[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 6897-6904]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     1-YEAR ANNIVERSARY FOR JUSTICE FOR VICTIMS OF TRAFFICKING ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2015, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 
the remaining time until 10 p.m. as the designee of the Majority 
Leader.


                             General Leave

  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members be allowed 5 days to file remarks and revise and extend those 
remarks.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Texas?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, this Sunday, May 29, marks the 1-year 
anniversary for the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act being signed 
into law, or the JVTA, as we refer to it.
  This is a vital piece of legislation that the House and Senate passed 
and

[[Page 6898]]

that was signed by the President a year ago that takes this scourge of 
human slavery that is taking place internationally, but also here in 
the United States, and Congress weighs in on this to deal with this 
issue, I think, in a very good way.
  It is impressive to me as a Member of the House how many Members of 
Congress on both sides were involved in drafting legislation over a 
year ago that came to the House and passed. In the House itself, there 
were 11 pieces of legislation that dealt with sex trafficking. All of 
those bills came up to the House floor in the same week, and all of 
them passed with overwhelming numbers.
  They went down the hallway to the U.S. Senate. The Senate combined 
those bills into one bill, and it passed that legislation. It came back 
to the House, we passed that, and it was signed by the President. I 
want to thank all of those Members of Congress--Republicans and 
Democrats--who worked on this.
  Just by way of background, I got involved in this issue in several 
ways. One way was when I was in Eastern Europe several years ago and 
found out about the human trafficking, sex trafficking, and labor 
trafficking that was taking place in Eastern Europe and how young women 
were lured into thinking they were going to get a better job--or have a 
job--in Africa and the next thing they knew they were in sex slavery in 
northern Africa. Most of those women just disappeared over the years.
  Then, back here in the United States, we have the problem of the 
crime and the scourge of trafficking, and it happens in two areas. 
There is international sex trafficking into the United States. About 20 
percent of the trafficking here in America is international, primarily 
coming from the southern border.
  You see those drug traffickers, those drug dealers, who come across 
the southern border of Texas. They bring anybody into the United 
States, and they will do anything for money.
  They will bring young girls, young women, and traffic them into the 
United States and turn them over to the criminal gangs, like the MS-13 
gang, and then they are trafficked throughout the United States.
  That is about 20 percent of the trafficking. The other 80 percent is 
trafficking by domestic or young girls, young women. They are 
trafficked throughout the United States in the same crime--sex slavery, 
sex trafficking.
  I had an opportunity to meet a lot of these trafficking victims in my 
work as chairman and co-chairman with Jim Costa of the Crime Victims 
Caucus. I will tell you about three of those, and those three women 
helped get the minds straight of Members of Congress on this issue that 
is taking place.
  ``T,'' as her nickname is, was in foster care. She spent 18 years of 
her life in foster care. In foster care, she was abused, treated like 
an animal, hardly fed by some of the individuals who were in the foster 
care system. All she wanted was a family, someone to love and care for 
her.
  She met an older boy, and that individual made her feel special. He 
promised to love her and take care of her. But as soon as she left with 
him, she became a sex slave, and her innocence was crushed. She was 
sold around the country in massage parlors, strip clubs, in hotels, and 
on the Internet. She was treated like property for 7 years, Mr. 
Speaker.
  I mentioned that she was in foster care. We now understand that about 
two-thirds of the sex trafficking victims in the United States, at some 
time in their lives, were in foster care. That is an issue we have to 
deal with. Congress has to deal with that.
  Finally, ``T'' was rescued, and now she tells her story wherever she 
can. Even Time magazine featured her and her life and her story and her 
recovery.
  Brooke Axtell I met in Texas. Her mother was extremely ill when she 
was about 7 years of age. So the mother turned Brooke over to a nanny, 
but the nanny did not protect her. In fact, the nanny did just the 
opposite. The nanny sexually abused Brooke and then trafficked her.
  It is common with child trafficking victims, as with Brooke, to also 
be victims of child pornography. After Mom got out of the hospital, 
Brooke was slow to tell Mom what happened, but she finally did. In 
working with her mother, she was able to be rescued and get out of this 
scourge of sex trafficking. Now she works with Allies Against Slavery 
in Texas.
  The third person I want to mention very briefly is Cheryl Briggs. She 
grew up in an abusive home. She was sexually abused by her father. 
Things were so bad in the home that Mama left when Cheryl was very 
young to escape the abuse.
  At the age of 12, Cheryl didn't know what else to do except get away 
from her father. So she ran away. She began hitchhiking with truck 
drivers or with anybody who would take her. It led her to get involved 
with a motorcycle group, and she started a career, unfortunately, in 
sex trafficking hell.
  This individual took her to a biker club that was filled with men who 
sexually assaulted her. They raped her. She became a trafficked victim 
and was forced to do all kinds of just awful, horrible things. She was 
trapped in this scourge of human trafficking and didn't know how to get 
help.
  She was finally able to get help when a patron of the strip club 
figured out on his own that she was too young and helped her get 
rescued. Now Cheryl works to help those who are in this sex trafficking 
in the United States.
  Those are just three stories, Mr. Speaker. Let me tell you about one 
bill, and then I want other Members of Congress who are here at this 
late hour to make comments as well.
  Carolyn Maloney and I worked on the Justice for Victims of 
Trafficking Act. Now, you know Carolyn Maloney. She is a New York 
liberal Democrat who talks a little funny. She teamed up with me, a 
Texas conservative who talks a little funny, according to her.
  The two of us got together and started working on this with lots of 
Members of Congress. The Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act, thanks 
to the hard work of Mrs. Maloney and others--and especially of the 
women in the U.S. House of Representatives--passed the House. It does 
three things.

