[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40, Number 29 (Monday, July 19, 2004)]
[Pages 1309-1312]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the National Training Conference on Human Trafficking in 
Tampa, Florida

July 16, 2004

    Thanks for the warm welcome. Thanks a lot, John, for your service 
and your kind introduction.
    It's always good to be with Jeb. [Laughter] He's a great brother and 
a fine Governor. And I know my daughter Barbara, who is traveling with 
me today, is proud of her Uncle Jeb. Thanks for coming, Barbara. We're 
glad you're here.
    I appreciate you inviting me to this important conference. Human 
trafficking is one of the worst offenses against human dignity. Our 
Nation is determined--determined--to fight that crime abroad and at 
home. And that's what we're here to talk about today. I am especially 
pleased that Jeb has today signed into law a bill making the sexual 
trafficking of minors a felony in the State of Florida. I appreciate his 
leadership.
    I want to thank Claude Allen, the Deputy Secretary of the Department 
of Health and Human Services, for joining us today. Hey, Claude. Thank 
you for coming. Paula Dobriansky, who is the Under Secretary of the 
Department of State--thank you, Paula, for your dedicated service. Asa 
Hutchinson is the Under Secretary of the Department of Homeland 
Security--thanks.
    In order to make sure the Federal laws we're going to discuss are 
enforced, you've got to have good, strong U.S. attorneys around the 
United States. Paul Perez is a strong U.S. attorney here in Tampa. Paul, 
thank you for being here. I appreciate your coming.
    I want to thank all the State and local folks who are here, the 
local officials and the local law enforcement officials. I appreciate 
the faith-based and community organizations who are here. Thanks for 
your compassion and your love.
    I met Lan Pham today when I got to the airport. Where are you, Lan? 
Oh, there she is. You'd have thought you'd have got a better seat than 
that. But there she is. [Laughter]
    The reason why Lan came out to greet me at Air Force One is she 
volunteers 5 days a week at Catholic Charities. She is a soldier in the 
Army of Compassion. She is a reminder that the greatest strength of this 
country is the heart and souls of our fellow citizens, people who are 
willing to help people who hurt. Lan is such an example. She is involved 
with the rescuing of innocent victims that have been brought here and 
have been harmed. You know, the great strength of America is the fact 
that we've got millions of our fellow citizens who heed a call to love 
their neighbor just like they'd like to be loved themselves--on an 
hourly basis--and Lan is such a person.
    I am honored to be with the courageous men and women who are serving 
on the frontlines in the fight against human trafficking. You've got a 
tough job, but it's a necessary job. You're hunting down the 
traffickers. You're serving justice by putting them behind bars. You're 
liberating captives, and you're helping them recover from years of abuse 
and trauma. The lives of tens of thousands of innocent women and 
children depend on your compassion. They depend upon your determination, 
and they depend upon your daily efforts to rescue them from misery and 
servitude. You are in a fight against evil, and the American people are 
grateful for your dedication and service.
    Human life is the gift of our Creator, and it should never be for 
sale. It takes a special kind of depravity to exploit and hurt the most 
vulnerable members of society. Human traffickers rob children of their 
innocence; they expose them to the worst of life before they have seen 
much of life. Traffickers tear families apart. They treat their victims 
as nothing more than goods and commodities for sale to the highest 
bidder.
    Worldwide, at least 600,000 to 800,000 human beings are trafficked 
across international borders each year. Of those, it is believed that 80 
percent are women and girls and that 70 percent of them were forced into

[[Page 1310]]

