmare to end, Esperanza 
eventually was rescued in a raid of that cantina that I remember very 
well, thanks to the bravery and steadfast approach of Houston's finest, 
like Agent Steven Roskey, a native Houstonian, then, believe it or not, 
with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission that was really going 
after the cantina for liquor violations. But he was astute and he was 
law enforcement. Esperanza's prayers were answered.
  And so, thankfully, although traumatized, Esperanza survived the 
horrors of sex trafficking, human trafficking. But not all victims are 
as lucky as that. Esperanza, who fell victim to human trafficking, 
should absolutely not be treated as a criminal for her involvement.
  Mr. Speaker, I include the CNN article on Esperanza in the Record.

                       [From CNN, Aug. 12, 2016]

                    Inside Houston's Sex Slave Trade

                          (By Thom Patterson)

       (CNN) Esperanza was waiting for her cousins outside her 
     high school in Mexico one day, when a strange man drove up in 
     a car, forced her inside with him and sped away. At that 
     moment, Esperanza had in effect become a sex slave.
       ``He beat and raped me,'' she told CNN's ``The Hunt with 
     John Walsh.''
       She said the man--who called himself Poncho--brought her to 
     a madam who showed Esperanza how to charge clients and how to 
     use a condom.
       A few times Esperanza tried--and failed--to escape, but she 
     said Poncho, now age 47, always tracked her down, and then 
     beat her.
       Eventually, Esperanza realized she was pregnant. Three 
     months later, she said Poncho drove her across the Mexican-US 
     border and on to Houston, Texas, where he forced her to work 
     in a cantina called La Costenita.
       She gave birth to a baby girl, but Poncho took the infant 
     away as insurance that Esperanza would keep working as a sex 
     slave and wouldn't escape.
       ``I really wanted to speak up, to ask the police for 
     help,'' Esperanza said. ``But I got caught up by the threats 
     he would make towards my daughter. I didn't want anything to 
     happen to her.''
       Esperanza--whose real name is being withheld for her 
     protection--had become just like the more than 19,000 sex 
     trafficking cases reported in the US since 2007, according to 
     the National Human Trafficking Resource Center.
       The site says more than 2,600 sex trafficking cases have 
     been reported in the US this year alone, most of them in 
     California. Texas ranks as the nation's number-two sex 
     trafficking state, on the website.
       For the uninitiated, it's hard to imagine that thousands of 
     young people--overwhelmingly women--have been kidnapped in 
     Mexico or elsewhere and taken against their will to the 
     United States, where they serve as sex slaves.
       ``I thought human trafficking was just this crime that 
     happens in third world countries. Until I started to look 
     into my city,'' said Rachel Alvarez, a human trafficking case 
     worker for the Houston YMCA.
       Texas authorities first met Esperanza when they raided La 
     Costenita in 2010.
       ``Her initial demeanor was just kind of stoic,'' remembered 
     Steve Roskey, who took part in the raid when he was an agent 
     with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. ``But then, all 
     of a sudden, we noticed tears start running down her face. 
     She started telling us her story: how she got here, what she 
     was forced to do.''
       When she told police that her pimp, a man named Alfonso 
     Diaz-Juarez who also went by ``Poncho,'' was holding her 
     daughter, authorities sprang into action.
       ``We knocked on Poncho's family members' houses, we knocked 
     on his friends' houses,'' Roskey said. ``It irritated the 
     family and friends so much that (Diaz-Juarez) eventually 
     dropped off the child to a cousin, and at about 3 o'clock in 
     the morning, we got a phone call. The child was safe.''
       But Diaz-Juarez was nowhere to be found.
       Pimps will often lure women from Mexico across the border 
     to the US by promising them better lives, perhaps a better 
     job, Alvarez said. These pimps may get help from people the 
     women already know and trust, like a neighbor.
       Once they're kidnapped, these women are no longer viewed as 
     people in the eyes of their handlers. They've been reduced to 
     a commodity that can be bought and sold repeatedly in an open 
     market. In the United States, Houston has become one of those 
     markets.
       ``People see Houston as a hub for human trafficking because 
     of its proximity to the border,'' said FBI special agent 
     Suzanne Bradley. ``It also has access to the I-10 highway 
     corridor, which goes across the country, so if they're 
     smuggling people in and trying to get them into human 
     trafficking in other areas of the country, it's very easy to 
     get them on that I-10 route and disperse them throughout the 
     country.''
       After the kidnapped women are brought into the US, the 
     beatings begin as a way to keep them from trying to escape. 
     Their captors threaten to hurt family members. Pimps use fear 
     to keep their sex slaves in bondage.
       ``Poncho was one of the most violent pimps I've come across 
     in the 11 years I've worked human trafficking,'' said Edwin 
     Chapuseaux, a former investigator with the Harris County 
     Sheriffs Office. ``He did a lot of brutal things, bordering 
     into torture, to make the girls do what he wanted.''
       A former sex slave we'll call ``Laura'' said Poncho knew 
     her ``mother's name, her address, everything. He would 
     threaten me, tell me if I talked to anyone that he would hurt 
     my family.''
       A pimp would have a lot to lose if a girl walked out the 
     door.
       ``If a pimp has, let's say, four or five girls, and each 
     one is making him, you know, $2,000, $3,000 a week, do the 
     math, tax-free,'' said Chapuseaux. That works out to a 
     maximum of $780,000 per year.
       Laura recalls one night when she counted 70 women working. 
     ``The usual was 30 men. We each had to tend to 30 clients a 
     night.''
       For years federal and local authorities had been gathering 
     evidence against a huge Houston-area sex trafficking network 
     led by Raquel Medeles Hortencia-Arguello.
       The woman everyone knew as ``Tencha'' owned a brothel 
     called Las Palmas that offered minor-aged girls to customers 
     who would pay up to $500 an hour, according to the FBI.
       Coincidentally, as a cautionary move, Tencha had distanced 
     herself from Las Palmas by leasing it to Diaz-Juarez.
       When police found out, they arrested him on a previous 
     warrant.
       Diaz-Juarez pleaded guilty in a deal with prosecutors that 
     led to his release several months later. Poncho was back on 
     the loose.
       Authorities continued to gather evidence in the big sex 
     trafficking case.
       ``We realized early on that we had potential financial 
     crimes, money laundering involved in the case, so we got the 
     [Internal Revenue Service] involved in it,'' said Bradley. 
     The IRS began following the money, reviewing bank statements, 
     locating assets.
       ``We did an estimate on how much she made from the room 
     rental, entrance fee, and the condoms for the whole entire 
     period she was operating Las Palmas and that estimated to be 
     about $12.5 million,'' said IRS Special Agent Lucy Tan.
       When it was time for police to move in and raid Las Palmas, 
     13 people were arrested. Diaz-Juarez wasn't among them. But 
     Tencha was.
       Twelve pleaded guilty.
       Prosecutors charged Tencha with one count of conspiracy to 
     commit sex trafficking, one count of conspiracy to harbor 
     aliens, three counts of money laundering and one count of 
     conspiracy to money launder.
       Tencha pleaded not guilty.
       When Tencha began crying in front of the judge, saying she 
     was innocent and she had no idea what was going on, it 
     stirred something inside the freed women who once worked for 
     her.
       They began to get angry.
       One by one they decided to take the stand and testify 
     against their former captor.
       ``You didn't have to speak Spanish to see how much pain 
     they had over what had been done to them, and what they had 
     to do,'' remembered Bradley. ``You could just see it in their 
     face, hear it in their voice.''