                              {time}  2115

  It does three things. It goes after the trafficker, the slave master, 
and makes sure that when prosecutors--Mr. Speaker, as you know about 
prosecutors--when they prosecute those cases, that person goes away to 
the penitentiary, the do right hotel, for as long as the judge can send 
them.
  It then goes to the other end and looks at the trafficking victim. 
For years, society looked at this victim as a criminal, a child 
prostitute. Children cannot be prostitutes. It is impossible, legally 
impossible. So rather than treat them like criminals and put them in 
the criminal justice system, it rescues those victims and treats them 
like victims of crime rather than criminals. This is a major change in 
society's thought and thought process about these children and young 
women.
  Also, Mr. Speaker, it goes after the money, the consumer, the buyer 
in the middle. Too long, these buyers of trafficking victims who pay 
money to do these awful things to children have kind of skated under 
the criminal justice system. Not anymore. Those days are over. The days 
of boys being boys are over, and these buyers can be prosecuted to the 
same extent of the law as the trafficker.
  So the bill does three things: it goes after the trafficker; it goes 
after the demand, the money; and it rescues the victims.
  How do we pay for this? It is kind of a novel approach. Federal 
judges now can impose fines and fees on the trafficker and the buyer 
because a lot of them have a lot of money. And that money goes into a 
fund, and that fund is used and given as grants to different 
organizations, nonprofits throughout the country in States to help 
trafficking victims and also to educate police and educate the public.
  So it is a good piece of legislation. That was just one of several 
pieces of legislation that came to the House floor.
  As I mentioned, this was a bipartisan effort. Mrs. Joyce Beatty of 
Ohio is

[[Page 6899]]