sexual servitude. The United Nations believes that the trafficking of 
human beings is now the third largest source of money for organized 
crime, after arms and drugs. We've got a problem; we need to do 
something about it.
    The American Government has a particular duty, because human 
trafficking is an affront to the defining promise of our country. People 
come to America hoping for a better life. It is a terrible tragedy when 
anyone comes here only to be forced into a sweatshop, domestic 
servitude, pornography, or prostitution. It is estimated that between 
14,500 and 17,500 victims of trafficking cross our borders every year. 
U.S. law enforcement has documented cases of Latvian girls trafficked 
into sexual slavery in Chicago; or Ukrainian girls trafficked in Los 
Angeles and Maryland; or Thai, Korean, Malaysian, and Vietnamese girls 
trafficked in Georgia; or Mexican girls trafficked in California, New 
Jersey, and here in Florida. Many of the victims are teenagers, some as 
young as 12 years old. Many victims are beaten. Some are killed. Others 
die spiritual and emotional deaths, convinced after years of abuse that 
their lives have no worth. This trade in human beings brings suffering 
to the innocent and shame to our country, and we will lead the fight 
against it.
    Last year, at the United Nations, I called on other governments to 
pass laws making such abuse a crime. And many have risen to the 
challenge. In the past year, 24 nations have enacted new laws to combat 
trade in human lives. Thirty two are now in the process of drafting or 
passing such laws. As a result of these efforts, this year nearly 8,000 
traffickers were prosecuted worldwide; 2,800 have been convicted.
    America is actively helping nations that are willing to engage in 
this fight. Since taking office, my administration has provided more 
than $295 million to support antitrafficking programs in more than 120 
countries. We're taking the lead. We are helping other governments to 
develop laws to combat abuse, to create special law enforcement units to 
investigate trafficking cases and to rescue victims. We're helping them 
build emergency shelters and develop long-term rehabilitation and 
vocational training programs.
    At the U.N. last year, I pledged $50 million to support these 
efforts in the year 2004. Today the Department of State has announced it 
has identified the final $25 million to meet that pledge, funds that 
will support antitrafficking programs in Brazil and Cambodia and India 
and Indonesia and Mexico, Moldova, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania. Every 
nation that fights human trafficking has a friend in the United States. 
And it's important for them to know that.
    America is also confronting nations that profit from or tolerate 
human trafficking. We are helping nations, and we are confronting 
nations. Those countries face potential sanctions that include the loss 
of U.S. military and economic assistance as well as the loss of support 
from the World Bank and the IMF. And this approach is yielding results.
    Last year, after the Department of State released the 2003 
Trafficking in Persons Report, 10 nations avoided sanctions by moving 
quickly to pass new antitrafficking legislation, to train police 
officers. They launched domestic information campaigns and established 
victim protection programs. This year, we have created a Special Watch 
List of 42 problem countries that require scrutiny. Every nation that is 
complicit in human trafficking can know that the United States 
Government is watching, and there will be consequences if they don't 
act.
    As we fight the trade in human beings abroad, we have also launched 
an unprecedented domestic effort to deal with this problem at home. Our 
approach combines aggressive law enforcement action--that means putting 
people in jail--with compassionate outreach to the victims. Over the 
past 3 years, we have more than doubled the number of new trafficking 
investigations underway. Last August, for example, a Federal District 
Court in New Jersey sentenced 2 women to 17\1/2\ years in prison, the 
maximum time allowable, for bringing 4 Mexican girls into the United 
States and forcing them into prostitution in Plainfield, New Jersey--
17\1/2\ years of hard time. The message to traffickers is becoming 
clear: If we catch you, you're going to spend time in jail.
    This year, the Department of Justice, under General Ashcroft's lead, 
successfully prosecuted the largest human trafficking case

[[Page 1311]]

in U.S. history, convicting the ringleader of a criminal gang that had 
smuggled more than 200 Vietnamese and Chinese nationals to work as slave 
laborers in a garment factory on American Samoa.
    Since 2001, we've charged 110 traffickers. That's triple the number 
charged in the previous 3 years. We're beginning to make good, 
substantial progress. The message is getting out: We're serious, and 
when we catch you, you'll find out we're serious. We're staying on the 
hunt.
    We're also taking unprecedented action to help the victims, and 
that's a really important part of the strategy. One of the ways 
traffickers keep women and girls enslaved is by telling them they will 
be arrested and deported if they try to run away. We're removing that 
tool of coercion by treating the victims of trafficking not as illegal 
aliens but as refugees. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act carried a 
special class of visas called T-Visas that allowed trafficking victims 
to remain in the United States and receive the same services and 
counseling that are provided to refugees.
    Often, these women have been terribly brutalized. And when they 
escape from their nightmare, they should find the protection and 
generous heart of America. So we're calling upon and rallying the armies 
of compassion in our society to help. Since taking office, this 
administration has provided $35 million in grants to 36 local groups 
that are helping those who have suffered at the hands of traffickers. 
We're using Federal monies to help spread compassion.
    Today, the Justice Department is awarding 4.5 million to 9 
organizations that are running shelters where victims can take refuge 
while they seek further help. This is a good and proper use of Federal 
taxpayers' money. Earlier this year, the Department of Health and Human 
Services helped Covenant House establish a nationwide, toll-free, 24-
hour hotline to report incidents of trafficking. Victims and those who 
know about their plight can call 1-888-373-7888. Spread the word. One 
speech alone is not going to get the number out. [Laughter]
    America will not tolerate slave traders who bring women and children 
into our country for abuse. We will not tolerate American citizens 
abusing innocent children abroad. Sex tourism is an estimated billion-
dollar-a-year business worldwide. No American should have any part of 
it. We're working with governments in Southeast Asia to crack down on 
pedophile sex tourism. And many nations in that region have made 
substantial progress.
    We also face a problem only 90 miles off our shores, where the 
regime of Fidel Castro has turned Cuba into a major destination for sex 
tourism. A recent study by the Protection Project at Johns Hopkins 
University found that Cuba has, quote, ``replaced Southeast Asia as a 
destination for pedophiles and sex tourists.'' As restrictions on travel 
to Cuba were eased during the 1990s, the study found an influx of 
American and Canadian tourists contributed to a sharp increase in child 
prostitution in Cuba.
    The regime in Havana, already one of the worst violators of human 
rights in the world, is adding to its crimes. The dictator welcomes sex 
tourism. Here's how he bragged about their industry: ``Cuba has the 
cleanest''--this is his quotes--``Cuba has the cleanest and most 
educated prostitutes in the world.'' He said that because sex tourism is 
a vital source of hard currency to keep his corrupt government afloat. 
My administration is working toward a comprehensive solution to this 
problem: The rapid, peaceful transition to democracy in Cuba. We have 
put a strategy in place to hasten the day when no Cuban child is 
exploited to finance a failed revolution and every Cuban citizen will 
live in freedom.
    We have taken action to stop American tourists from participating in 
the sexual abuse of children in Cuba or anywhere else in the world. In 
2003, I signed the Protect Act, which allows U.S. law enforcement to 
prosecute Americans who travel abroad and engage in sex with minors 
without having to prove prior intent. The Protect Act expands the 
statute of limitations to the life of the victim for crimes involving 
the abduction and physical or sexual abuse of children in virtually all 
cases. The Protect Act imposes strict new penalties, doubling the 
maximum sentence for U.S. citizens who travel to foreign countries to 
sexually abuse children. We've also launched information campaigns in 
foreign countries to inform American travelers

