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S. HRG. 112–938 

THE TRAFFICKING VICTIMS PROTECTION 

REAUTHORIZATION ACT: RENEWING THE 

COMMITMENT TO VICTIMS OF HUMAN 

TRAFFICKING 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

SEPTEMBER 14, 2011 

Serial No. J–112–41 

Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary 

( 
(II) 

COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY 

PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont, Chairman 

HERB KOHL, Wisconsin 

DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California 

CHUCK SCHUMER, New York 

DICK DURBIN, Illinois 

SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island 

AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota 

AL FRANKEN, Minnesota 

CHRISTOPHER A. COONS, Delaware 

RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut 

CHUCK GRASSLEY, Iowa, Ranking Member 

ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah 

JON KYL, Arizona 

JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama 

LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina 

JOHN CORNYN, Texas 

MICHAEL S. LEE, Utah 

TOM COBURN, Oklahoma 

BRUCE A. COHEN, Chief Counsel and Staff Director 

KOLAN DAVIS, Republican Chief Counsel and Staff Director 
(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

September 14, 2011, 10:09 A.M. 

STATEMENTS OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS 

Page 

Feinstein, Hon. Dianne, a U.S. Senator from the State of California, 

prepared statement .......................................................................................... 59 

Grassley, Hon. Chuck, a U.S. Senator from the State of Iowa ............................ 2 

Leahy, Hon. Patrick J., a U.S. Senator from the State of Vermont .................... 1 

prepared statement .......................................................................................... 57 

WITNESSES 

Witness List ............................................................................................................. 21 

CdeBaca, Luis, Ambassador-at-Large, Office To Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, U.S. Department of State, Washington, DC ...................... 6 

prepared statement .......................................................................................... 38 

Leary, Mary Lou, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Office of 

Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC .................... 4 

prepared statement .......................................................................................... 22 

Ryan, Kelly, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary, Immigration and Border 

Security, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Washington, DC ............... 8 

prepared statement .......................................................................................... 43 

QUESTIONS 

Questions submitted to Luis CdeBaca by: 

Senator Coburn ................................................................................................. 87 

Senator Grassley .............................................................................................. 68 

Senator Klobuchar ............................................................................................ 81 

Questions submitted to Mary Lou Leary by: 

Senator Coburn ................................................................................................. 83 

Senator Grassley .............................................................................................. 62 

Senator Klobuchar ............................................................................................ 80 

Questions submitted to Kelly Ryan by: 

Senator Grassley .............................................................................................. 71 

Senator Klobuchar ............................................................................................ 82 

ANSWERS 

Responses of Luis CdeBaca to questions submitted by Senators Coburn, 

Grassley, and Klobuchar ..................................................................................... 89 

[Note: At the time of printing, the Committee had not received responses 

from Mary Lou Leary.] 

Responses of Kelly Ryan to questions submitted by Senators Grassley and 

Klobuchar .............................................................................................................. 121 

MISCELLANEOUS SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD 

Alliance To End Slavery & Trafficking (ATEST), Washington, DC, October 

11, 2011, letter ..................................................................................................... 215 

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS), Baltimore, Maryland, 

and Washington, DC, statement ......................................................................... 211 

Matual, Ima, Foreign National Labor Trafficking Survivor, and Holly Smith, 

U.S. Citizen Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking (DMST) Survivor, statement ... 202 
Page

IV 

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Ambassador Johnny 

Young, Executive Director, USCCB Migration and Refugee Services, and 

Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Kenneth Hackett, President and Chief Executive Officer, Washington DC, August 24, 2011, letter .................................... 213 
(1) 

THE TRAFFICKING VICTIMS PROTECTION 

REAUTHORIZATION ACT: RENEWING THE 

COMMITMENT TO VICTIMS OF HUMAN 

TRAFFICKING 

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2011 

UNITED STATES SENATE, 

COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, 

Washington, DC. 

The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:09 a.m., in Room 

SD–226, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Patrick J. Leahy, 

Chairman of the Committee, presiding. 