here. She filed legislation called Improve the Response to Victims of 
Child Sex Trafficking. All of that legislation was included in the 
Senate bill and came back to the House and then passed. What it does is 
decriminalize child sex and makes it easier for people to report 
potential incidences of crimes against children.
  I yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Beatty), a great advocate 
on behalf of crime victims and trafficking victims.
  Mrs. BEATTY. Mr. Speaker, I thank Judge Poe, chairman of the Victims' 
Rights Caucus and Representative of Texas' Second Congressional 
District, for organizing this evening's important Special Order hour 
and for all of his hard work on behalf of the victims of human 
trafficking.
  I am also very pleased to have the opportunity to partner with my 
good friend, Congresswoman Ann Wagner of Missouri, who is my classmate 
and a friend. We share the same priority of eradicating human 
trafficking.
  It is kind of odd, as Judge Poe talked about his relationship with 
Carolyn Maloney. They are two people who seem, on paper, very 
different. One might say the same about Ann Wagner and me. But, Mr. 
Speaker, there is that common thread that puts us together to not only 
advocate and fight for something that we need to fight for, but we have 
been able to make a difference.
  That is why I come to the House floor this evening to recognize and 
celebrate a very important anniversary: the 1-year anniversary of 
bipartisan, comprehensive legislation, Justice for Victims of 
Trafficking Act, that was signed into law.
  The Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act, or JVTA, was a landmark 
bill, as you have heard, that updated America's effort to combat the 
scourge of human trafficking and provided essential resources to 
survivors and law enforcement officials. I am so proud to have had my 
bill be included in this legislation and to have been able to take part 
in its drafting, passage, and enactment.
  Mr. Speaker, in the year since JVTA's enactment, we have witnessed 
important achievements. For example, the JVTA has reinvigorated 
Americans' commitment to protecting our children from cruel 
exploitation. And, Mr. Speaker, these children still need our 
protection.
  Human trafficking, as we have heard, is an estimated multibillion-
dollar-a-year international enterprise that forces the most at risk 
among us, both here at home and abroad, into modern-day slavery. It is 
one of the fastest growing crimes in the world.
  According to the United States State Department, human trafficking is 
among the world's top three criminal enterprises. It is forced 
prostitution, domestic slavery, and forced labor, which is why 
enactment and, now, the implementation of the JVTA is so important. We 
must continue to work to eradicate human trafficking and support the 
victims.
  In the year since the JVTA's enactment, we have seen educators, law 
enforcement officials, and service providers working together, 
Democrats and Republicans, Mr. Speaker, raising awareness in our 
communities that human trafficking is not merely an international 
phenomenon. It, unfortunately, happens all too often in our backyards, 
just as we have heard Judge Poe talk about ``T'' and talk about Brooke. 
And the stories could go on and on.
  In fact, in my home State of Ohio, for example, each year, an 
estimated 1,000 children become victims of human trafficking, and over 
3,000 more are at risk. Ohio is the fifth leading State for human 
trafficking because of its proximity to waterways that lead to an 
international border and the I-75 interstate that allows anyone to exit 
the State, within 2 hours, to almost anywhere.
  Lastly, I am very thankful for having amazing advocates in Ohio for 
victims of human trafficking, like Theresa Flores, the founder of SOAP, 
Save Our Adolescents from Prostitution, and State Representative Teresa 
Fedor, a member of the Ohio House of Representatives, who has made a 
lifetime commitment to working to protect our victims.
  We must remain vigilant in the implementation of JVTA, as we were 
when we passed it, so every child, every woman and man is free from 
this form of modern-day slavery, which is why I am proud to have joined 
Judge Poe and Congresswomen Wagner and Maloney of New York in leading a 
letter to United States Attorney General Loretta Lynch supporting the 
Department of Justice's implementation thus far of the JVTA and 
requesting needed information on what more can be done within the 
confines of the current law.
  Mr. Speaker, this is what happens when we work together. This is a 
great example of what we can do when Democrats and Republicans come 
together to change lives.
  And that is just the way it is.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Ohio. I 
like your tag line. I might use it myself.
  You point out several good things, and I think everybody listening 
can understand why legislation like this got passed because of your 
passion and--I will say it again--because of the women in the U.S. 
