Congressional Record, Volume 168 Issue 150 (Monday, September 19, 2022)

[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 150 (Monday, September 19, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H7914-H7922]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

NO TRAFFICKING ZONES ACT

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass
the bill (H.R. 7566) to amend title 18, United States Code, to increase
the punishment for human trafficking in a school zone, and for other
purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:

H.R. 7566

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 ``No Trafficking Zones Act''
or the ``NTZ Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds as follows:
(1) Child sex trafficking can have devastating immediate
and long-term consequences, including health impacts,
psychological and physical trauma, and even death.
(2) While any child can be targeted by a trafficker,
research, data, survivors' lived experiences, and expertise
have revealed that traffickers often target vulnerable youth
who lack strong support networks, supervision, care, or basic
necessities, have low self-esteem, have experienced violence
in the past, are experiencing homelessness, are experiencing
academic difficulties, or are marginalized by society, and
lure them into forced labor and prostitution and other forms
of sexual exploitation. Traffickers are masters of
manipulation and prey upon vulnerabilities using
psychological pressure, intimidation, and drugs to control
and sexually exploit the child for their benefit.
(3) The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
(NCMEC) has received reports of child sex trafficking in all
50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. These
reports include incidents occurring in every type of
community, including suburban, rural, urban, and Tribal
lands. In 2021, NCMEC received more than 17,200 reports of
possible child sex trafficking.
(4) Of 22,326 trafficking victims and survivors identified
through contacts with the National Human Trafficking Hotline
in 2019, at least 5,359 were under age 18.
(5) Many underage victims of sex trafficking are students
in the United States school system. No community, school,
socioeconomic group, or student demographic is immune.
(6) While the internet and social media make up the
majority of first encounters, traffickers regularly find
young people in shopping malls, through friends, at bus
stops, and at schools. Specifically, traffickers
systematically target vulnerable children and youth by
frequenting locations where young people congregate,
including schools. They also use peers or classmates, who
befriend the target and slowly groom them for the trafficker
by bringing the young person along to parties and other
activities.
(7) A 2018 survey reported that 55 percent of young sex
trafficking survivors in Texas were trafficked while at
school or school activities and 60 percent of trafficked
adults say they were first groomed and solicited for
trafficking on school campuses.
(8) Schools can and should be safe havens for students.
Schools are best positioned to identify and report suspected
trafficking and connect affected students to critical
services. Students are more likely to report instances of sex
trafficking, attempted sex trafficking, or grooming for the
purposes of sex trafficking where they feel most safe from
harm and threats.

SEC. 3. INCREASED PUNISHMENT FOR HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN SCHOOL
ZONES.

Section 1591 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
(1) by redesignating subsection (e) as subsection (f); and
(2) by inserting after subsection (d) the following:
``(e)(1) Whoever violates subsection (a) in a school zone,
or on, or within 1,000 feet of, a premises on which a school-
sponsored activity is taking place, or on, or within 1,000
feet of a premises owned by an institution of higher
education, shall, in addition to the punishment otherwise
provided under this section, be imprisoned for not more than
5 years.
``(2) In this subsection:
``(A) The term `school zone' has the meaning given such
term in section 921.
``(B) The term `school-sponsored activity' means any
activity that is produced, financed, arranged, supervised, or
coordinated by a school or a State educational agency or
local educational agency or is under the jurisdiction of a
State educational agency or local educational agency.
``(C) The terms `State educational agency' and `local
educational agency' have the meanings given those terms under
section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of
1965.
``(D) The term `institution of higher education' has the
meaning given such term in section 101 of the Higher
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001).''.

SEC. 4. INCREASED PUNISHMENT FOR COERCION AND ENTICEMENT IN
SCHOOL ZONES.

Section 2422 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
(1) in subsection (b), by striking ``individual who has not
attained the age of 18 years'' and inserting ``minor''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
``(c)(1) Whoever violates subsection (a) or (b) knowing, or
having reasonable cause to believe, that the violation is
committed against a minor who is enrolled in school and is,
at the time of the violation, in a school zone or on, or
within 1,000 feet of, a premises on which a school-sponsored
activity is taking place, or against a person who is enrolled
in an institution of higher education and is, at the time of
the violation on or within 1,000 feet of a premises owned by
the institution of higher education, shall, in addition to
the punishment otherwise provided under this section, be
imprisoned for not more than 5 years.
``(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply in a case in which a
minor's presence on, or within 1,000 feet of, the premises on
which a school-sponsored activity is taking place is not
related to such school-sponsored activity, or the person's
presence on or within 1,000 feet of the premises owned by the
institution of higher education is not related to their
enrollment at such institution.
``(d) In this section:
``(1) The term `minor' means an individual who has not
attained 18 years of age.
``(2) The term `school' means a public, parochial, or
private school that provides elementary or secondary
education.
``(3) The term `school zone' has the meaning given such
term in section 921.
``(4) The term `school-sponsored activity' means any
activity that is produced, financed, arranged, supervised, or
coordinated by a school or a State educational agency or
local educational agency or is under the jurisdiction of a
State educational agency or local educational agency.
``(5) The terms `State educational agency' and `local
educational agency' have the meanings given those terms under
section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of
1965.
``(6) The term `institution of higher education' has the
meaning given such term in section 101 of the Higher
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001).''.

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

General Leave

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and
include extraneous materials on H.R. 7566, as amended.

[[Page H7915]]

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from Texas?
There was no objection.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, this bill was introduced as an important response to
stopping human trafficking and sex trafficking at schools. In fact, its
name was Stop Human Trafficking in School Zones. I introduced that bill
to stop human trafficking in school zones.
I am glad to be here on the floor of the House to continue this
journey in protecting our children. I want to start with the words from
the Major Cities Chiefs Association, one of the major supporters of
this legislation:
Child sex trafficking is one of the most despicable crimes an
individual can commit. Sadly, there are far too many children
victimized by this scourge. For example, the National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children received more than 17,200 reports of
possible child sex trafficking in 2021.
It is especially troubling that these crimes sometimes occur at
schools which should be a safe haven for America's children.
Besides gun violence, human trafficking, sex trafficking is a scourge
that takes and destroys the lives of our children.
H.R. 7566 will play an important part in addressing child sex
trafficking by establishing additional penalties for offenders who
commit these offenses in a school zone or within 1,000 feet of a
school-sponsored activity.
We want to be heard on stopping human trafficking and sex trafficking
at our schools. And so the No Trafficking Zones Act, which was formerly
the Stop Human Trafficking in Schools Act, would ensure that schools
across the country, including institutions of higher learning, are safe
spaces for learning and academic exploration, free from the menace of
sex trafficking.
H.R. 7566 would establish a sentencing enhancement of up to 5 years
in several instances: First, in the case of any person who commits the
offense of sex trafficking within a primary or secondary school zone or
on or within 1,000 feet of the premises of a school-sponsored activity,
or premises owned by an institution of higher learning.
Second, for any person who commits the offense of coercion and
enticement of a minor enrolled in a primary or a secondary school, or a
person enrolled in an institution of higher learning, to travel in
interstate or foreign commerce and engage in criminal sexual activity
while the minor is in a school zone, or on or within 1,000 feet of
premises where a school-sponsored activity is taking place, or while
the person is on or within 1,000 feet of the premises owned by the
institution of higher education.
And third, for any person who commits the offense of coercion and
enticement of a minor using the mail or facilities of interstate or
foreign commerce, such as the text and instant messaging or social
media platforms which have been used extensively, while the minor who
is enrolled in school or an institution of higher education, is in a
school zone, or on or within 1,000 feet of premises where a school-
sponsored activity is taking place, or premises owned by the
institution of higher education.
Human trafficking is one of the greatest threats to human rights in
the United States. It destroys a human being's life, and it destroys,
forever, a child's life.
In 2020, 11,193 instances of potential human trafficking were
reported to the United States National Human Trafficking Hotline, with
at least 70 percent of those instances involving sex trafficking, while
an estimated 25 percent of all human trafficking victims in this
country are in my home State of Texas at any given time, many of whom
are minors.
Mr. Speaker, I gave and held the first human trafficking hearing,
field hearing from Houston, Texas, with my cosponsor of this
legislation, the honorable Mike McCaul. I express my appreciation for
his collaboration on this legislation, his enthusiastic collaboration,
as he did join me when we held the first hearing on human trafficking
in Houston, through the Homeland Security Committee.
What I would say is that Houston had been the epicenter of human
trafficking. It was a powerful hearing, and I am glad that we have
joined together now to stop human trafficking at schools.

