[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 408]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   HUMAN TRAFFICKING AWARENESS MONTH

  (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, recently the Harris County, Texas, 
Precinct 4 Constable's Office received a phone call from Alaska. The 
Anchorage Police Department was looking for a missing teenage girl. 
They knew that she had met some bad people on social media and believed 
she was in Houston. They were correct.
  Human sex traffickers targeted her on social media because slave 
traders are on the prowl for young, impressionable girls at the mall 
and online. They act like a friend or a boyfriend until they trap the 
victim. Then they enslave and force these young girls to sell their 
bodies over and over again. Mr. Speaker, our kids are sold at the 
marketplace of sex slavery.
  Why was this teenager trafficked from Alaska to Texas? Because of 
demand. People, sex deviants are willing to buy and force other humans 
into bondage. We cannot end human trafficking without ending demand.
  As we recognize Human Trafficking Awareness Month, Americans must 
fight for our kids and combat this modern-day slavery. That includes 
sending the sellers and the buyers of kidnapped young girls to prison 
and rescuing the victims.
  And that is just the way it is.

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