House that pushed this last year and were relentless until all this 
legislation came up.
  You point out many good things. There are two things, though, that I 
want to point out myself that you mentioned. One is about the money.
  People may ask, Mr. Speaker, why is there so much money involved in 
this? Well, drug dealers, when they sell drugs, you sell drugs one 
time. The cost of apprehension, the consequences, are great, and the 
chances of getting caught are great.
  On the other end, you have sex trafficking. Unfortunately, these 
children are sold multiple times a day--sometimes 20, 25 times a day. 
The risk of getting caught is very low, and the punishment, up until 
now, has been very low. So that is why it is the second or third 
biggest monetary system of criminal enterprises anywhere.
  That, Mr. Speaker, in itself is a disgrace to us as a people to allow 
this to happen, where slavery is the second or third money maker for 
the criminal gangs who primarily run all of these enterprises.
  I yield to another gentleman from Texas (Mr. Weber). He has been in 
the antitrafficking movement a long time. He worked in the Texas 
Legislature and helped Texas get ahead of the curve on the movement 
before we actually did here in the House.
  I yield to the gentleman from southeast Texas (Mr. Weber).
  Mr. WEBER of Texas. Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to be here and to 
work in a bipartisan fashion across the aisle for this very worthwhile 
cause.
  I will tell you, Judge Poe is exactly correct. In Texas, we like to 
say that things are bigger in Texas. But, unfortunately, Texas has one 
record that we really didn't want, and that is that we have 25 percent 
of the sex trafficking in the country. We are 1 of 50 States, and yet 
we have 25 percent of the victims of sex trafficking going on right 
there in Texas.
  We were able to pass Texas House Bill 4009, which did a number of 
things. It actually instructed the enforcement officials to take a look 
at some of these young girls that were picked up--and, I guess, for 
that matter, young men as well--and to not just assume that they were 
willfully participating in the sex trade, but to look deeper into the 
background there.
  Some of these girls we found out were actually held against their 
will, were drugged and beat into submission. Some, as young as 12, were 
dancing in some of these strip clubs and, like Judge Poe said, some of 
the patrons would take notice of that and would actually get them help.
  In Texas, we did identify that pretty early on, about 5 or 6 years 
ago now, and were able to pass legislation to get the HHSC to put law 
enforcement together, to get some training for these officers, to get 
these NGOs together to say, look, we need to get some programs for 
these young girls to rehabilitate them. How in the world do you ever 
get them back to normal life after something like this? We needed more 
facilities, more beds, more training. So

[[Page 6900]]

I am proud to say that, in Texas, we actually did take the lead on 
that.
  One of my favorites was in the town of Waco. You mentioned three 
things: going after the perpetrators; going after the demand, the 
money; and, of course, helping the victims. Well, the town of Waco had 
a way of dealing with the johns. What they did was, when someone was 
arrested in Waco, they would put that john's picture on a billboard in 
the city with the headline, ``Arrested for solicitation of 
prostitution.''
  Now, that will ruin your family life at home and in a little town 
like Waco. So we took some lessons from that to say, look, we are going 
after the demand, after the johns, to try to dry up that money stream
  Mr. Speaker, Judge Poe ought to be commended. It has been almost a 
year since the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act was signed into 
law. This comprehensive legislation tackled a number of issues to 
combat human trafficking. It took a stand against the seller, which we 
have been talking about, and the buyer by criminally pressing charges 
on both for the first time.
  It also provided smart solutions to help victims of trafficking get 
back on their feet, which is what I said from my days in the Texas 
Legislature. They needed a program. They needed people to understand. 
They needed counseling. Good Lord, how do those young girls ever get 
back to some semblance of normalcy after something like that?
  Thanks to the JVTA, States are now incentivized to draft and pass 
what we call safe harbor legislation, which helps victims of 
trafficking expunge their criminal records in an effort to start fresh 
without the ghosts of their past haunting them.
  Legislation like this also addresses the need for shelter, for more 
beds, for facilities for those NGOs, a place for rehabilitation.
  As you know, currently, 34 out of the 50 States have versions of safe 
harbor legislation, which is an increase of 14 States just since the 
passage of the act. Training on the identification of trafficking 
victims has also increased within the airline, the hotel, and even in 
the medical industries.