Let me also offer my sympathy to him and his family for their loss.
At least 5,359 trafficking victims and survivors identified through
the hotline in 2019 were under the age of 18. And in 2021, the National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children received more than 17,200
reports of suspected child sex trafficking. Many of these young victims
of sex trafficking are students in school systems, colleges, trade
schools, and universities across the country.
A 2018 survey reported that in Texas, where no trafficking zone
legislation passed with bipartisan support earlier this year, 55
percent of young sex trafficking survivors were trafficked while at
school or school activities, and 60 percent of trafficked adults said
they were first groomed and solicited for trafficking while on school
campuses.
That has been a hotbed of opportunity for the scourge of sex
traffickers who want to prey upon our innocent children. I am grateful
that the legislation in Texas generated out of an effort chaired by
Bishop James Dixon, chair of the Houston Sports Authority at the NRG
Arena, and began to develop a policy where there would be no
trafficking zones around major stadiums and events.
Members of this body know all too well that children are sexually
exploited in many ways. Some young people are trafficked by their
schoolmates or people they once considered friends. And while the
traffickers seek out young people who have noticeable vulnerabilities,
including problems at school, conflicts at home, or even the need to
fill in a tuition gap caused by the loss of a scholarship, no child or
young person is truly safe from the schemes of charismatic traffickers
bent on exploiting and destroying young lives.

{time} 1630

With the proliferation of social media and the myriad ways in which
we communicate with one another, traffickers have put these same means
of communication to their own use to find, target, lure, groom,
victimize, and exert control over their victims while buyers are using
technology to find and purchase sex anonymously.
Traffickers have infiltrated every known form of communication,
especially the sites, messaging apps, and social media platforms our
children use most frequently, leaving young children more vulnerable to
manipulation. Access to the internet, cell phones, and smartphones make
it easier, Mr. Speaker, for traffickers and buyers to communicate with
children and youth.
Even when they are at school, in class, or attending school-sponsored
activities, there are no barriers, no walls, no brick walls, cement
walls, steel walls, that can keep a trafficker from getting a precious
child.
As a result, trafficking has reached the halls, lunchrooms, gyms,
dormitories, and classrooms of schools, colleges, and universities in
every corner of the United States of America.
These staggering facts and statistics led me to introduce this
bipartisan legislation, the No Trafficking Zones Act, along with
Chairman Nadler and Representative McCaul, who I wish to thank for
working with me, as I have said previously, as well as Representative
Johnson of Louisiana for his amendment that included the protection for
young people at institutions of higher education.
We came together in a bipartisan manner to exert the influence
necessary to protect America's children collectively. I, again, thank
Chairman Nadler, Representative McCaul of Texas, and Representative
Johnson of Louisiana. I am delighted to work with them.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve
the balance of my time.
Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, human trafficking, especially the sex trafficking of
children, is an abhorrent crime, and all convicted offenders should
face serious criminal penalties.
This bill would provide increased criminal penalties for human
trafficking or coercing a minor to engage

[[Page H7916]]

in illegal sex acts in school zones or near school-sponsored
activities, as my colleague from Texas stated.
Texas recently enacted a similar law. According to the Texas State
Senate bill report, 55 percent of young sex trafficking survivors in
Texas were trafficked while at school or during school activities.
The Justice Department's Office of Justice Programs reports that the
average age of entry into prostitution is, unbelievably, 12 to 14 years
old and that traffickers are known to recruit at schools and in after-
school programs.
However, this legislation doesn't address a root cause of this
serious problem, our unsecure southwest border. Tragically, we know
that human smuggling and trafficking occurs daily at the southwest
border.
Under Democrat leadership, this Congress has failed to fix the
completely broken immigration system or to address the Biden border
crisis, which cartels and other organized criminal organizations have
exploited to smuggle and traffic children into our country.
Cartels and criminal organizations continue to take advantage of the
Biden administration's complete failure to secure the southwest border.
We should focus Congress' efforts on securing our southwest border to
prevent the type of human trafficking this legislation seeks to
address.
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, the issue of stopping human trafficking in school zones
is such a crucial issue that I would hope that the focus of our debate
today would be on saving the lives of children.
I will just simply make the point, being on the Committee on Homeland
Security and chairing the Judiciary subcommittee that deals with Crime,
Terrorism, and Homeland Security, that we all can work together for
comprehensive immigration reform.
Here we are today, specifically focused and pointed on ensuring that
there are no trafficking zones in our country and specifically around
our school zones where children cannot be harmed.
Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record letters from the Major Cities
Chiefs Association; Texas State Representative Ron Reynolds; NAACP,
Bishop James Dixon, Branch President; Break the Cycle U.S.A., Valerie
Winborne, mother of trafficking victim; and Courtney Litvak,
surviving--a summary of her experience where she was trafficked.
Major Cities

Chiefs Association,

July 13, 2022.
Hon. Shelia Jackson Lee,
House of Representatives,
Washington, DC.
Hon. Michael McCaul,
House of Representatives,
Washington, DC.
Hon. Jerrold Nadler,
House of Representatives,
Washington, DC.
Dear Rep. Jackson Lee, Rep. Nadler, and Rep. McCaul: I
write on behalf of the Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA)
to register our support for H.R. 7566, the Stop Human
Trafficking in School Zones Act. The MCCA is a professional
organization of police executives representing the largest
cities in the United States and Canada.
Child sex trafficking is one of the most despicable crimes
an individual can commit. Sadly, there are far too many
children victimized by this scourge. For example, the
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received
more than 17,200 reports of possible child sex trafficking in
2021. It's especially troubling that these crimes sometimes
occur at schools, which should be a safe haven for America's
children. H.R. 7566 will play an important part in addressing
child sex trafficking by establishing additional penalties
for offenders who commit these offenses in a school zone or
within 1,000 feet of a school-sponsored activity. These
enhanced penalties will help establish a strong deterrent and
ensure those who commit these heinous acts are held
accountable.
Thank you for your leadership and ongoing commitment to
protecting America's children. Please do not hesitate to
contact me if the MCCA can be of further assistance.
Sincerely.

