[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 7 (Thursday, January 11, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H137]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NATIONAL HUMAN TRAFFICKING AWARENESS DAY
(Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, as a judge in Texas, I saw it all:
rape, robbery, murder, kidnapping, child abuse. Now, in Congress, we
are learning about the horrors of human trafficking, sex slavery.
Many groundbreaking laws have been passed to increase resources for
victims and crack down on traffickers and buyers, but like all criminal
enterprises, traffickers constantly stay ahead of the law.
Fortunately for victims, there is an army of individuals, NGOs,
religious and other advocacy groups fighting on behalf of victims. The
people serving in these organizations are New Friends New Life, RAIN,
Polaris, Rights4Girls, Shared Hope, Coalition Against Trafficking, and
Demand Abolition, just to name a few. They have all dedicated their
lives to serve and save victims of trafficking on the front lines.
On this National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, I want to thank all
those warriors--the victims' posse, as I call them--battling the
injustice of human slavery. We will not give up this fight until this
scourge has been eradicated.
And that is just the way it is.
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