[[Page H5490]]

       Ultimately, the jury found Tencha guilty and the judge 
     sentenced her to life in prison.
       Despite the legal victory against Tencha, authorities are 
     disturbed by the fact that Diaz-Juarez remains free.
       ``It's very important to get Poncho arrested and 
     prosecuted, because he will not stop doing what he does until 
     he is arrested and put behind bars,'' said Chapuseaux.
       Laura, who still fears Poncho, admits she'll ``feel safer 
     when he is captured. There aren't any words to describe what 
     a terrible person he is.''
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, second, we must provide our law 
enforcement with the necessary tools to fight the epidemic.
  I would like to thank Agent Roskey, our fervent Houston Police Chief 
Art Acevedo, and chiefs before him for their entire effort and 
collaboration. Houston law enforcement has been working diligently, but 
they have limited funds.
  To be able to use the Byrne grants in this effective way to save one 
more life, to stop another little girl from detouring from high school 
involuntarily and then be steered off, become pregnant, and no mercy 
given, driven to another country to continue to be utilized, abused, 
victimized, beaten, I think this legislation clearly speaks to the 
millions of little girls and boys who are not in line but apt to be 
victims from all over the world coming to the United States, finding 
themselves in hot points, victimized, and maybe even tragically losing 
their life.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss H.R. 2480, the ``Empowering Law 
Enforcement to Fight Sex Trafficking Demand Act of 2017.''
  This bill would amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act 
of 1968 to include an additional permissible use of amounts provided as 
grants under the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant 
Program, also known as the Byrne JAG Program, to combat human 
trafficking (including programs to reduce the demand for trafficked 
persons).
  This legislation was introduced by Representative Vicky Hartzler (R-
MO) on May 17, 2017 and I am proud to be a Co-Sponsor in this step 
forward to addressing concerns about sex trafficking in our cities.
  Sadly, Sex Trafficking, like labor trafficking, is a modern-day form 
of slavery that includes U.S. citizens, foreign nationals, women, men 
and children as victims equally.
  The epidemic of this abhorrent practice of sex trafficking is 
growing, which makes the need for consideration of all measures to help 
law enforcement prevent these crimes from occurring even more 
imperative.
  First, sex trafficking occurs nationwide, and data from the National 
Human Trafficking Hotline show that reports of human trafficking cases 
have almost doubled in most states, including Texas, from 372 reported 
cases in 2012 to 670 reported cases in 2016; with sex trafficking 
accounting for more than 75% of all human trafficking cases reported.
  Too often, thousands of young people--overwhelmingly women--have been 
kidnapped around the world and taken against their will to the United 
States, where they serve as sex slaves and become victims of these 
horrendous crimes--especially children--whom are afraid to seek help 
from law enforcement because of the risk that they will be treated as 
criminals rather than the victims they undoubtedly are.
  Take Esperanza for example. She was waiting for her cousins outside 
of her high school in Mexico one day, when a strange man drove up in a 
car, forced her inside with him and sped away. At that moment, 
Esperanza had in effect become a sex slave.
  Esperanza was an innocent child when she first became a victim of sex 
trafficking. Her 47 year old trafficker brought her to a madam at a 
Cantina, who taught her how to have sex with adult men for profit, and 
the trafficker would beat and rape this young child whenever she tried 
to escape.
  Eventually Esperanza became pregnant and was driven across the 
Mexico-U.S. border onto Houston, Texas my congressional district, where 
her baby was taken by her perpetrator as insurance, in order to force 
Esperanza into his world of sex slave trade.
  Like so many children living the daily nightmare of human 
trafficking, Esperanza was terrified to tell anyone what was occurring. 
``I really wanted to speak up, to ask the police for help,'' Esperanza 
said. ``But I got caught up by the threats he would make towards my 
daughter. I didn't want anything to happen to her.''
  After waiting for this horrific nightmare to end, Esperanza 
eventually was rescued in a raid of the Cantina, thanks to the bravery 
and steadfast approach of Houston's finest, like Agent Steve Roskey, a 