[[Page 1312]]

of penalties back home for sexually exploiting children abroad.
    See, stopping this abuse requires going after the criminal gangs who 
supply the sexual predators. But we cannot put them out of business 
until and unless we deal with the problem of demand. And so that's why 
we are going after the unscrupulous adults who prey on the young and the 
innocent. Last summer, the Department of Homeland Security launched 
Operation Predator, a comprehensive effort to protect children from 
international sex tourists and traffickers and pornography and 
prostitution rings. That's why Asa Hutchinson is here. This operation 
has resulted in more than 3,200 arrests nationwide.
    I appreciate the good work of all the men and women at every level 
of government who are working hard to protect women and children and 
bringing the predators to justice. I told you earlier, it takes hard 
work. I know it does. There's a lot of people working long hours to 
enforce the law and therefore make our society a more compassionate 
place.
    All the steps I've outlined today are important, yet the success 
will depend on the courage of those individuals, people like Anna 
Rodriguez. Where are you, Anna? Yes, thanks for coming. She is a victim 
advocate. I think some of you might have met her earlier today. A few 
years ago, Anna was working for the Collier County Sheriffs Department 
when she was called to what appeared to be a routine domestic violence 
call. Upon arriving at the scene, she noticed a 19-year-old woman named 
Maria crying quietly in the corner of the apartment. After some coaxing, 
Maria told Anna Rodriguez her story.
    She had been kidnaped from her family in Guatemala. She had been 
smuggled into the United States. She was being kept as a slave. She was 
forced to work without pay in the tomato fields of central Florida and 
then raped at night.
    At first, Anna was told by her superiors there was nothing she could 
do for Maria except turn her case over to the INS. She didn't give up. 
Anna Rodriguez obviously has a huge heart. Thanks to her persistence, 
Maria was rescued and her captor is now in prison.
    See, Maria became the first adult recipient of the new T-Visa 
created under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. Because of good 
law passed, she remains in the U.S. and is working to rebuild her life 
with the continuing support of her friend Anna Rodriguez.
    I hope out of this conference comes a determination to stand behind 
the Anna Rodriguezes and the thousands of other dedicated police 
officers, prosecutors, social workers, local officials who stand on 
the--side by side with the victims of human trafficking every single 
day, who want to rescue them in the name of a compassionate America.
    We're working to make sure you have the support you need in 
Washington, DC--you've got a Governor who's supporting you here in 
Florida--because of the struggle against human trafficking is more than 
a fight against crime, see. This is more than a criminal justice matter. 
It's a struggle for the lives and dignity of innocent women and 
children. And that's why all of us must be dedicated to the strategies 
that will enable us to prevail.
    I want to thank you for giving me a chance to come by and talk about 
this important subject. Again, I thank you for your work of compassion 
and decency.
    God bless.

Note: The President spoke at 10:48 a.m. at the Tampa Marriott Waterside 
Hotel. In his remarks, he referred to Attorney General John Ashcroft, 
who introduced the President; Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida; and President 
Fidel Castro of Cuba.