                              {time}  2130

  Mr. Speaker, victims of human trafficking are men, women, and 
children. This is not a victimless crime, I might add. We all have 
undoubtedly passed these victims in an airport, at a hotel, or maybe 
even at the fuel station. Until society at large stops sexualizing our 
children, we will be unable to prevent the predators' interest in our 
minors.
  We have made crucial steps, Mr. Speaker, toward combating human 
trafficking, as evidenced by the very success of the Justice for 
Victims of Trafficking Act we are talking about here tonight. Yet, we 
still have a long way to go to eradicate this scourge of human slavery. 
But we have a good start on it, and we are committed to seeing it 
through to the end and making a difference. Mr. Speaker, you know I am 
right.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for 
his several important comments that he made about facilities to take 
the victims once they are rescued by law enforcement or by nonprofit 
organizations.
  Mr. Speaker, there is no place to put them. Sometimes that is why the 
police arrest these young girls and put them in juvenile detention, is 
because there is no facility to take them. I am not blaming the police. 
They have no other place for them to go.
  There have been some studies done on how many beds are available for 
trafficking victims. The latest comes out of the State of Illinois. 
They did some research, and there are about 600 to 700 beds nationwide 
for trafficking victims--600 to 700 beds; that is it--in a country of 
350 million people.
  Compare that to animal shelters. I love animal shelters. I have got 
three Dalmatians. I call them the weapons of mass destruction. I got 
one of them from a Dalmatian rescue in Dallas. But there are 5,000 
animal shelters in the United States, and that is good. We need every 
one of them.
  Six hundred to seven hundred beds for trafficking victims is not near 
enough. That is one thing this legislation does. It provides resources 
so we can have places to take these crime victims, and that is what 
they are.
  They are victims of crime. They are not criminals. They are hard to 
deal with. They are not easy to help. They have had their whole lives 
destroyed in front of them. So it takes time, it takes facilities, and 
it takes resources.
  One other comment you made about the signs. Of course, I am a big fan 
of criminals carrying signs in front of businesses that they commit 
crimes in. I did that as a judge and some other things.
  You are exactly right. If we could add an amendment to this 
legislation--and I think we should--to give Federal judges the option 
to allow the posting in the county in which the crime was committed on 
a billboard or a sign of a photograph of the child molester who has 
been convicted of trafficking children, that would get the attention of 
some of those folks out there who are trying to hide their criminal 
conduct.
  And maybe those billboards ought to pop up right before some big 
sporting event that cities have as well. That is just a thought, Mr. 
Speaker. I think we ought to work on that.
  We also have with us another person who has worked on this whole 
issue of trafficking victims and justice for them. Mr. Yoho is one of 
our newer Members of Congress, Ted Yoho from the Third District of the 
State of Florida. I yield to the gentleman at this time.
  Mr. YOHO. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Texas. 
You wouldn't have hurt my feelings if you would have said one of the 
younger Members, but that wouldn't have been true.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in solidarity with the growing army that is 
fighting human trafficking worldwide. I rise to speak out against this 
heinous crime known as human trafficking, the scourge of our time in 
the 21st century, a $32 billion industry.
  The statistics are overwhelming, as we have heard all the estimates 
of over 22 million people being trafficked worldwide. Sometimes, 
though, they seem far away. It is estimated that the individuals in the 
adult entertainment are often victims of human trafficking, people in 
farm camps, people in domestic servitude. There are people being 
trafficked for human body parts. It goes on every day.
  People often say, ``That kind of stuff happens overseas'' or, ``That 
doesn't happen here.'' There is an acronym called NIMBY, not in my 
backyard. People don't think this happens. No, it happens in our own 
backyards. It happens here at home. It happens in your State, in your 
county, and more than likely it happens in your town.
  Human trafficking happens as we speak. Human trafficking knows no 
skin color, no gender, no socioeconomic background. It only knows how 
to exploit, abuse, and victimize.
  Who is guilty of this? Well, nation-states are guilty of this, 
criminal gangs, drug cartels, people needing labor, and terrorist 
organizations. People are doing this for greed, profit, and power. They 
are the scum of humanity, the people who are involved in this.
  ISIS, as we all know today, traffics people for terrorist reasons. 
They sell children from 1 to 9 years of age. Children 1 to 9 years of 
age bring the most for ISIS, $168. Young women between 9 and 18 have 
dropped in value. They are worth $128. ISIS even gives away slaves for 
rewards of deeds that we deem are bad deeds.
  The alarming estimate of more than 1 million teenagers run away every 
year in the United States. Runaways are the most at-risk youth and 
susceptible of trafficking. Runaways are the most at risk when they 
leave. In fact, runaways are typically picked up by the pimps or 
traffickers within the first 48 hours.
  Who does this sort of thing? Well, the perpetrators aren't of a 
certain stereotype. They are of all backgrounds. I don't want to name 
any backgrounds, but they are people of low, no, and high profiles.