native Houstonian, then with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission in 
Houston.
  Esperanza's prayers were answered because once she started telling 
Agent Roskey and the other Houston officers her story of how she got 
here, what she was forced to do, the identification of her trafficker 
and the taking of her baby, Houston's finest and Agent Roskey 
immediately started knocking on the perpetrator's family members' 
houses, knocked on his friends' houses, and after the family and 
friends became irritated, they eventually dropped off the child to a 
cousin. The child was safe.
  Thankfully, although traumatized, Esperanza survived the horrors of 
human trafficking but not all victims are as fortunate because there 
are many sad stories laced in this practice, which is why these 
unfortunate victims, like Esperanza, who fall prey to human 
trafficking, should absolutely not be treated as criminals for their 
involvement in these sex, and labor acts.
  Second, we must provide our law enforcement with the necessary tools 
to fight this epidemic. I would like to thank Agent Steve Roskey, our 
fervent Houston Police Chief, Art Acevedo, his entire department, and 
various other entities for all the hard work they are doing daily to 
combat this epidemic in sex trafficking.
  Houston's law enforcement are working diligently to take our city 
back from the grips of those who seek to perpetuate this appalling 
practice of sex trafficking.
  Like Houston, law enforcement everywhere are fighting mightily 
oftentimes, with limited funds to crush the glaring statistics reported 
across this country by the National Human Trafficking Hotline.
  Hence we must provide them with meaningful resources to make this 
goal a reality, and ensure that victims are not penalized for the 
illegal enterprise of the traffickers that exploit them.
  This is why we must empower our law enforcements everywhere, through 
the Byrne JAG Program, to fight the demand for sex trafficking by 
supporting this bill.
  Finally, we understand it is already possible for state and local 
jurisdictions to use JAG Grant Program funding to combat human 
trafficking, including demand reduction, under the current purpose 
areas.
  However, I support adding an additional purpose area for these grants 
that emphasizes the need to fund initiatives that target and fight 
human trafficking, as proposed under this bill.
  H.R. 2480 will ensure that state and local law enforcement agencies 
have the funds needed to implement more programs to combat human 
trafficking such as that which occurred at the Cantina in Esperanza's 
case and all the trafficked victims rescued there that day.
  The addition of this purpose area would allow state and local 
jurisdictions to target and penalize buyers who drive the demand for 
sex acts, human trafficking, and sexual exploitation; including the 
demand for sex trafficking involving children.
  An example of a project that could be funded by the addition of this 
purpose area is training for a multi-jurisdictional task force to 
conduct proactive stings on buyers in an effort to combat human 
trafficking, like the Cantina raid in my home district in Houston.
  Accordingly, I urge my colleagues to support this measure.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to 
the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Hartzler), the chief sponsor of 
this legislation.
  Mrs. HARTZLER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask for support for H.R. 
2480, the Empowering Law Enforcement to Fight Sex Trafficking Demand 
Act.
  I would like to thank Chairman Goodlatte and Ranking Member Conyers 
for their support, as well as Congresswoman Karen Bass, Congressman 
Steve Chabot, and Congressman William Lacy Clay from Missouri, my 
friend, who have all co-led this effort with me.
  The Empowering Law Enforcement to Fight Sex Trafficking Demand Act 
expands the authority of the Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grants 
Program, or Byrne JAG, to enable law enforcement agencies to compete 
for Federal funding specifically to develop and execute sex trafficking 
demand reduction programs. Adding this provision provides State and 
local agencies more flexibility in balancing precious resources to 
address sex trafficking.
  Today, when many Americans hear the term ``sex trafficking,'' they 
might envision a young woman in Eastern Europe being abducted or a far-
away brothel in Thailand. While both of these instances, sadly, happen, 
Americans must realize that sex trafficking happens in thousands of 
neighborhoods and cities all across our great country.
  As recently as May, in the city of Springfield, Missouri, there were 
two

