[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 3464-3465]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     HUMAN TRAFFICKING LEGISLATION

  Ms. HEITKAMP. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to talk about 
what I believe may be one of the most critical pieces of legislation to 
address human trafficking in the United States, and that is the piece 
of legislation authored by Senator Leahy--the Runaway and Homeless 
Youth and Trafficking Prevention Act.
  I am proud to be a cosponsor of this legislation and to add my name 
to the amendment Senator Leahy submitted yesterday that adds this 
important piece of legislation to this current debate.
  Senator Leahy, as we all know, has been a tireless advocate for 
homeless and runaway youth and for LGBT individuals and for victims of 
human trafficking. His bill would provide the necessary services and 
additional protections for all of these young children. So

[[Page 3465]]

I thank Senator Leahy again for his continued work on behalf of some of 
our most vulnerable--our runaway and homeless youth.
  As a former attorney general, I certainly believe that additional 
tools need to be made available to prosecutors so they can prosecute 
traffickers and johns and that we need to intervene and provide 
recovery services for victims. I think that need has never been 
greater. But why I am speaking today on this legislation is because it 
goes to that critical element of prevention. It supports those who are 
most susceptible to human trafficking, and that is our runaway and 
homeless youth.
  Preventing one of the most vulnerable segments of our population from 
falling prey to this modern-day slavery should be one of the top 
priorities of this Nation. When we talk about trafficking, frequently 
people think these are young girls who may be coming into our country 
in containers or are trafficked from elsewhere. But we know that over 
80 percent of the people trafficked, especially in the sex trade in 
this country, are citizens of our country. They are our children. They 
are American children. So we cannot simply put a face on this that 
doesn't recognize that American children are being trafficked.
  Who among these children are the most vulnerable? It is runaway and 
homeless youth. So it is our responsibility to do everything we can to 
prevent those children from being in a place where they are 
extraordinarily vulnerable.
  We have heard some people say they do not believe that homeless and 
runaway youth are more susceptible to being trafficked and that we 
shouldn't single out special services for LGBT youth. I don't believe 
that, and I know better, because I have been to facilities that provide 
services for runaway and homeless youth. I don't believe people who say 
this have ever spoken to the social workers and the professionals who 
deal with these children every day.
  I don't believe people who say that understand that runaway and 
homeless youth, unfortunately, have been, more than likely, already 
sexually and physically abused or told every day they are worthless or 
told that because of who they are, they are no longer welcome in their 
home. And when you diminish the spirit of a child, you then create a 
vulnerability in that child to be a target for traffickers.
  A lot of people also think this is just a big-city problem. Well, let 
me tell you some of the stories of North Dakota. Just last June, a 13-
year-old runaway from Minneapolis was rescued and her traffickers were 
arrested in Fargo-Moorhead. Police believe the traffickers were more 
than likely on their way out to our oil patch with the victim, and they 
stopped over in Fargo-Moorhead to make a little cash by selling these 
children in the Fargo-Moorhead area. This is a story we hear over and 
over again--the vulnerability of children, the trafficking of children 
into the oil patch in western North Dakota.
  In fact, talking to the experts who track advertising of young 
children, whether it is in the deep or dark Net or whether it is in 
things such as backpage, they will tell you the spike in trafficking 
and ads in western North Dakota alarms them and should alarm us. So 
this is not a big-city problem. We know this is a problem that affects 
North Dakota. If traffickers are willing to snatch up a runaway in the 
Twin Cities and bring them out to North Dakota, you can be sure they 
are trying to prey on this vulnerable population in North Dakota as 
well.
  This is personal for me. I know a lot about this topic because my 
sister works in this area, and I have spent a lot of time with her 
staff. They are the largest agency in North Dakota serving runaway and 
homeless youth populations in Fargo-Moorhead. I have heard stories of 
how vulnerable these children are. I have heard them tell stories about 
how the trafficking victims, with whom they have already worked, are 
sometimes recruited by those bold enough to try to cycle through 
waiting rooms where they are waiting for these kids.
  I have heard the stories of guys waiting just down the block or in 
parking lots of shelters to snatch up these kids. Also I have heard 
stories of how once a young child is involved in this, they then become 
recruiters of other young runaway children.
  These stories are why it is so imperative to take action. And we can 
take action here in the Senate. We can take action by taking up the 
Runaway and Homeless Youth Trafficking Prevention Act. This bill 
reauthorizes vital programs that provide short-term shelter for youth 
who do not have a place to sleep--imagine that: youth, our children, do 
not have a place to sleep; crisis interventions and referrals to youth 
on the street and at drop-in centers--a hand up: we will take you and 
we will help you recover from whatever has happened in your life; long-
term residential services; training and education; and employment 
support to help get these kids off the street and permanently provide a 
safe and secure path forward.
  Importantly, this bill makes sure that LGTB runaway and homeless 
youth are not discriminated against when it comes to providing 
resources and services. We can have an opinion about this, but we all 
know that no human should be subjected to those kinds of conditions, 
and we must do everything we can to help them seek and receive the same 
services as any other child.
  By ensuring that runaway and homeless youth have a safe place to stay 
and the resources they need, we can stem the tide of human trafficking 
in our country. By identifying vulnerable youth early and as 
effectively as possible, we can reduce the number of child sex 
trafficking victims by preventing them from becoming victims in the 
first place.
  We can and we must do everything in our power to not only identify, 
prosecute, and help victims recover, we must do everything we can to 
prevent human trafficking. We can take a huge step forward on that by 
focusing attention and resources on our runaway and homeless youth 
population.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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