[[Page 6901]]

  This year in my hometown of Gainesville a trafficking ring was 
discovered and six people were arrested.
  Last week a person of high profile, one of the leaders of the Black 
Lives Matter movement, was arrested for sexually trafficking a minor in 
New York.
  Just last year a 15-year-old girl was discovered by police in a motel 
room being sexually abused and trafficked several times a day. When I 
say several times a day, we are talking 15 to 20 times a day their body 
is being sold, like an amusement ride.
  Her parents had been handing out missing child flyers in the 
neighborhood when somebody recognized her picture from an online ad. 
That young girl went from being a runaway to a trafficking victim in 
less than a month. That 15-year-old girl could be the son or daughter 
of you, your friends. It could be your niece or nephew, your brother or 
sister.
  However, it is not just runaways that become victims of trafficking. 
Traffickers don't discriminate based on economic class, race, gender, 
or age. Traffickers are motivated by profit. The average cost of a 
slave worldwide--worldwide--is less than $90. That is the value the 
scum of the earth puts on the value of a human's life.
  As the world's fastest growing and third largest criminal enterprise, 
it is shocking how little people know about this horrendous practice. 
Further, it is appalling how little is put toward the effort to stop 
it.
  In my district, we have created the North Central Florida Human 
Trafficking Task Force, which is aimed at bringing together community 
partners from the Federal, State, and local levels to combat 
trafficking.
  For many, education awareness is half the battle. We teamed up with 
the Department of Homeland Security and used their Blue Campaign to 
raise awareness. This week here on Capitol Hill we celebrate the 1-year 
anniversary of the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act sponsored by 
Judge Ted Poe of Texas, and I am a proud cosponsor of this important 
legislation. I thank my colleagues for their support of this bill as 
well.
  This issue, the issue of human trafficking, is not a Republican or 
Democratic issue. Back in January, several of us took to this very 
House floor to speak of the horrors of this crime.
  But taking a stand on one particular day or highlighting the issue 
once a month doesn't even begin to cover what the victims experience on 
a daily basis or the horrors and nightmares they have for a lifetime.
  We must always, always be vigilant and active in our fight. If we 
become aware and educate just one other person to know what the signs 
are, we can help end this horrific tragedy.
  Mr. Speaker, no neighborhood is immune. No city is exempt. These 
slaves, or victims, are a part of our daily lives quietly suffering, 
but being traded like livestock and treated beyond comprehension.
  We cannot in good conscience continue our daily routines without 
making every effort to stamp out the practice of forced labor, domestic 
servitude, sex trafficking, or the selling of body parts. Whether you 
are a college student, businessowner, or stay-at-home parent, we all 
play a role.
  First, I ask my colleagues to stand with me as we take another step 
in taking down trafficking. Thank you to all those both here at home 
and abroad who are fighting every day to make this modern-day slavery a 
thing of the past. All it takes for evil to succeed is for good men, 
women, or people to do nothing.
  Finally, thank you to my colleague, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Poe), for hosting this Special Order.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida. I 
appreciate his comments. He made several excellent points, the NIMBY 
attitude that some people have, not in my backyard.
  I met with a father last week. He came to my office and told me the 
story of how his daughter had been trafficked. He went to the local 
sheriff in another part of the State and told the sheriff what had 
happened. The sheriff said: It doesn't happen here.
  It does. It happens everywhere. It is in our backyard. It is 
everywhere. We need to recognize that. The gentleman worked on his own, 
then, to find his daughter and take her back home.
  The gentleman from Florida (Mr. Yoho) makes another good comment 
about how these young kids are prey. A trafficked child, like the one I 
just mentioned, they had been working on her for 18 months, seducing 
her, talking to her, using the Internet. She thought these people were 
her friends. They were not her friends. They were all involved in the 
trafficking process.
  We need to understand that traffickers are not old guys in trench 
coats wandering around and snatching kids. They are not. Many times 
they are young people, young, good-looking guys who will strike up a 
conversation with a middle schooler at the mall and then talk to them 
again later and then later and then, finally, that individual gets in 
the vehicle or meets the individual, the trafficker, someplace, and 
then she is gone.
  This father that I talked to knew the statistics, that, if you have a 
child that is trafficked, you have about 3 weeks to find her or she is 
gone because those traffickers move those kids all over the country, 
selling them every day. It is in our backyard, unfortunately.
  I yield to another Texan, the gentlewoman from Houston, Texas, Ms. 
Sheila Jackson Lee, who has worked on this issue of trafficking here 
and also back home in our hometown of Houston.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, let me thank the gentleman from Texas 
for his persistence, his determination, and for this exciting 
commemoration of the Justice for All Reauthorization Act of 2016.
  Let me thank the Congressional Victims' Rights Caucus and co-chair 
Jim Costa, along with Congressman Poe, Judge Poe, who famously has 
said, ``And that is just the way it is,'' and I see all of us seemingly 
adopting those words. So he has now put the English language in a form 
that we just can't help ourselves. So I thank Judge Poe so very much.
  I remember his beginning. I want to thank him for a year or 2 ago 
when he joined me and Chairman McCaul for a Committee on Homeland 
Security human trafficking hearing in Houston, Texas.
  I believe we have had other hearings since then because we know that 
Houston, Texas, Harris County, and in Texas has been called one of the 
center points of human trafficking, to our dismay. Many stories have 
come to our attention.
  I think it was about 2 years ago, Judge Poe, when they found a stash 
house out in the county. I actually went to that site where teams of--
when I say teams, tens upon tens of individuals, including children, 
were in that particular place. We had to shut down a cantina in and 
around the inner city that had been used for human trafficking in the 
city of Houston.