Jeri Williams,

Chief, Phoenix Police Department,
President, Major Cities Chiefs Association.
____

Ron Reynolds,

Texas House of Representatives,

July 13, 2022.
Hon. Jerrold Nadler,
Chairman, House Judiciary Committee,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Hon. Shelia Jackson Lee,
Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Crime,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Nadler and Chairwoman Lee: As organizations
and leaders in the movement to end human trafficking, we want
to thank you for scheduling this important markup of H.R.
7566, the Stop Trafficking in School Zones Act, which you
introduced along with Representative Michael McCaul. The need
for legislation that makes clear that children and youth are
never to be trafficked or pursued by sex traffickers
especially while at school or participating off-campus in
school-sponsored activities.
Human trafficking poses a grave danger to individual well-
being, public health, public safety, national security,
economic development, and prosperity. Child and youth sex
trafficking can have devastating immediate and long-term
consequences, including health impacts, psychological and
physical trauma, substance use disorders, mental health
problems, and even death. While any minor can be targeted by
a trafficker, traffickers often target vulnerable youth,
including those who lack strong support networks, supervision
care, have low self-esteem, are experiencing academic
difficulties, are marginalized by society, or ostracized by
their peers. No child or community is immune. Recruiting and
grooming occur everywhere that kids can be found, even in
schools across the country. Traffickers frequent places where
young people can be found, including school-sponsored events
like basketball and football games, field trips, and talent
shows. They also use peers and classmates, who befriend the
traffickers' targets and groom them for the trafficker by
forming relationships with the students and brining them
along to parties and other activities, slowly acclimating
them to the traffickers and their lifestyle.
Targeting youth online via social media, direct messaging,
and the like has become an increasingly common tactic among
traffickers. They will look vulnerable young people who are
receptive to their advances. Grooming occurs online or in
person, over an extended period. They gain their targets'
trust, fulfill their needs, make promises, gradually
isolating them and exerting control over their lives--
sometimes virtually. Technology has made it much easier for
traffickers to seek out children and youth.
To that end, we would like to express our strong support
for H.R. 7566 because young people should be safe at all
times--but especially while they are trying to learn or
pursue school-related endeavors that enhance their
educational experiences. We are thrilled that the House
Judiciary Committee will condenser this legislation that
would establish a sentencing enhancement for those who would
dare to commit sex trafficking or contact young people for
such purposes while they are at school-sponsored activities
and encourage members to vote yes.
We thank you for your leadership and as survivors and
advocated dedicated to eradicating human trafficking, we are
grateful for your commitment to ensuring that those who
choose to target and victimize children will be held
accountable.
Sincerely,
Ron Reynolds,
State Representative.
____

NAACP,

July 13, 2022.
Hon. Jerrold Nadler,
Chairman, House Judiciary Committee,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Hon. Sheila Jackson Lee,
Chairwoman, House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism
and Homeland Security, House of Representatives,
Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Nadler and Chairwoman Lee: As organizations
and leaders in the movement to end human trafficking, we want
to thank you for scheduling this important markup of H.R.
7566, the Stop Trafficking in School Zones Act, which you
introduced along with Representative Michael McCaul. The need
for legislation that makes clear that children and youth are
never to be trafficked or pursued by sex traffickers
especially while at school or participating off-campus in
school-sponsored activities.
Human trafficking poses a grave danger to individual well-
being, public health, public safety, national security,
economic development, and prosperity. Child and youth sex
trafficking can have devastating immediate and long-term
consequences, including health impacts, psychological and
physical trauma, substance use disorders, mental health
problems, and even death. While any minor can be targeted by
a trafficker, traffickers often target vulnerable youth,
including those who lack strong support networks, supervision
care, have low self-esteem, are experiencing academic
difficulties, are marginalized by society, or ostracized by
their peers. No child or community is immune. Recruiting and
grooming occur everywhere that kids can be found, even in
schools across the country. Traffickers frequent places where
young people can be found, including school-sponsored events
like basketball and football games, field trips, and talent
shows. They also use peers and classmates, who befriend the
traffickers' targets

[[Page H7917]]

and groom them for the trafficker by forming relationships
with the students and bringing them along to parties and
other activities, slowly acclimating them to the traffickers
and their lifestyle.
Targeting youth online via social media, direct messaging,
and the like has become an increasingly common tactic among
traffickers. They will look for vulnerable young people who
are receptive to their advances. Grooming occurs online or in
person, over an extended period. They gain their targets'
trust, fulfill their needs, make promises, gradually
isolating them and exerting control over their lives--
sometimes virtually. Technology has made it much easier for
traffickers to seek out children and youth.
To that end, we would like to express our strong support
for H.R. 7566 because young people should be safe at all
times--but especially while they are trying to learn or
pursue schoolrelated endeavors that enhance their educational
experiences. We are thrilled that the House Judiciary
Committee will consider this legislation that would establish
a sentencing enhancement for those who would dare to commit
sex trafficking or contact young people for such purposes
while they are at school or school-sponsored activities and
encourage members to vote yes.
Sincerely,

James Dixon, II,

Branch President,
NAACP Houston Branch.
____

Break The Cycle,

July 13, 2022.
Hon. Jerrold Nadler,
Chairman, House Judiciary Committee,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Hon. Sheila Jackson Lee,
Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Crime,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Nadler and Chairwoman Lee: NTZ is a bi-
partisan organization disrupting the criminal activity of
human trafficking. NTZ's mission is to create No Trafficking
Zones across the nation. In order to create no trafficking
zones, we must have policies set in place to protect our
communities from commercial sexual exploitation and human
trafficking. Children in America are being preyed upon every
single day in schools across our nation. In 2021, NTZ was a
part of the creation of the S.B.1831 ``No Trafficking Zone
Act'' for schools in Texas. The ``No Trafficking Zone Act was
authored by Rep. Senator Larry Taylor, was carried in the
House by State Representative Senfronia Thompson, and
approved with 100 percent bipartisan support. Our belief is
there needs to be unity in fighting for the protection of our
great Nation's children.
In this letter, you will hear testimonies of Mother and the
names of their daughters. You will learn brutal detail of
what is sex trafficking. Sex trafficking is the slave trade
where a person is raped and owned by another.
We want to thank you for scheduling this important markup
of H.R. 7566, the Stop Trafficking in School Zones Act, which
you introduced along with Representative Michael McCaul.
America needs legislation that makes it clear, that children
and youth are never to be commercially sexually exploited or
pursued by sex traffickers, especially while at school or
participating off-campus in school-sponsored activities
An Alarming Fact: Did you know that 60 percent of
trafficked adults say they were first introduced to
trafficking (groomed or solicited) on school campuses?
We have support across the nation. Parents and families
want their children safe while they are at school. Parents
and families across our country are picking up the pieces of
destruction as their children are being groomed and lured on
school campuses or during school functions. We have human
trafficking detectives, advocates, social workers, parents,
elected officials, law enforcement leaders, school district
superintendents, board members, PTO parents, survivor
leaders, nurses, doctors, and anti-trafficking specialists
coming together to say enough is enough. We need laws to
protect our youth while they are in school from sexual
predators. This is happening in all communities across our
nation.
The term ``institutional grooming'' describes the
perpetrator using a position of trust to gain access to a
child/youth and avoid detection. Perpetrators of grooming can
use online and offline methods to reach their victims.
Valerie Winbornes's daughter was trafficked in Virginia.
She like most families said she received no help and there
was no justice for her twelve-year-old daughter who was
trafficked from her school.
Madelynn Bennetsen. She trusted a girl in JH who she
thought was her friend--who would later lead her on the path
of skipping class, running away from home, drugs, and
trafficking. If there were more awareness and training for
the staff in the school and even myself. We may have been
more alert to these behaviors as red flags instead of teenage
behavior problems. We make it our life's work to help others
in honor of Mady. Mady was murdered by her trafficker and
never returned home.
Mary Well's daughter was a target because she had Autism.
She also was a young girl who was murdered and never returned
home.
Courtney Litvack was trafficked out of Katy Texas. Katy is
a suburban wealthy area in Harris County. She was sold to
multiple traffickers and eventually taken to Las Vegas. Her
family as all of these other families will express with grief
that there was no justice.
Leddie a fifteen-year-old girl committed suicide after she
could not get the proper help after being recovered from
being sex trafficked.
Do you know traffickers pick out young girls on tick tok
and Instagram and tell groomers to go lure them from school?
In many states, the traffickers introduce girls as young as
twelve to strip clubs. Fourteen and fifteen-year-old girls
are trafficked by gangs, pimps, and organized crime and then
``trained' and ``broken in' at strip clubs. They will form a
trauma bond with many of their traffickers and such a level
of shame that most girls will not know how to leave even if
they physically can. They will also have the girls become
addicted to drugs becoming numb to being raped. The teen's
addiction will have them not knowing or understanding
everything that is happening and controlling them through
their addiction and abuse. I have given definitions to the
terms in this paragraph.
NTZ and I want to express our gratitude for scheduling this
important markup of H.R. 7566, the Stop Trafficking in School
Zones Act, which you introduced along with Representative
Michael McCaul. The need for legislation that makes clear
that children and youth are never to be trafficked or pursued
by sex traffickers, especially while at school or
participating off-campus in school-sponsored activities.
Every day kids are going missing and are being sex trafficked
from their schools or were contacted at their school. We must
change this. This is unacceptable. Nelsen Mandela said There
can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way
in which it treats its children.
To that end, we would like to express our strong support
for H.R. 7566 because young people should be safe at all
times--but especially while they are trying to learn or
pursue school-related endeavors that enhance their
educational experiences. We are thrilled that the House
Judiciary Committee will consider this legislation that would
establish a sentencing enhancement for those