Present: Senators Leahy, Franken, and Grassley. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. PATRICK J. LEAHY, 

A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF VERMONT 

Chairman LEAHY. Good morning. I apologize for being a few minutes late. 

The Committee will today consider the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2011 and how best to continue and 

improve our efforts to end once and for all human trafficking at 

home and abroad. 

Human trafficking is a modern-day form of slavery. You cannot 

call it anything else. It is a modern-day form of slavery in which 

victims are forced into labor or sexual exploitation. Traffickers prey 

on the most vulnerable members of society, and no country is immune. It happens here, even here in our own backyard. 

Earlier this summer, the Justice Department secured convictions 

against traffickers who compelled undocumented immigrant women 

hired to be waitresses to engage in commercial sex acts using violence, fraud, coercion, and threats of deportation. Unfortunately, 

we hear these kinds of stories every day. Thanks to the tools provided by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, we have made 

progress in combating this major human rights abuse. But there is 

more work to be done. 

As a country that has been a beacon of hope to so many who face 

human rights abuses abroad, the United States has to address this 

continuing injustice around the world but also here, too. The original Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 and its three subsequent reauthorizations all had widespread bipartisan support. The 

original bill was passed by a Republican-controlled Congress and 

signed into law by President Clinton. The most recent reauthorization in 2008 was passed by a Democratic-controlled Congress and 

signed into law by President Bush. 
2 

I am pleased that the reauthorization bill we are discussing 

today continues that tradition. We have as cosponsors Senators 

Brown, Rubio, and Cochran, as well as Senators Kerry, Feinstein, 

Klobuchar, Boxer, Cardin, Gillibrand, and Schumer. The bipartisan 

support for this bill in the Senate reflects the widespread focus on 

combating human trafficking in diverse communities across the 

country. Organizations from across the political and social spectrum, including faith-based groups and groups dedicated to human 

rights and women’s rights, have taken up this cause. They have 

worked to raise awareness. State and local law enforcement agencies and prosecutors have stepped up human trafficking enforcement. They have initiated local investigations. They have worked 

with Federal agencies in regional task forces to share information. 

The National Association of Attorneys General has launched a 

major campaign to combat human trafficking in all 50 States. More 

than 40 State legislatures have followed the Federal Government’s 

lead and enacted anti-trafficking statutes. 

I am proud that my own State of Vermont recently passed a comprehensive anti-trafficking law that includes criminal penalties, 

prevention programs, and services for human trafficking victims, 

and I commend a little State like ours of Vermont for taking on 

this important issue. Today’s hearing, of course, will highlight the 

important anti-human trafficking work that the Federal Government is doing. 

We have witnesses from three Federal agencies that play key 

roles in Federal efforts to end human trafficking. The Departments 

of Justice, State, and Homeland Security investigate human trafficking crimes, use diplomatic tools to stop human trafficking in 

other countries, and they also ensure that trafficking victims receive crucial assistance and resources to assist law enforcement. 

[The prepared statement of Senator Leahy appears as a submission for the record.] 

With that, I yield to my friend from Iowa, Senator Grassley. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. CHUCK GRASSLEY, 

A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF IOWA 

Senator GRASSLEY. Before I speak, and even before you have introduced the witnesses, I wanted to make the point that one of our 

witnesses, Ambassador CdeBaca, is from Huxley, Iowa, attended 

Iowa State University, and I always like to welcome Iowans to our 

hearings. 

Chairman LEAHY. Huxley, Iowa, is that one of the major cities? 

[Laughter.] 

Chairman LEAHY. He probably would be right at home in 

Vermont. 

Senator GRASSLEY. The people of Huxley would say Ames, where 

Iowa State University is, is a suburb of Huxley. 

Chairman LEAHY. I see. I know exactly where it is. It is a beautiful area. 

Senator Grassley. I am going to skip two or three pages of my 

remarks because I can say that I associate myself with what you 

said, feel that the bill ought to be reauthorized. But I make a point 

of saying that we have a terrible budget situation, and it requires 
3 

that we take a close look at how some of this money is spent while 

we are in the process of reauthorizing. 

