[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 20 (Tuesday, January 30, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H688-H689]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           HUMAN TRAFFICKING AWARENESS MONTH--A STORY OF HOPE

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, Tonya was 13 years old when she met 
Eddie. They struck up a relationship and the two moved in together in 
Dallas, Texas. But what seemed to be a ``normal'' relationship turned 
out not

[[Page H689]]

to be. Eddie turned Tonya into a sex slave.
  Eddie sold Tonya to men for money. She was the victim of sex 
trafficking. Night after night, Tonya was forced to be with potential 
suitors. With her body being used for profit and no escape in sight, 
Tonya had almost given up hope. But help arrived when Homeland Security 
Special Agent Keith Owens receive a tip and the outlaw was arrested. He 
was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Tonya was freed from her shackles 
of modern-day slavery.
  This is Human Trafficking Awareness Month, Madam Speaker, and our 
fight for Tonya and others is not over. We must remain vigilant. 
Society has to rescue their victims, restore them, and put the slave 
masters in the jailhouse.
  And that is just the way it is.

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