[[Page H7918]]

who would dare to commit sex trafficking and slavery on our
children at schools. I encourage and pray the members will
vote yes.
Respectfully,
Jacquelyn Aluotto,
President, No Trafficking Zone--NTZ.
____

Courtney Litvak

Courtney has made it her mission to tell her story and
speak out to spread awareness about human trafficking and
help shape policy to protect other young people from falling
victim to the schemes of human traffickers, and to hold
traffickers accountable.
Courtney first became entangled in sex trafficking when she
was still in high school.
Despite what some believe about victims of human
trafficking, she grew up in a loving, church-going family, in
a safe neighborhood, and attended an upscale, suburban high
school in Texas. But, by the age of 17 she was under the
control of her first trafficker and she was being advertised
for illicit sex on websites like Backpage.com.
Courtney was a junior in high school when a series of
traumatic experiences occurred, leaving her emotionally and
physically susceptible and in a downward spiral--like so many
victims of human trafficking. She began participating in
high-risk behaviors, including abusing drugs and alcohol.
A trafficker, with ties to her high school, used fellow
students to prey upon her and use her vulnerabilities to
their advantage--offering her friendship and support when she
felt she had none, meanwhile drawing her gradually and deeper
into ``the life.''
Courtney was actually being groomed by two different
organized crime networks simultaneously and each groomer
chatted with her through social media and messaging other
apps. One network even invested in grooming Courtney for
almost an entire year. She grew to trust these people, who
were in fact all friends of friends and all formerly attended
her high school.
Her first trafficker picked her up from her school on
multiple occasions. Consequently, she was unenrolled from her
school and had her entire life uprooted in a desperate
attempt for her family to intervene in her exploitation.
Courtney returned back to her hometown where days after
turning 18 she was taken from her home by the other invested
trafficking network. She soon realized that this individual
she thought she loved meant to pass her on to her next
trafficker for a finder's fee of $500.
Eventually, Courtney would be transported from Texas to
California, then, Las Vegas--passing from the clutches of one
trafficker to another.
The coercive tactics of her captors varied from subtle to
overt, physical to psychological--from violent to caring.
On an occasion when she attempted to seek help, law
enforcement officials treated her like a criminal, convincing
her that the safest place for her was with her trafficker.
Fortunately, after years of exploitation, overdoses, and
mulitple suicide attempts, Courtney escaped her final
trafficker in 2018. She sought trauma counseling and attended
an intense out of state recovery program, became a
consultant, and, in 2020, was appointed to the U.S. Advisory
Council on Human Trafficking.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I would just simply like to suggest
that we can find trafficking in many other places.
I also include in the Record the article: ``Epstein's `ground zero':
How the financier reportedly wreaked havoc on Royal Palm Beach High
School community.''

[From Business Insider, July 27, 2019]

Epstein's `Ground Zero': How the Financier Reportedly Wreaked Havoc on
the Royal Palm Beach High School Community

(By Kat Tenbarge)

Former Royal Palm Beach High School Assistant Principal
Carolyn Brown told The Palm Beach Post it was an ``open
secret'' that female students were involved in something
suspicious that involved hundreds of dollars in cash and
resulted in girls being bullied for being ``prostitutes'' and
``sugar babies.''
What administers didn't know, or at least didn't act upon,
was that at least 15 underage girls enrolled at the high
school were sexually assaulted by financier and now convicted
sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to police reports
obtained by The Palm Beach Post.
Like dozens of other accusations against the shadowy
financier, who is currently being held without bail on
charges of sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy in the
southern district of New York, Epstein's Royal Palm Beach
High accusers say he paid them to give him massages, during
which he would coerce them into sex acts.
Epstein was well aware that his victims would have been
high schoolers, since The Post reported that a Royal Palm
Beach High transcript was found in 2005 in his bedroom desk
drawer at his $12 million Palm Beach estate, next to a
massage table and an armoire filled with sex toys.
One Royal Palm Beach High accuser told police she was 16-
years-old when Epstein asked her to give him a massage while
she was topless. She said she told him she was in high
school. He asked what her favorite sex position was.
Another 16-year-old told police Epstein said he would help
her get into her dream college, New York University, after
reviewing her SAT scores and high school transcript.
Epstein also wrote a note on his own Jeffrey E. Epstein-
branded stationary, Palm Beach police officers found, which
instructed an employee to deliver a dozen roses to an
underage girl who performed in a Royal Palm Beach High play.
Police found the note in Epstein's garbage in 2005.
These findings were some of the evidence brought forward
before Epstein signed a plea deal in 2008 that allowed him to
avoid federal prosecution and serve 13 months of an 18-month
prison sentence, during which he could work from a high-rise
in Palm Beach 12 hours a day, 6 days a week.
Now, Epstein is pleading not guilty to sex trafficking
charges that accuse the elite financier of assaulting upward
of 80 women, many who were underage at the time of the
assault, including some as young as 14. The Palm Beach Post
reports that Epstein recruited girls from several Palm Beach,
Florida high schools, but that Royal Palm Beach High was his
``ground zero.''
The Post reports that girls who were part of Epstein's
underage sexual assault scheme were bullied for being
``prostitutes'' and ``sugar babies,'' which administrators
took notice of when they found $300 in a girl's purse after
she was caught fighting with another female student.
Attorney Adam Horowitz, who has represented some of
Epstein's accusers in eight civil lawsuits, was quoted as
describing the girls who were allegedly targeted as
vulnerable, with some ``living in trailer parks,'' in The
Post.
Epstein asked girls to bring their friends, The Post
reported, paying girls up to $200 for recruiting new victims.
``The younger the better,'' he instructed them, according to
one accuser who was first approached by an adult who worked
for Epstein in 2003 at a resort in Riviera Beach.
That accuser went into her senior year at Royal Palm Beach
High with Epstein's goal in mind, with The Post reporting she
recruited at least eight other underage girls who then
recruited their own friends, including some girls who were on
the verge of homelessness and needed money, badly.
``Knowing what we know now, it's so sad what happened to
those girls,'' Brown, the former assistant principal, told
The Post.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record an article: ``
`Open secret' at Royal Palm High School: At least 15 students were
lured to Jeffrey Epstein's Palm Beach mansion'' right out of the
school.