I will start where I say, after I have said those things, now that 

surely does not mean that we do away with the Trafficking Victims 

Protection Act. Instead, it means that as we in this Committee look 

to reauthorize this legislation, we need to take a hard look at every 

single taxpayer dollar expended, determine how those dollars are 

being used, and determine if the stated purpose of the program is 

met. 

For example, given this fiscal climate, there is no reason that we 

should reauthorize funding for the State Department to host official receptions at the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in 

Persons, and that would have been over $300,000 recently. So how 

do we address these issues to start with? We need a legitimate, rigorous evaluation of programs funded under the Trafficking Victims 

Protection Act to ensure that inefficient grantees or less than scrupulous grantees are prohibited from getting funds. That can be 

done by identifying and limiting poor- and under-performing grantees. And I know that Senator Coburn has done a great deal of work 

on this issue. He has investigated the shortcomings, mismanagement, and waste in several programs funded under the program. 

I appreciate the hard work that Senator Coburn has done and look 

forward to working with him as we pursue this legislation. 

Additionally, there are a number of audits and reviews conducted 

by GAO and the Department of Justice Inspector General on the 

Trafficking Victims Protection Act. These audits reveal mismanagement, failed oversight, and waste of taxpayer dollars in implementing the programs to help trafficking victims. 

For example, the Inspector General found in a 2008 review that 

there were ‘‘systemic weaknesses in the Office of Justice Programs 

grant implementation.’’ The Inspector General found weaknesses in 

areas of ‘‘established goals and accomplishments for grantees, 

grant reporting, fund drawdowns, local matching funds expenditures, indirect costs, and monitoring of subrecipients.’’ Further, the 

Inspector General found that while the Department of Justice 

builds significant capacity to serve victims, they ‘‘have not identified and served significant numbers of victims.’’ 

Unfortunately, it was more of the same when we looked at audits 

conducted in individual grant recipients awarded funding under 

the Trafficking Victims Protection Act in seven separate audits of 

individual grantees dated 2007 to 2010. The Inspector General 

found hundreds of thousands of dollars in questioned costs, unauthorized expenditures, failed matching requirements, and many 

other problems. 

It is really disheartening to see that every single audit that was 

done by the IG of grantees found problems. It begs the question: 

What is the Department of Justice doing with taxpayer dollars? Do 

they view it as Monopoly money that can be handed out with no 

accountability? Given the current fiscal situation, these audits are 

amazing. 

The Department of Justice has some serious explaining to do because between these audits and the ones that I reviewed as part 

of the hearing held back in July on the Violence Against Women 

grants, it appears that the Department continuously awarded 
4 

grants to entities that cannot manage the money appropriately. We 

have a duty in this Committee to ensure taxpayer dollars are spent 

appropriately. From the audits on this program and many others 

administered by the Department of Justice, it seems that that is 

not being done. 

Holding grant programs accountable will help to ensure that 

services really go to those in need, and before we reauthorize the 

specific dollar amounts, we need strong oversight language, including the legislation, to ensure that failing grantees will not be rewarded with additional taxpayer money and to ensure that Government officials will be held accountable for repeated failures to oversee grants. 

We are well past the time when we can reauthorize programs 

without giving them the scrutiny needed to ensure that the people 

they are trying to help—that means the victims of trafficking—are, 

in fact, getting the services that they need. If we allow grants to 

be mismanaged, a victim who could have been helped goes without. 

We must do everything in our power to help victims of trafficking, 

but we also must protect taxpayer dollars. 

So it is through this testimony and the debates that we are going 

to have on these bills that I will bring some of these points out. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman LEAHY. Thank you. And I agree that you have to have 

effective and efficient grant management, but I do understand the 

Inspector General’s most recent report praises the Office of Justice 

Programs for its significant improvement, and I am glad to hear 

the Department of Justice did take the Inspector General’s suggestions to heart. And I was pleased to see his response that there are 

significant improvements. 

