[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 121 (Tuesday, July 18, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1007]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   FREDERICK DOUGLASS TRAFFICKING VICTIMS PREVENTION AND PROTECTION 
                      REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2017

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 12, 2017

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, as an original co-sponsor, I rise in 
strong support of H.R. 2200, the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims 
Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2017.
  I thank my colleagues, Congressman Christopher H. Smith and 
Congresswoman Karen Bass, the Chair and Ranking Member of the Foreign 
Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, for their work in shepherding this 
bipartisan legislation to the floor.
  H.R. 2200 authorizes $130 million to support a cause that has special 
significance for me--that is, the eradication of trafficking in 
persons--both domestic and abroad.
  Throughout my tenure in Congress and as a founder and cochair of the 
Congressional Children's Caucus, I have consistently advocated on 
behalf of victims of human trafficking, especially children, who are 
the most vulnerable victims.
  I am pleased that the title of this legislation honors the life and 
legacy of the great orator and abolitionist, Frederick Douglass, who 
vigorously opposed slavery not as a mere outside observer of the 
peculiar institution but as a survivor himself of what we could now 
call ``trafficking in persons.''
  In fact, with regard to his own condition, Frederick Douglass 
famously said he would ``prefer death to hopeless bondage.''
  In the 21st century, no one should be put in such a position where 
death becomes preferable in the face of being held captive against his 
or her own will.
  Mr. Speaker, that is why I fully support this legislation's ``whole-
of-government'' approach to eliminating this horrific crime wherever 
and whenever it is committed.
  H.R. 2200 strengthens the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 
by adding the following measures to reduce human trafficking including 
but not limited to:
  1. Ensuring that vulnerable children and at-risk populations receive 
training on how to avoid traffickers;
  2. Encouraging USAID to incorporate anti-trafficking measures during 
disaster relief efforts;
  3. Pursuing the prosecution of individuals who use services provided 
by human trafficking victims as a deterrent for not only human 
traffickers but patrons as well;
  4. Supporting the enforcement of the Tariff Act of 1930 to prohibit 
the importation of goods made by forced labor; and
  5. Ensuring that foreign governments that use child soldiers are not 
the recipients of U.S. military assistance.
  This legislation operates in the same spirit of H.R. 53, the CATCH 
Traffickers Act of 2017, which I reintroduced earlier this year that 
directs the Department of Homeland Security to create a national 
database to assist in human trafficking investigations.
  In 2014, I also held a Homeland Security Committee field hearing 
focusing on human trafficking in my congressional district because 
Houston, Texas is one of the nation's largest hubs for human 
trafficking.
  Mr. Speaker, both H.R. 2200 and H.R. 53 call on the federal 
government to formulate and utilize tools at its disposal to eradicate 
human trafficking.
  Modern-day slavery which includes sex trafficking, child sex 
trafficking, forced labor, debt bondage, domestic servitude, forced 
child labor, and the recruitment and use of child soldiers is a 
violation of the principle of liberty that we hold dear in this 
country.
  To effectively oppose human trafficking and eliminate modern-day 
slavery in all of its forms, the U.S. government must aggressively 
pursue, prosecute, and convict both traffickers and patrons of human 
trafficking victims .
  Moreover, we must do everything in our power to educate and protect 
particularly vulnerable members of our human family from becoming 
victims of the barbaric practice of human trafficking.
  I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 2200, the Frederick 
Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization 
Act of 2017.

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