Open Secret at Royal Palm High: At Least 15 Students Were Lured to
Jeffrey Epstein's Palm Beach Mansion

(By Lulu Ramadan)

Tucked in the drawer of Jeffrey Epstein's bedroom desk,
near a massage table and a wooden armoire filled with sex
toys, was a teenage girl's Royal Palm Beach High School
transcript.
She was 16 years old when Epstein lured her to his Palm
Beach home set at the end of a dead-end street behind a wall
of hedges.
And she's one of at least 15 girls from Royal Palm Beach
High School who Epstein sexually exploited in that bedroom 15
years ago, police reports reveal.
Epstein, a multimillionaire financier then in his 50s,
lured a procession of girls as young as 14 to his home to
perform nude massages for money, police and court records
say. The massages often ended with Epstein groping or
sexually assaulting the girls.
Epstein's victims attended several Palm Beach County
schools, including Lake Worth Middle and Palm Beach Gardens
High.
But Royal Palm Beach High, with about 3,000 students, many
from the county's rural reaches, was ground zero.
Evidence suggests Epstein knew his victims were school
girls and the signs didn't escape Royal Palm Beach High
administrators. The girls endured teasing and classmates
called them ``prostitutes.'' After two girls fought, an
administrator found one of them had $300 in her purse.
Aside from the student transcript found in Epstein's desk
in 2005, police collected more evidence and witness
statements that suggest Epstein knew his victims were still
school children:
He scrawled a note on Jeffrey E. Epstein-branded stationery
instructing one of his employees to deliver a dozen roses to
a girl who performed in a Royal Palm Beach High play. Police
found the note in his trash.
One 16-year-old girl described to detectives giving Epstein
a massage while she was topless. He asked her about herself
and she told him she was a student at Royal Palm High. He
then asked her which was her favorite sexual position, she
told police.
Another girl, who met Epstein at age 16, said Epstein
reviewed her college applications and SAT scores and promised
to help her get into her dream school, New York University.
Though Palm Beach detectives uncovered these details in
2005, the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office and U.S.
Attorney's Office in Miami, then headed by Alexander Acosta,
cut Epstein a plea deal that landed him in jail for 13 months
on two charges of soliciting prostitution.
This month, a decade after his release from a Palm Beach
County jail, federal agents in New York arrested Epstein, 66,
on charges of sex trafficking minors. The move came eight

[[Page H7919]]

months after a Miami Herald investigation zeroed in on
Acosta's role in Epstein's plea deal and let victims tell
their stories publicly for the first time.
Epstein preyed on dozens of girls, at least 32 identified
at the time by police but about 80 identified in 2018 by the
Herald.
``These girls had never even been to Palm Beach island,''
said Adam Horowitz, an attorney who represented Epstein
victims in eight civil lawsuits filed against the
multimillionaire.
``Some of them were living in trailer parks. This was a
whole new world to them.''

For Epstein: `The younger the better'

Some of the girls told Epstein they were uncomfortable with
being touched during massages, so he asked them to bring
friends instead, police reports and court records reveal.
He paid girls about the same amount, around $200, to
recruit a friend as he paid the girls who stripped down and
performed massages, court records show.
Royal Palm Beach High was a target by coincidence.
``One of Epstein's recruiters managed to infiltrate that
circle,'' Horowitz said.
The ``recruiter'' approached a 17-year-old Royal Palm Beach
High School student in 2003 at a resort in Riviera Beach with
an offer to make $200 for an hour to give a massage, she told
police two years later.
The teen went to Epstein's seven-bedroom home on the
Intracoastal Waterway, where an assistant led her up a
staircase lined with pictures of naked young girls and into
Epstein's bedroom, police say.
In keeping with descriptions to police from many Epstein
victims, the teen found Epstein wearing only a towel, which
he later removed, before lying on a massage table.
Epstein tried to grope her, but she resisted. She told him
she didn't want to be touched, she told detectives.
So Epstein asked her to bring friends to his home for cash
instead. ``The younger the better,'' Epstein said, according
to her police statement.
Going into her senior year at Royal Palm Beach High, the
girl became a conduit to the school, recruiting at least
eight other girls she'd met on campus, court depositions and
police testimonies reveal.
And those girls recruited more girls.

Name-calling and a fight

One Royal Palm Beach High student told detectives in 2005
that she targeted promiscuous teens on campus. Another said
she brought a friend on the verge of homelessness and
strapped for cash.
School administrators knew something unusual was happening,
police reports show.
Students teased the Epstein clique as ``prostitutes'' or
``sugar babies,'' a term for young women who seek
relationships with wealthy, older men, The Post learned from
court depositions and former students.
The tension came to the administration's attention in
February 2005, when a 14-year-old freshman, the first of
Epstein's victims to speak to police, got into a fight on
campus with a girl who called her a ``prostitute,'' police
said.
But the school kept no disciplinary record of the fight and
didn't report anything, police learned in 2005.
At the time, it appeared the girls were making money doing
something nefarious, one former administrator, then-Assistant
Principal Carolyn Brown, said in a brief interview this
month.
It was an ``open secret,'' Brown said, stopping short of
saying whether school administrators knew the girls were paid
for sexual favors.
Brown was subpoenaed to testify in the 2005 criminal case
against Epstein after she found $300 in the 14-year-old's
purse on campus shortly after the fight, court records
reveal.
Administrators considered and then dismissed the idea that
it might be drug money, detectives wrote in a 2005 report.
Brown, who is retired, never spoke to prosecutors. Soon
after her subpoena, federal prosecutors struck Epstein's plea
deal calling for 18 months in county jail, registration as a
sex offender and payments to victims.
It wasn't clear if the principal at the time, Sheila Henry,
knew that more than a dozen students were involved with
Epstein. Henry wasn't mentioned in police reports and could
not be reached for comment.
But two former students reached by The Post, who asked to
stay anonymous, said students gossiped that some girls had
rich, older boyfriends who bought them expensive gifts. Six
other students didn't recall any such talk.
None of the girls knew then what the public knows now: That
a Palm Beach millionaire tapped a local high school to prey
on girls for his sexual gratification.
``Knowing what we know now,'' said Brown, the former
assistant principal, ``it's so sad what happened to those
girls.''

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the article:
``Police: Children recruiting other kids for human trafficking at
schools.'' This was in Florida.