[[Page H5491]]

young girls, ages 13 and 14, that were recently rescued. Those two 
innocent girls were locked in a neighborhood home and forced to do 
drugs and engage in sexual acts for money. After some heroic police 
work, the man responsible was caught, but not before he robbed these 
two young girls of their innocence and confined them to years of mental 
torment.
  This type of event occurs all too often and serves as a stark 
reminder that this horrendous crime can occur anywhere. It is a 
domestic problem that we cannot ignore.
  Since 2007, the National Human Trafficking Hotline has reported 
22,191 sex trafficking cases in the United States, and countless cases 
remain unreported.
  According to leading researchers and law enforcement agencies, one of 
the primary causes of sex trafficking is consumer-level demand for 
commercial sex. Sex traffickers have discovered that illicit support of 
commercial sex is a lucrative business. In 2014, the Urban Institute 
estimated that the underground sex economy ranged from $39.9 million in 
Denver, Colorado, to $290 million in Atlanta, Georgia.
  Despite the fact that demand is the ultimate cause of commercial 
sexual exploitation of women and children, buyers are frequently 
overlooked as offenders in crimes of domestic sex trafficking. 
Recently, leaders in the law enforcement community have discovered that 
the only effective practices for combating sex trafficking are those 
that include combating demand for commercial sex.
  There are two primary ways to directly influence actual and potential 
buyers of commercial sex, and these are termed ``demand reduction 
programs.'' They are: education of actual and potential buyers of 
commercial sex, and law enforcement interventions aimed at deterring 
those who might buy sex and punishing those who do.
  Many law enforcement agencies execute demand reduction programs, such 
as reverse sting operations, john schools, and community education. 
However, resource limitations preclude them from expanding these 
efforts. This bill provides law enforcement expanded funding 
opportunities to support demand reduction efforts.
  This is a huge step in the right direction because the Byrne JAG 
grant is the cornerstone Federal crime-fighting program, enabling 
communities to target resources to their most pressing local needs.
  Byrne JAG's hallmark is its flexibility; thus, States and localities 
are able to deploy Byrne JAG funding against their most pressing public 
safety challenges, such as sex trafficking. This allows communities to 
design complete programs, fill gaps, leverage other resources, and work 
across city, county, and State lines.
  The crime of sex trafficking rips through the fabric of our 
communities and our country. We as Members of Congress must shed light 
on this horrendous epidemic and provide our law enforcement agencies 
with adequate resources to attack this problem at its source. H.R. 2480 
will do that. It is a bipartisan solution to a nationwide problem.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to support this effort.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguish 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Bass), a member of the Judiciary 
Committee Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and 
Investigations, who has a long history of dealing with the vulnerable 
children, children who have been in the foster care system, and a 
leading voice on the issue of sex and human trafficking.

  Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2480, the Empowering 
Law Enforcement to Fight Sex Trafficking Demand Act, a simple but 
powerful bill that will amend the Byrne JAG Grant Program to include 
funding initiatives aimed at disrupting and reducing the demand for sex 
trafficking.
  As we know, dismantling the multifaceted web of sex trafficking 
requires collaborative and comprehensive action at every level of 
government. I am pleased to join Representative Hartzler and so many of 
my colleagues as we continue to address this problem.
  In conjunction with a number of bills introduced this Congress to 
strengthen and reauthorize the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, H.R. 
2480 acknowledges that a comprehensive approach to eliminate sex 
trafficking necessarily requires the inclusion of demand reduction 
efforts. Specifically, this bill provides support to State and local 
jurisdictions working to eliminate sex trafficking by expanding the 
designated use of Byrne JAG funding to include the express purpose of 
combating sex trafficking demand.
  It is important that we support concrete and effective measures in 
furtherance of demand reduction as a critical component of law 
enforcement. Yet in nearly every State across the country, especially 
when it comes to underage youth, the buyers of sex tend to be treated 
as johns. When we are looking at underage girls, anybody that is 
purchasing sex should be viewed as a child molester.
  Just as we are beginning to see the need to acknowledge the shift in 
how we see and respond to victims of sex trafficking--most of whom are 
minors, 59 percent of all reported cases in 2016 per Polaris National 
Hotline, and nearly all of them having involvement in the child welfare 
system, 86 percent as reported in the 2016 National Center for Missing 
& Exploited Children--there must be a paradigm shift in how we see and 
respond to those engaged in the illicit buying of women and children 
for sex.

                              {time}  1545

  Sex trafficking reduction programs under this bill would support 
enhanced efforts to arrest and prosecute these offenders. This bill 
would further help jurisdictions implement and facilitate necessary 
training programs designed to help law enforcement understand, 
identify, and appropriately respond fundamentally to those who buy and 
perpetrate sex trafficking.
  Just as law enforcement must make critical efforts in distinguishing 
and identifying victims in need of services from petty criminals, so, 
too, must efforts be made to identify and prosecute dangerous and 
predatory sex offenders. Thus, State and local justice systems would be 
eligible to receive Byrne JAG money to support innovative advancements 
in developing and acquiring cutting-edge technology.
  For example, H.R. 2480 would support the use of programs like 
Spotlight, a web-based tool used by over 4,000 law enforcement agencies 
in the U.S. and Canada to enable them to collaborate across 
jurisdictions for streamlined tracking of child sex trafficking 
victims.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the 
gentlewoman from California.
  Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, over the past year, reports showed that 
Spotlight identified, on average, five kids per day, and that law 
enforcement using Spotlight daily are seeing a 60 percent time savings 
in their investigative process.
  For these reasons, I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan 
bill and the need to invest in comprehensive measures to prevent and 
attack sex trafficking demands.
  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Missouri (Mr. Clay), a colleague of the sponsor of the bill, Mrs. 
Hartzler from Missouri. I thank him for his leadership on the issues of 
sex trafficking and human trafficking.
  Mr. CLAY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Texas for 
yielding.
  I rise today as an original cosponsor of H.R. 2480, the Empowering 
Law Enforcement to Fight Sex Trafficking Demand Act, along with my 
friend and distinguished colleague from Missouri, Congresswoman 
Hartzler, and other colleagues.
  This bipartisan act aims to provide local law enforcement with 
additional tools to fight the heinous epidemic of sex trafficking by 
expanding the authority of the vital Byrne Justice Assistance Grant act 
to enable law enforcement agencies to compete for Federal funding, 
specifically to develop and implement sex trafficking demand reduction 
programs.
  Our legislation would also add an additional provision for Byrne JAG 
funding to allow State and local agencies more flexibility in 
prioritizing precious resources to combat domestic sex trafficking. The 
trafficking of mostly

