[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 1188]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           HUMAN TRAFFICKING

  (Mrs. MIMI WALTERS of California asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute.)
  Mrs. MIMI WALTERS of California. Mr. Speaker, although slavery was 
abolished 150 years ago, today, modern slavery still exists in the form 
of human trafficking.
  Human trafficking involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to 
control other people for the purpose of forced labor or sexual 
exploitation. According to the FBI, sex trafficking is the fastest-
growing business of organized crime in the world.
  Approximately 20.9 million victims of human trafficking exist in our 
world today, and hundreds of thousands of those victims are here in the 
United States.
  California is not excluded from this criminal activity. In fact, 
within my congressional district in Orange County, there have been over 
350 cases of human trafficking since 2004.
  Victims are lured and manipulated by false promises of lucrative 
jobs, a loving relationship, or new opportunities and are usually 
between the ages of 12 to 14 when they first become victims of sex 
trafficking.
  Mr. Speaker, if there is one thing we can all agree on, it is this: 
we must put an end to human trafficking and bring those responsible to 
justice.
  Through bipartisan efforts, we can work to stop human trafficking 
both in our communities at home and abroad.

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