[From WKMG ClickOrlando.com, Nov. 1, 2018]

Police: Children Recruiting Other Kids for Human Trafficking at Schools

Florida ranks 3rd in the nation for calls to human trafficking hotline

(By Erik von Ancken)

Orlando, FL.--Human trafficking is real and it is happening
in Central Florida.
Crystal Blanton, co-chair of the Marion County Human
Trafficking Task Force, said she receives thousands of
reports from the National Human Trafficking Hotline every
year.
``Usually the reports are in the thousands, every year,''
Blanton said. ``Thousands of people are being human
trafficked. Right here in Marion County and across the state
of Florida.''
Blanton said it's not like the movies (``Taken'' 2008),
where young girls are taken during their summer vacations by
foreign human traffickers to be sold to sultans or sheiks.
But local children, often as young as 12, are being
recruited into a life of forced prostitution.
``I just think it's the internet, I hate to say it,''
Blanton said. ``Social media has grown the field of human
trafficking. It's easier for these traffickers to make
contact with victims.''
Blanton said traffickers look for vulnerable teenagers
online--runaways, teenagers complaining about their lives and
their parents, young people with drug addictions--and
befriend them.
But human trafficking isn't confined to any race or class,
according to Blanton.
Some victims were on the honor roll headed to college.
``We've had doctors' children who have been intertwined,''
Blanton said.
Blanton also said human traffickers align with students and
use them and their schools as recruiting grounds.
``There are recruiters, juvenile recruiters in the schools,
working with a pimp of some kind, and they are sent out in
the schools and given a job to bring other minors on board,''
Blanton said.
Blanton said the task force has had success educating
Marion County elementary, middle and high school principals
in looking for signs of human trafficking and placing Human
Trafficking Hotline posters in schools.
Mike Lanfersiek, a sergeant at the Human Trafficking Squad
at Orlando's Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation (MBI), said
the definition of human trafficking is forcing a person to
have sex or to work through force, fraud or coercion.
``Human trafficking is quite simply the exploitation of
another person for commercial sex or forced labor,''
Lanfersiek said.
Lanfersiek said once victims, female or male, enter into
the life of human trafficking, they are kept there by their
captor, taking advantage of their vulnerability.
``A vulnerability to substance abuse, the fear of physical
beating, or withholding passports or documents, things like
that,'' Lanfersiek.
Lanfersiek's Human Trafficking Squad has rescued hundreds
of young women and children, often from hotels in the tourist
district of Orange and Osceola Counties.
``Anywhere where the trafficker thinks there might be
demand for commercial sex,'' Lanfersiek said.
Traffickers often set up their prostitution operation at
hotels because they cater to visitors in town for business or
pleasure who are looking for sex, according to Lanfersiek.
Lanfersiek said he just rescued a 15-year-old girl from a
hotel on International Drive.
``She had met someone on the `Plenty of Fish' website and
felt this person was her boyfriend, exploiting her
vulnerabilities, pimping her out,'' Lanfersiek said.
In July, MBI agents arrested three men for luring a teenage
girl through a social media app to an International Drive
hotel and then prostituting her and having sex with her.
In 2016, Orlando police charged two men with the death of a
14-year-old girl who they'd been allegedly prostituting,
driving her to men's homes to have sex.
Lanfersiek said MBI regularly sets up undercover sting
operations to catch traffickers and rescue victims.
MBI analysts spend their days online, searching through
postings by human traffickers looking for victims and
offering them for prostitution.
Lanfersiek offered this warning: If you're coming to
Central Florida looking for a date for sex, you may get a
date with an undercover officer.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, my good friend has spoken about the
southern border. I include in the Record the article: ``Recruitment and
Entrapment Pathways of Minors into Sex Trafficking in Canada and the
United States: A Systematic Review.'' Northern border, by the way, that
I would offer to say.

[From Trauma, Violence, & Abuse]

Recruitment and Entrapment Pathways of Minors Into Sex Trafficking in
Canada and the United States: A Systematic Review

(By Kyla Baird and Jennifer Connolly)

Abstract--the domestic sex trafficking of minors is
occurring across Canada and the United States. Understanding
the routes into sex trafficking, including the way
traffickers target, recruit and enmesh youth in the sex trade
is invaluable information for service providers and law
makers developing prevention and intervention initiatives.
This review synthesized research on the exploitation
processes and tactics employed by traffickers in the sex
trafficking of domestic minors in Canada and the US. The
authors comprehensively and systematically

[[Page H7920]]

searched five electronic databases and obtained additional
publications and grey literature through a backward search of
the references cited in articles reviewed for inclusion.
Inclusionary criteria included: Studies published in the
English language between January 1990 and June 2020
containing original research with quantitative or qualitative
data on the recruitment or pathways into sex trafficking for
minors trafficked within the US and Canada. The search
yielded 23 eligible studies. The synthesis of the studies in
the review converged on the notion of sexual exploitation
occurring on a continuum comprising of three components; the
recruitment context, entrapment strategies utilized by
traffickers, and enmeshment tactics used to prolong
exploitation. Findings highlight the significant physical,
psychological and emotional hurdles faced by youth victims of
sex trafficking and point to the importance of comprehensive
and holistic approaches to prevention and intervention
practices.
Human trafficking is a global problem that has garnered
significant international and national attention over the
past 2 decades. In 2000, 140 countries signed onto the
Palermo protocol agreeing that human trafficking is a
significant human rights violation and a criminal offense
that requires prevention, the protection of vulnerable
populations, and the prosecution of violators of the
protocol. In North America, both Canada and the United States
signed this protocol and have since passed legislation and
policies to combat human trafficking. Sex trafficking became
criminalized in Canada in 2005 when human trafficking entered
the criminal code under section 279.01 and in the United
States in 2000 with the passing of the Trafficking Victims
Protection Act (TVPA). Sex trafficking is one of the most
common forms of human trafficking consisting of the
recruitment and exploitation of an individual through the use
of threats, force, coercion, deception, or abuse of power for
the purpose of a commercial sex act (United Nations Office on
Drugs and Crime, 2014). A commercial sex act, as defined by
the American TVPA (2000), is ``any sexual act for which
something of value is given or received.'' Common examples
include prostitution, pornography, sexual massage parlors,
and strip clubs. Commercial sex acts may be exchanged for
money, drugs, shelter, clothing, or food (Cole & Anderson,
2013; Kotrla, 2010). Sex trafficking is rampant across the
United States and Canada (Clawson et al., 2009; Dalley,
2010). Despite various political and social differences
between these countries, they are united on the front of
combating sex trafficking within their borders and expanding
research to support effective evidence-based prevention and
intervention strategies.