                              {time}  2145

  The one point that is very important that I will make--and I will 
comment on some other aspects that are in this bill--is that human 
trafficking is profitable. Human trafficking is profitable. That means 
that slavery is not dead. Human trafficking is profitable.
  The reason is, tragically, the young child, the young teenager, the 
preteen, the young woman, or the young man or boy is recycled, 
tragically, over and over again, which makes human trafficking more 
than profitable and vicious and vile. They have to keep that human 
being who needs to be free and enjoy the freedom of being a child and 
enjoy the various special things of being a child, like being loved and 
nurtured, going to picnics, going to school, they have to keep that 
young woman, that young man in bondage.
  That is what this bill, as spoken of previously, and certainly among 
other things, speaks to today. In the many bills that were incorporated 
in this bill, it was to eliminate, if you will, the pain and 
viciousness of human trafficking.
  Let me quickly say that I want to congratulate the fact that this 
bill reduces the rape kit backlog and provides resources for forensic 
labs in cities all

[[Page 6902]]

over America. As a member of the Judiciary Committee, we were hearing 
the stories about backlogs of rape kits. So this bill requires at least 
75 percent of amounts made available to the DOJ for forensic testing 
and to be used for direct testing of crime scene evidence, including 
rape kits.
  It improves the sexual assault nurse examiner program by 
incentivizing the hiring of full-time nurses, particularly in rural and 
underserved areas, and reauthorizes and improves the Paul Coverdell 
Forensic Science Improvement Grants, which awards grants to States and 
local governments to improve the quality of forensic science services, 
which is so very important.
  I also say that I acknowledge that numerous studies have shown that 
at least 75 percent of youths involved in the justice system have 
experienced traumatic victimization, making them vulnerable to mental 
health disorders and perceived behavioral and noncompliance and 
misconduct.
  This legislation deals with best-evidence research to be able to help 
our youth as well, and to ensure that they get the kind of treatment 
they need, particularly after sexual assault, which is what human 
trafficking mostly is, besides the heinousness of being held by another 
human being.
  So I am very glad that we are moving forward on the reauthorization 
for Justice for All for 2016. So many things have been made better.
  I want to cite one example as I close. I am reminded of this because 
of the floods that we dealt with recently. There were incidences of 
women living in places where their name was not on the lease. So, for 
example, if a man gets evicted for abusing his live-in girlfriend, the 
girlfriend who is not a named tenant on the lease, but is a resident, 
would automatically be evicted. That is so very important. Many times, 
that girlfriend is living there with her children. She would be 
permitted to stay for a reasonable time to establish her own 
eligibility to remain in the public housing unit.
  Let me say this: this is not a one-size-fits-all, but it is not one 
community. It is not any race of people, it is not any economic level 
of people. It is people who are egregiously abusing and violating 
another human being. In many instances, Judge Poe, it is a child.
  So I want to thank you for this legislation. Let us continue to walk 
this pathway together in a bipartisan manner. Certainly, as a very 
valued member of the Judiciary Committee, a lot of your work is part of 
that legislative agenda, and I am very glad to join in. A lot of your 
work is also on the Foreign Affairs Committee.
  Let us work together to save lives and to protect our children.
  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleagues of the Congressional 
Victims' Rights Caucus, Congressman Ted Poe (R-TX) and Congressman Jim 
Costa (D-CA) who are anchoring this Special Order in support of the 
Justice for All Reauthorization Act of 2016.
  The Justice for All Act, which I co-sponsored in 2004, enhanced 
protections for victims of Federal crimes, provided resources to 
improve the use of DNA and forensic technology to combat crimes, and 
established safeguards to prevent and reverse wrongful convictions.
  This legislation reauthorizes and improves many of the programs 
created by the original law and responsibly reduces overall funding in 
response to current economic conditions.
  The bipartisan Justice for All Act of 2004 increased resources 
devoted to DNA and other forensic technology, established safeguards to 
prevent wrongful convictions, and enhanced protections for crime 
victims.
  This legislation builds on the Justice for All Act to improve the 
criminal justice system and ensure public confidence in it.
  The Justice for All Act of 2016 increases access to restitution for 
crime victims and requires that interpreters be available to all 
federal crime victims who wish to participate in a court proceeding.
  Reauthorizing important programs used to notify crime victims of 
their right to be heard in court, this legislation provides them with 
legal assistance.
  Additionally, the bill improves housing rights for domestic violence 
victims and protects Violence Against Women Act (VA-WA) funding from 
federal penalties.
  The bill makes payment of restitution a mandatory condition of 
supervised release for any defendant convicted of a Federal felony or 
misdemeanor and ordered to pay restitution.
  The bill will also amend the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure to 
give the court authority to appoint an interpreter for any victim 
present during proceedings.
  Importantly, this legislation supports programs that inform crime 
victims of their rights and helps ensure that those rights are enforced 
by reauthorizing the Crime Victims Legal Assistance Grants and Crime 
Victims Notification Grants.
  Reducing current Rape Kit Backlog, the Justice for All Act requires 
that at least 75% of amounts made available to the Attorney General for 
local, state, and Federal forensic activities must be used for direct 
testing activities described in the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant 
Program.
  Requiring law enforcement agencies to conduct audits of their 
backlogged rape kits, this law also creates tracking mechanisms, and 
prioritizes testing in cases in which the statute of limitations will 
soon expire.
  The Act also amends the Sexual Assault Forensic Exam Program Grants 
to give preference to entities which will: operate or expand forensic 
nurse examiner programs in rural areas or for underserved populations, 
hire full-time forensic nurse examiners, or support training programs 
for forensic nurse examiners.
  Critically, the Act provides community health centers, colleges and 
hospitals with information about resources available to address 
domestic violence, sexual assault, and elder abuse.
  Clarifying requirements for housing protections in the Violence 
Against Women Act, the act will extend protection against automatic 
eviction to any ``resident'' in a public housing unit--who is not a 
tenant listed on the lease--in situations where the named tenant is 
evicted.
  For example, if a man gets evicted for abusing his live-in 
girlfriend, the girlfriend, who is not a named tenant on the lease but 
is a resident, would not automatically be evicted. She would be 
permitted to stay for a reasonable time to establish her own 
eligibility to remain in the public housing unit.
  The Justice for All Reauthorization Act of 2016 strengthens the 
Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA).
  PREA currently requires that all states to comply with its 
requirements or suffer a 5% reduction in DOJ funds they would receive 
for ``prison purposes.''
  States can still receive the funds however, even if they are not in 
compliance, if the Governor submits an ``assurance'' that the state 
will reallocate 5% of those funds to PREA implementation.
  To ensure compliance, states are required to have all of their 
prisons audited for at least once every three years.
  The bill requires Governors to submit with their annual certification 
or assurance information about the state's PREA implementation efforts, 
including which correctional facilities were audited in the most recent 
audit year, a proposed schedule for completing an audit of all prison 
during the next three audit years, and all final audit reports.
  Numerous studies have also shown that at least 75% of youth involved 
in the justice system have experienced traumatic victimization, making 
them vulnerable to mental health disorders and perceived behavioral 
non-compliance and misconduct.
  Over the years, clear evidence has emerged from federal 
investigations, class-action lawsuits or authoritative reports written 
by reputable media outlets or respected public or private agencies 
showing that youth corrections facility across the country have 
repeatedly failed to protect youth from violence by staff or other 
youth, sexual assaults and/or excessive use of isolation or restraints. 
(Annie E. Casey Foundation--Maltreatment Report, 2015).
  Despite costly law suits and periods of federal supervision, inhumane 
conditions of youth confinement remains rampant and a national 
epidemic.
  Despite national outcry for compliance with PREA, Many states have 
failed to implement and enforce its standards for youth in correctional 
and detention facilities.
  Current law provides that states not conforming to required protocols 
will lose 5% of all funds they receive from the U.S. DOJ grant 
programs.
  However, financial penalties will not begin until 2017, and expected 
that DOJ will extend deadline and/or disperse funds to non-compliant 
states (provided they use the money toward implementing PREA 
requirements). (AECF Report).
  Further, the bill requires the Attorney General to post all final 
audit reports on its website and to update the site at least annually.
  Expanding the reach of these valiant efforts, the Justice for All 
Reauthorization Act of 2016