[[Page H5492]]

young people for the purposes of sexual exploitation is a form of 21st 
century slavery that is pervasive around the world, around this 
country, and even in my home State of Missouri, as we heard earlier.
  Sadly, because of my district's central location and easy access to 
cross-country interstates and modes of transportation, the St. Louis 
area is one of the top 20 markets for the horrific and inhuman crime. 
Most of the victims are minor children, and some of them have been 
kidnapped, beaten, and deceived by organized criminal enterprises who 
are exploiting their bodies for profit.
  But the sick and the inhuman practice could not continue without 
steady demand, and reducing that market is exactly the purpose of this 
important bill.
  According to a recent report by the National Human Trafficking 
Resource Center, this multibillion dollar slavery system victimizes 
over 20 million young people worldwide, with at least 1\1/2\ million of 
those victims in North America. Yet, last year in the United States, 
only about 5,000 cases were actually reported, leaving tens of 
thousands of other victims in the shadows with no protection, no help, 
and no hope.
  As reported in the February 23, 2016 edition of The Atlantic 
magazine:

       According to the United Nations' Office on Drugs and Crime, 
     sexual exploitation is the most commonly identified form of 
     forced labor worldwide. And as a whole, human trafficking is 
     a lucrative industry that, around the globe, rakes in at 
     least $150 billion.
       But it is unclear whether the numbers are an accurate 
     representation of the problem, because many cases are not 
     reported, according to Monique Villa, the CEO of the Thomson 
     Reuters Foundation, which works to combat human trafficking.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the 
gentleman from Missouri.
  Mr. CLAY. Mr. Speaker, the article continues on:

       The problem with human trafficking is that, of course, the 
     victims are silenced. We don't have good data about it. You 
     don't know how many slaves there are around the world.
       Traffickers also play into the narrative by telling victims 
     who are exploited for sex that they are offenders, 
     threatening to call the police and report them for 
     prostitution if they push back. This makes sex trafficking 
     particularly challenging because victims might be fearful of 
     going to law enforcement and being charged with a crime.

  Mr. Speaker, I urge Members to support this legislation.
  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Let me thank the sponsor of this bill for her leadership. I am 
delighted to work with her as a cosponsor. And the speakers on the 
outside who are cosponsors, I thank them for their important 
contribution.

  I simply want to take this time to close and to say to all of us: 
Don't forget the Esperanzas--plural--and their little boys as well, who 
are sex trafficked. Let us not forget them.
  The addition of this purpose area added to the Byrne grants would 
allow States and local jurisdictions to target and penalize buyers who 
drive the demand for sex acts, human trafficking, and sexual 
exploitation, including demand for sex trafficking involving children. 
An example of a project that could be funded by the addition of this 
purpose area is training for a multijurisdictional task force to 
conduct proactive stings on buyers in an effort to combat human 
trafficking, just like what was done at the cantina raid in my home 
community in Houston.
  The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission officer was one of those who 
helped bring this cantina, this substitute for sex trafficking kingpin 
down, and saved Esperanza.
  Accordingly, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to 
thank Members on both sides of the aisle for their hard work on this, 
especially the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Hartzler) for taking the 
lead on this, also the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Clay), as well as 
the ranking member of the full Judiciary Committee, Mr. Conyers; and of 
the subcommittee, Ms. Jackson Lee; and the subcommittee chair, Mr. 
Sensenbrenner.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this very 
important legislation that will help direct important resources to 
State and local governments to reduce demand for sex trafficking, and 
help to maybe protect and save a few young people and other people from 
this horrible crime.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 2480.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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