Sex Trafficking of Minors (STM)

Minors (under the age of 18) are overrepresented among
victims of sex trafficking, with the majority of victims
recruited between 12 and 14 years of age (Jordan et al.,
2013; Smith et al., 2009). Given the elevated risk for
minors, research and legislation have begun to focus on the
specific issue of the STM. Consequently, our understanding of
the risks for recruitment, experiences, and needs of underage
victims is growing, and important policy actions have been
taken. In the past decade, both Canada and the United
States have passed legislation, reformed laws, and enacted
policies to combat issues of the STM. Legislative changes
in both Canada and the United States have transformed the
way victims are viewed and treated by law enforcement.
More specifically, American and Canadian federal consent
laws declared minors under the age of 18 unable to consent
to commercial sex and have shifted the lens of law
enforcement from criminalizing youth in the sex trade to
viewing them as victims (Adelson, 2008; Franchino-Olsen,
2019). Language in research on STM has followed suit,
shifting from calling underage victims of sex trafficking
``teen prostitutes'' to ``victims of STM.''
On the basis of age, youth from all sectors of society are
at risk for recruitment into sex trafficking. Developmental
vulnerabilities such as identity formation, the need for
belonging, desire for autonomy, desire for romantic
relationships, and evolving problem-solving skills make them
easily exploitable by traffickers who appeal to these
vulnerabilities (Schwartz, 2015). Based on the growing
literature, some youths are at greater risk for recruitment
than others. Several risk factors for STM have been
identified, including involvement with child protective
services, history of childhood sexual abuse, homelessness,
physical and emotional abuse, neglect, exposure to intimate
partner violence, problematic relationships with caregivers,
drug and alcohol abuse, and teen dating violence (Choi, 2015;
Countryman-Roswurm, 2012; Countryman-Roswurm & Bolin, 2014;
Farley et al., 2005; Franchino-Olsen, 2019; Kotrla, 2010;
Landers et al., 2017). Traffickers are known to be deeply
perceptive of the developmental vulnerabilities of youth and
target their unmet needs through strategic recruitment
methods.
Simply being a girl places a youth at an elevated risk
status relative to boys (Estes & Weiner, 2001), with 98% of
victims being women and girls (International Labour
Organization, 2012). Adolescent girls are particularly
vulnerable to sexual exploitation due to social norms that
cast gendered expectations and power imbalances in relation
to sexual activities, with boys being expected to take sexual
initiatives. Sexual inexperience, desire for romantic
relationships, and insecurity among young girls can set the
stage for manipulation and exploitation by adolescent boys or
men (Hanna, 2002).
Based on the differential needs and situations of youth,
the recruitment and exploitation of underage populations are
thought to differ from adult populations (Bouche & Shady,
2017; Dank et al., 2014). While it may be riskier to traffic
a youth due to increased policing efforts in protecting
minors and higher sentences for STM, it has been suggested
that these risks are offset by the youth being easier to
manipulate and control and being highly desired by
purchasers, bringing in more money for the trafficker (Dank
et al., 2014). Compared to adults, youths have greater needs
for protection, less life experience, and are dependent on
adults for basic needs such as food and shelter, making them
more vulnerable to traffickers who vow to provide care,
protection, and basic needs (Bruhns et al., 2018; Cole &
Anderson, 2013). Given youths' physical and emotional
dependency on adults, some research have suggested youths are
more trusting and less able to identify traffickers' coercive
and manipulative strategies to entrap them (Cole & Sprang,
2015). Adult victims, on the other hand, are generally less
psychologically dependent on their trafficker (Bouche &
Shady, 2017). In addition, literature on the trafficking of
adults identify several risk factors that are more unique to
adult victim populations, including needing to financially
support dependents, low educational attainment, and having
few job skills (Holger-Ambrose et al., 2013). Despite
differences in adult and underage victim populations, much of
the extant research on recruitment for sex trafficking have
pooled both underage and adult participants or examined
victimized adults only, limiting our understanding of the STM
specifically (Reid, 2014). In order to translate sex
trafficking research into evidence-based initiatives to
combat the STM, it is important for research to delineate the
specific ways in which traffickers target and recruit youth
into the sex trade. The current study aims to synthesize
research that focuses on youth recruitment into sex
trafficking in North America.

North American Context of Sex Trafficking

There have been few attempts to estimate the prevalence of
the STM in North America; however, available statistics are
often ``guesstimates'' rather than reliable rates (Franchino-
Olsen et al., 2020; Stransky & Finkelhor, 2012). Available
estimates for STM most commonly come from the United States,
where the rates range from 1,400 to upward of 199,000 victims
(Banks & Kyckelhahn, 2011; Estes & Weiner, 2001; Snyder &
Sickmund, 2006; U.S. Department of Justice, 2004), with the
most commonly cited study estimating upward of 325,000
children at risk for sexual exploitation in the United States
each year (Estes & Weiner, 2001). However, available
statistics are problematic as they often fail to distinguish
between domestic and international victims, are based on
varying definitions of sex trafficking, are geographically
limited, and utilize nonreplicable, unreliable methodologies
(Fedina et al., 2019; Franchino-Olsen et al., 2020; Stransky
& Finkelhor, 2012). Researcher error aside, the very nature
of the sex trafficking industry presents barriers to the
acquisition of accurate statistics. Most significant among
these is the fact that trafficking occurs largely
underground, within criminal networks that are transient,
discrete, and often invisible, even to law enforcement
(Duger, 2015; Franchino-Olsen et al., 2020). Difficulty in
obtaining estimates of an invisible crime is compounded by
the fact that many individuals victimized by sex trafficking
do not view themselves as victims of a crime and therefore do
not report it in any official capacity (Mcclain & Garrity,
2011). Despite flawed and unreliable statistics, STM is known
to be widespread across Canada and the United States,
requiring immediate action and sound research to uncover
trends and pathways of youth into sex trafficking including
the way traffickers target, recruit, and enmesh youth in the
sex trade (Clawson et al., 2009; Cole & Sprang, 2015; Dalley,
2010).
While STM defies geographic borders, a country's economic
environment, geographic positioning, laws, employment rates,
per capita income, and historical events shape the industry
and individual risk for recruitment (Hepburn & Simon, 2010;
C. O'Brien, 2009). As a result, trends in STM within North
America are different from the European context. The
permeable borders between European countries allow for easy
international movement between proximal countries (Lindstrom,
2004). For example, one report found only 5% of all
identified sex-trafficked victims in the United Kingdom (UK)
were originally from the UK, which is a stark contrast to the
picture of trafficking in NA where the majority of victims
are domestic persons (Baird, McDonald & Connolly, 2020; Banks
& Kyckelhahn, 2011; Mitchell et al., 2010; Royal Canadian
Mounted Police [RCMP], Human Trafficking National
Coordination Centre, 2014; Serious Organised Crime Agency,
2013). Given sex trafficking industries vary between
countries based on differences in social, geographical,
cultural, economic, and historical factors, it is not
appropriate to generalize understandings of STM across
countries that are dissimilar across these factors (Hepburn &
Simon, 2010). As such, the current study narrowed its focus
to systematically reviewing the recruitment of minors for sex
trafficking in two countries, Canada and the

[[Page H7921]]

