[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 147 (Tuesday, September 12, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5210-S5211]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  ABOLISH HUMAN TRAFFICKING ACT AND TRAFFICKING VICTIMS PROTECTION ACT

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, today I wish to congratulate this body 
on its passage of two important antitrafficking bills: the Abolish 
Human Trafficking Act and the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.
  I am proud to have worked with Senators Grassley, Cornyn, and 
Klobuchar on these comprehensive bills and commend them and their 
staffs for the thoughtful and bipartisan manner in which they were 
drafted.
  I would also like to thank the numerous law enforcement and 
antitrafficking organizations and, most importantly, the survivors, who 
have provided feedback and support throughout this process. It is my 
hope that the legislation passed last night will assist the tremendous 
work these groups do in the fight against human trafficking.
  Both bills reauthorize a number of important programs that help 
victims and strengthen efforts to prevent, detect, and respond to human 
trafficking crimes.
  The Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which I authored with Senator 
Grassley, promotes victim-centered training for school resource 
officers, judges, prosecutors, and law enforcement. It ensures that 
trafficking victims are properly screened and that more comprehensive 
data about trafficking crimes are collected.
  The Trafficking Victims Protection Act also includes one of my top 
priorities, which is to prevent the proliferation of trafficking 
offenses over the internet. I want to take a moment to discuss why I 
believe this to be a deeply important step in curtailing the criminal 
enterprise of trafficking.
  The commercial sex industry is evolving. The use of the internet to 
sell commercial sex has escalated dramatically over the past several 
years.
  Online platforms have provided an easily accessible and seemingly 
low-risk forum for buyers. In 2014, one website advertised nearly 
12,000 advertisements for commercial sex in a single day.
  Some of these sites have become hubs of human trafficking. 
Backpage.com, in particular, has been used to facilitate sex 
trafficking of minors for years. The National Center for Missing and 
Exploited Children has determined that Backpage.com is linked to 73 
percent of all suspected child sex trafficking reports that it receives 
through its ``CyberTipline.''
  Indeed, just a few months ago in my home State, a 3-month 
investigation into Backpage.com led the Stockton Police Department to 
discover eight victims being trafficked for sex in the area. Some of 
these girls were as young as 14 years old. San Joaquin District 
Attorney's Human Trafficking Task Force said that advertisements on 
Backpage com offered sexual acts with the victims for as little as $20.
  Under current law, it is a criminal offense to knowingly advertise 
commercial sex acts with a minor. Backpage.com has repeatedly asserted 
that it has no involvement with the advertisements posted on its 
website. However, after a thorough review of Backpage.com's screening 
methods and practices regarding their advertisements, the Senate's 
Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations concluded that Backpage.com 
knows that its website facilitates trafficking and knowingly concealed 
evidence of criminality by systematically editing its adult ads to help 
them avoid detection by law enforcement.
  Shortly after these findings were publicly released, the Washington 
Post obtained documents that showed that contractors hired by 
Backpage.com were specifically instructed to solicit and create sex ads 
aggressively, including the posting of ads suggestive of sex with 
minors. In fact, these documents revealed that ``invoices and call 
sheets indicate Backpage.com was pushing [the contractor] to get as 
many new listings as possible.''
  These revelations are deeply concerning, and I hope that they will be

[[Page S5211]]

thoroughly investigated. Those who knowingly advertise minors for 
commercial sex must be held accountable.
  It is appalling that even as serious questions about Backpage.com's 
culpability are raised, law enforcement officers do not have all of the 
tools they need to prevent young children from being exploited on the 
site.
  The language we have included in the Trafficking Victims Protection 
Act will prevent the continued victimization of children by providing 
law enforcement with a tool to prevent traffickers from using online 
tools to further their exploitation.
  Specifically, the provision adds civil injunction authority to the 
criminal statute that prohibits the advertisement of commercial sex 
acts with a minor. This allows the Department of Justice to file civil 
enforcement cases to prevent traffickers from using the internet and 
other tech platforms to sell children for sex.
  Civil injunction authority is not new. It exists for the Attorney 
General to obtain orders against criminal defendants to stop them from 
committing certain kinds of crimes. For example, such authority has 
been used by the Department to shut down websites from distributing 
software for spying on people.
  Adding this authority to existing criminal trafficking provisions 
gives law enforcement a more readily accessible means to deny human 
traffickers access to platforms like Backpage.com and thereby restrict 
their ability to traffic children online.
  I am similarly proud to have cosponsored the Abolish Human 
Trafficking Act, which was led by Senators Cornyn and Klobuchar. The 
bill includes critical provisions to aid victims in restoring their 
lives. It extends the Domestic Trafficking Victims' Fund, which helps 
fund victim services and increase law enforcement efforts. It also 
expands mandatory restitution provisions for sex tourism and other 
trafficking-related crimes.
  The bill further strengthens law enforcement's ability to prevent and 
prosecute trafficking offenses For example, the Abolish Human 
Trafficking Act expands the authority of Federal, State, and local law 
enforcement agencies to use wiretaps in sexual exploitation cases. It 
also enhances statutory maximum penalties for several human trafficking 
offenses and establishes a human trafficking coordinator at every U.S. 
Attorney's Office.
  As the sex trafficking industry continues to evolve, so must our 
laws. We must ensure that we are doing all we can to curtail this 
criminal enterprise and do right by those who have been victimized. The 
bills we have passed last night aim to do just that. Again, I 
congratulate my colleagues on the passage of this important, 
comprehensive legislation. I hope that ending the scourge of human 
trafficking will continue to be a top priority for this body.

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