[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9587]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1645
                STOPPING THE SCOURGE OF SEX TRAFFICKING

  (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, 15-year-old Bianca struggled with 
insecurities and depression, so she turned to social media for comfort 
and companionship. She met a person named Ariel, to her later 
displeasure, but after he brought her to a seedy motel room and forced 
her to watch as he raped two other girls, she knew she had walked right 
into the bonds of sex slavery.
  Held captive, he put up advertisements about her on the notorious 
backpage.com, selling her to dozens of men a day. After 2 years of this 
hell, Bianca finally escaped, bolting from the motel room, and found 
safety, finding a police officer. Four days later, her trafficker was 
arrested and thrown behind bars.
  Unlike Bianca, many victims don't escape this trafficking. That is 
why Senator John Cornyn and I have introduced the Abolish Human 
Trafficking Act that increases funding for law enforcement to find and 
arrest traffickers like Ariel and helps restore and rescue victims.
  We must use every tool in our resources we can find to help stop the 
scourge of human trafficking.
  And that is just the way it is.

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