United States both of which have similar cultural, economic,
geographic, and historical contexts.
The domestic STM is of major concern within Canada and the
United States (Clawson et al., 2009; Dalley, 2010). While
both countries adhere to the standards of affluent and
profitable nations that are alluring destinations for
international sex traffickers, research consistently shows
that domestic youth (i.e., youth trafficked within their
country of origin) comprise the majority of underage victims
in their respective countries (Baird et al., 2020; Kotrla,
2010; RCMP, Human Trafficking National Coordination Centre,
2014). Due to the risks and challenges associated with
transporting victims across borders, some research suggests
that domestic youths are preferred by traffickers (Smith et
al., 2009). In summarizing the literature on recruitment and
entrapment, it is important to distinguish between
international and domestic sex trafficking due to the nuanced
differences in the process of exploitation. Comparatively,
researchers suggest domestic sex traffickers more often
utilize interpersonal relationships and domestic violence to
entrap their target and international traffickers rely upon
kidnapping, parents' selling their children, and offering
false promises of jobs abroad for entrapment (Cecchet &
Thoburn, 2014). Understanding the specific ways American and
Canadian youths are recruited by traffickers and exploited
domestically is important in developing effective prevention
and intervention strategies.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, then let me offer this point of
importance. The victims are not here on this floor, but we must carry
their story to this floor, to ensure that we do not see another victim.
So I will offer these words from Courtney. Courtney has made it her
mission to tell her story and speak out to spread awareness of human
trafficking and help shape policy to protect other young people from
falling victim to the schemes of human traffickers and to hold
traffickers accountable.
She became entangled in sex trafficking while still in school.
Despite what some believe about victims of human trafficking, she grew
up in a loving, church-going family, in a safe neighborhood, and
attended an upscale suburban high school in Texas.
At the age of 17, she was under the control of her first trafficker.
She was being advertised for illicit sex on websites like Backpage. A
trafficker with ties to her high school used fellow students to prey
upon her and use her vulnerabilities to their advantage, offering her
friendship and support when she felt she had none, meanwhile drawing
her gradually and deeper into the life. She was actually groomed by two
different organized crime networks simultaneously, and each groomer
chatted with her through social media and messaging. One network even
invested in grooming Courtney for almost an entire year.
Her first trafficker picked her up from school. She was unenrolled
from her school and had her entire life uprooted in a desperate attempt
to intervene in an exploitation.
She returned back to her hometown where days after turning 18, she
was taken from her home by another invested trafficker. She soon
realized she was in this world, and over and over again she was used
and transported from Texas to California to Las Vegas, passing from one
hand to the next.
What a vile life. She is willing to share this life.
It is extremely important that we pass this legislation and that we
address the question of what can happen to our innocent children.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time
for closing.
I would just once again like to emphasize the idea that although
human trafficking is at the forefront of what we are discussing here
today, we must continue to focus on the southern border and making sure
that we secure that soon.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume for closing.
Let me express my appreciation to those who sacrificed to share with
us their stories and those who worked on this very important effort:
Bishop James Dixon, II, the No Trafficking Zone cofounder and senior
pastor of the Community of Faith Church, Branch President of the NAACP,
Houston Branch; Jacquelyn Aluotto, NTZ cofounder, founder of Real
Beauty Real Women; and Courtney Litvak, a member of the U.S. Advisory
Council on Human Trafficking, who will participate in unveiling their
annual report later this week; and so many others who have really
helped. Jacquelyn Aluotto was someone who inspirationally wanted to
lead us in this direction and worked very hard.
Each of us has a duty to protect young people, whether it be from
drugs, gun violence, or sex traffickers. Our children deserve to be
safe, and parents should know their children will be safe when they put
them on the school bus or move them into their new dorms.
To be sure, H.R. 7566, the No Trafficking Zones Act, provides
increased accountability for anyone who would dare interrupt or
interfere with a young person's ability to obtain an education and lay
the foundation for a productive future for the purpose of sexual
exploitation.
In drafting this legislation, I am grateful for the contribution of
the No Trafficking Zone Initiative and all of those whose names I have
called, including those names not called, those victims silenced, or
lives lost or destroyed.
Mr. Speaker, I urge all my colleagues to support H.R. 7566. This is a
great day for helping to stop sex trafficking, human trafficking, where
our children should be most safe, and that is at our schools.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 7566, the bipartisan ``No Trafficking Zones Act,''
would ensure that schools across the country, including institutions of
higher education, are safe spaces for learning and academic
exploration--free from the menace of sex trafficking.
H.R. 7566 would establish a sentencing enhancement of up to five
years in several instances:
First, in the case of any person who commits the offense of sex
trafficking within a primary or secondary school zone, or on, or within
1,000 feet of the premises of a school-sponsored activity or premises
owned by an institution of higher education;
Second, for any person who commits the offense of coercion and
enticement of a minor enrolled in a primary or secondary school or a
person enrolled in an institution of higher education--to travel in
interstate or foreign commerce and engage in criminal sexual activity--
while the minor is in a school zone, or on, or within 1,000 feet of,
premises where a school-sponsored activity is taking place or while the
person is on, or within 1,000 feet of, premises owned by the
institution of higher education;
And, third, for any person who commits the offense of coercion and
enticement of a minor using the mail or facilities of interstate or
foreign commerce--such as text and instant messaging or social media
platforms--while the minor who is enrolled in school or an institution
of higher education, is in a school zone, or on, or within 1,000 feet
of, premises where a school-sponsored activity is taking place or
premises owned by an the institution of higher education.
Human trafficking is one of the greatest threats to human rights in
the United States. In 2020, 11,193 instances of potential human
trafficking were reported to the United States National Human
Trafficking Hotline with at least 70 percent of those instances
involving sex trafficking, while an estimated 25 percent of all human
trafficking victims in the country are in my home state of Texas at any
given time--many of whom are minors. That is why the Stop Human
Trafficking in School Zones Act that we are debating is so important to
pass.
At least 5,359 of trafficking victims and survivors identified
through the hotline in 2019 were under the age of 18, and in 2021, the
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received more than
17,200 reports of suspected child sex trafficking.
Many of these young victims of sex trafficking are students in school
systems, colleges, trade schools, and universities across the country.
A 2018 survey reported that in Texas--where No Trafficking Zone
legislation passed with bipartisan support earlier this year--55
percent of young sex trafficking survivors were trafficked while at
school or school activities and 60 percent of trafficked adults said
they were first groomed and solicited for trafficking while on school
campuses.
Members of this body know all too well that children are sexually
exploited in many ways. Some young people are trafficked by their
schoolmates or people they once considered friends.
And while traffickers seek out young people who have noticeable
vulnerabilities--including problems at school, conflicts at home, or
even the need to fill in a tuition gap caused by the loss of a
scholarship--no child or young person is truly safe from the schemes of
charismatic traffickers bent on exploiting and destroying young lives.

[[Page H7922]]

With the proliferation of social media and the myriad ways in which
we communicate with one another, traffickers have put these same means
of communication to their own use--to find, target, lure, groom,
victimize, and exert control over their victims. While buyers are using
technology to find and purchase sex anonymously.
Traffickers have infiltrated every known form of communication--
especially the sites, messaging apps, and social media platforms our
children use most frequently--leaving young people more vulnerable to
manipulation.
Access to the internet, cell phones, and smartphones makes it easier
for traffickers and buyers to communicate with children and youth--even
when they are at school, in class, or attending school-sponsored
activities.
As a result, trafficking has reached the halls, lunchrooms, gyms,
dormitories, and classrooms of schools, colleges, and universities in
every corner of this nation.
These staggering facts and statistics led me to introduce this
bipartisan legislation, the No Trafficking Zones Act, known as the Stop
Human Trafficking in School Zones Act, along with Chairman Nadler and
Representative McCaul, who I wish to thank for working with me, as well
as Representative Johnson of Louisiana for his amendment, that included
the protections for young people at institutions of higher education.
Each of us has a duty to protect young people--whether it be from
drugs, gun violence, or sex traffickers. Our children deserve to be
safe; and parents should know their children will be safe when they put
them on the school bus or move them into their new dorms.
To be sure, H.R. 7566, the No Trafficking Zones Act, provides
increased accountability for anyone who would dare interrupt or
interfere with a young person's ability to obtain an education and lay
the foundation for a productive future--for the purpose of sexual
exploitation.
In drafting this legislation, I am grateful for the contributions of
the No Trafficking Zone Initiative, Bishop James Dixon, Jacquelyn
Aluotto, and Courtney Litvak, who is also a member of the U.S. Advisory
Council on Human Trafficking and will participate in unveiling their
Annual Report later this week.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee) that the House suspend the
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 7566, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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