[[Page 6903]]

clarifies that grants authorized for victim assistance may be used to 
support nonprofit entities which assist victims of crime on a 
nationwide basis or Americans abroad who are victims of crimes 
committed outside of the United States.
  Truly, improving the administration of criminal justice programs, the 
bill increases accountability for federal funds spent by state and 
local governments by requiring that states receiving funds under the 
Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program develop a 
strategic plan detailing how the funds will be spent.
  The bill directs the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) to 
promulgate best practices for evidence retention within eighteen months 
of enactment and requires NIJ to assist state, local, and tribal 
governments wishing to adopt those best practices.
  Because this bill has tremendous potential to improve victims' access 
to justice, support law enforcement, exonerate the innocent, and 
strengthen and improve the criminal justice system, we urge the 
committee to bring this bill up for timely consideration and passage.
  As a member of the Congressional Victims' Rights Caucus, I thank my 
colleagues Congressman Ted Poe (R-TX) and Congressman Jim Costa (D-CA) 
for hosting this Special Order in support of the Justice for All 
Reauthorization Act of 2016.
  It is an invaluable and much needed effort.
  Mr. POE of Texas. I thank the gentlewoman for her comments. As the 
gentlewoman knows and has been mentioned on the House floor, I think, 
by Mr. Weber, Houston, Texas, is a hub for child sex trafficking in the 
United States, and it is because of our location. We are using that, 
though, to change the dynamics of the city, working with our new mayor, 
Sylvester Turner, who was in the State legislature for a long time.
  Our new mayor has now come up with a protocol for the city of Houston 
to work to eliminate this scourge. I think it is a protocol that cities 
throughout the country will be able to use themselves to address the 
issue, admit the problem, and then deal with it on a multilayer basis, 
working with all the nonprofits and all the government agencies and 
different types of law enforcement.
  So I know that the gentlewoman is working with the mayor on this 
project. I want to congratulate you and the mayor for taking this issue 
and solving it so that Houston now will be an example of what to do in 
solving this scourge.
  I also thank you for being on the Victims' Rights Caucus. As you 
mentioned, it is bipartisan. Jim Costa and I started this in 2005. 
There are 80 members: 40 Republicans, 40 Democrats.
  Mr. Speaker, the Victims' Rights Caucus promotes victims of crime 
before Congress.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. I express my appreciation for being a member of the 
Victims' Right Caucus because it is bipartisan. I should say it is 
multicommunities. All different people.
  Let me thank the gentleman for mentioning Mayor Turner. This is an 
exciting effort. If you don't take notice, you are not going to be able 
to solve the problem. And that is what the city is doing. It is taking 
notice and putting in infrastructure for being helpful.
  Let me close by simply saying that, as Judge Poe knows, in the last 
couple of days of Houston we have been mourning the killing of an 11-
year-old child on his way home from school. We have not determined who 
it is, but all I can say to you is that even our children are 
vulnerable, whether by a heinous individual that maybe was trying to 
pick the child up--we don't know--but the child is now deceased. My 
sympathies to his family, the Flores family in my congressional 
district. All I can say is that it is our responsibility to protect 
these children and not for little Josue to have died in vain in the 
tragic way that he lost his life.
  Again, I thank the gentleman for allowing me to offer sympathy to his 
family and his community and say that we are doing the right thing by 
trying to protect those who are most vulnerable.
  Mr. POE of Texas. The gentlewoman is exactly correct. That is really 
what we are supposed to be doing, is helping those that are the least 
fortunate, the most vulnerable in our community. And there is no more 
vulnerable people than our children.
  Mr. Speaker, I also want to recognize numerous Members of Congress 
who have worked on all this legislation. Before I do that, though, I 
want to recognize a person on my staff, Blair Bjellos, who is leaving 
the Hill and going to work for one of these groups that is trying to 
save the world, which is great. They are.
  Blair has worked for me for almost 6 years. She is my victim 
advocate. I think I am the only Member of Congress that has a victim 
advocate who works on victims' issues. She was, in large part, 
responsible for drafting this legislation, Justice for Victims of 
Trafficking Act. I want to thank her publicly for the work she has done 
on the victims' movement, working on the Victims' Rights Caucus, this 
legislation, and for other victims' issues as well. I am fortunate to 
have a person who is so passionate working to help those who are most 
vulnerable in our community, and that is victims of crime. So I want to 
thank her for doing that.
  I want to mention some other Members of Congress and just put in the 
Record some of the things they have been doing. It is not all of them, 
but in limited time, I am going to mention the ones I can.
  Two Members, bipartisan--one Republican, one Democrat--Renee Ellmers 
and Debbie Wasserman Schultz--introduced the Trafficking Awareness 
Training for Health Care Act.
  Remember, Mr. Speaker, all these bills were combined, passed the 
House, go to the Senate, and Senator Cornyn and Senator Wyden combined 
them into one bill, it came back to House after it passed the Senate, 
and was signed by the President.
  Also, Erik Paulsen, a Republican, and Representative Gwen Moore, a 
Democrat, introduced the Stop Exploitation Through Trafficking Act.
  Joe Heck of Nevada, who was going to be here tonight to speak, 
introduced Enhancing Services for Runaway and Homeless Victims of Youth 
Trafficking Act.
  Ann Wagner, as has been mentioned already, introduced the SAVE Act; 
Mark Walker, Human Trafficking Detection Act; Kristi Noem, Human 
Trafficking Prevention, Intervention, and Recovery Act; Tom Marino and 
Karen Bass--one Republican, one Democrat--Strengthening Child Welfare 
Response for Human Trafficking; Joyce Beatty, who has spoken here 
tonight, also worked with Ann Wagner and also introduced Improve the 
Response to Victims of Child Sex Trafficking Act; and Sean Maloney 
introduced the Human Trafficking Prevention Act.
  There were lots of individuals, lots of folks who helped in the 
House. Then we had support from over 200 organizations throughout the 
country, trying to get this legislation passed. Some of those are 
Rights4Girls, Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, Shared Hope 
International, End Child Prostitution and Trafficking in the USA, 
National Children's Alliance, National Association to Protect Children, 
Equality Now, National Conference of State Legislatures, and the 
National Criminal Justice Association were all on the same page of the 
hymnal singing the same song, Mr. Speaker, and that song is that we are 
going to do everything we can to stop this scourge of human 
trafficking.
  We want those folks to know that trafficked young children have no 
place to hide and that those customers that buy those kids have no 
place to hide. There is no safe place for them. And we want victims to 
know there is a safe place and that we will help them to recover from 
what has happened to them and hold people accountable for what they do, 
especially when they commit crimes against the most vulnerable people 
in our culture.
  And if we are not to help kids, why are we here, Mr. Speaker?
  I want to thank Members of Congress for passing this legislation 
overwhelmingly. Many of these bills passed the House unanimously. That 
doesn't happen a lot over here.
  We are all working on this. We are not through. But we want people to

[[Page 6904]]

know--victims of crime--that there is hope and there is rescue.
  And that is just the way it is.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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