Mary Lou Leary is the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs at the Department of Justice, a position she has held since September 2009. Prior to rejoining the Department in May of 2009, she served as executive director of the National Center for Victims of Crime. She has previously held a number of positions within the Department of Justice, serving as U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia and Acting Director of the Office of Community-Oriented Policing Services 

and Deputy Associate Attorney General. 

You are no stranger to this Committee, and, Ms. Leary, we are 

delighted to have you here. Please go ahead. 

STATEMENT OF MARY LOU LEARY, PRINCIPAL DEPUTY 

ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL, OFFICE OF JUSTICE PROGRAMS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, WASHINGTON, DC 

Ms. LEARY. Thank you, Chairman Leahy, Ranking Member 

Grassley, and any other Members of the Committee who may join 

us. I appreciate this opportunity to discuss OJP’s commitment to 

combating human trafficking and to serving human trafficking victims. 

This is a high priority for President Obama. It is a high priority 

for this Department of Justice. It has also been a high priority for 

me in my own career when I was at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 

D.C. The very first anti-trafficking task forces were put together, 

and I was very involved in establishing that task force in the Dis-
5 

trict of Columbia, and one of the most satisfying things about that 

was that for the first time we actually had a formal task force that 

included both law enforcement and victim service providers. 

Fighting human trafficking and serving human trafficking victims are enormously difficult challenges for law enforcement and 

for victim service providers. Oftentimes those trafficking victims 

are hidden from society, and because of this kind of secrecy, it is 

very difficult to get accurate statistics about the extent and the 

prevalence of the problem. 

Congress provided very critical tools to combat trafficking in the 

Trafficking Victims Protection Act and subsequent reauthorizations. So I am very pleased that Congress and that this Committee 

in particular is demonstrating leadership by coming together in a 

bipartisan way to reauthorize the Act. 

OJP’s efforts to combat human trafficking span the entire agency. My written testimony gives you details about what each one of 

the bureaus and program offices is doing and how we collaborate 

together on the issue. Today I just want to highlight the multidisciplinary approach and what we call ‘‘wrap-around services’’ for trafficking victims. 

This basically means meeting victims where they are and helping 

them to work through the impact of crime. It means support for 

victims during their interaction with law enforcement. Wraparound also means providing both short-term and long-term assistance, culturally competent services that treat victims with dignity 

and with respect. 

Experience demonstrates that effective law enforcement in trafficking cases and effective victim services do—and they must—go 

hand in hand. Victim service providers may be able to identify 

some victims of a particular trafficker, but they often need effective 

law enforcement to identify and to reach out to those other victims. 

And law enforcement in turns needs victim service providers to 

work with them and to work with the victims to collect critical information and to give the victims that sense of safety and protection. 

Victims who receive needed support will be much more able and 

willing to participate in the investigation and the prosecution of 

the traffickers, and that has been my personal experience in my 

many years as a prosecutor. 

Each of the 42 anti-trafficking task forces we fund includes local 

or territorial, State, and Federal law enforcement and victim service providers. They investigate trafficking, they support prosecutions, and they raise public awareness of the issues, and provide, 

of course, critical services to the victims. 

Between January 2008 and June 2010, the task forces investigated more than 2,500 suspected incidents of human trafficking 

and made 144 arrests. But because one trafficker can hurt dozens 

or even hundreds of victims, this is a significant achievement. My 

written testimony includes examples of successful task force cases. 

In fiscal year 2011, we competitively awarded almost $6 million 

for six task forces in the selected sites that have a history of 

proactively investigating and prosecuting trafficking offenses and 

helping the victims. We also awarded an additional $3.7 million to 

11 organizations specifically to provide comprehensive and special-
6 

ized victim services. And we made sure that these service providers 

had a strong track record in trauma-informed and culturally competent services to trafficking victims. 

We also provide training and technical assistance to task forces 

nationwide, regardless of whether they are our grantees, and we 

developed an e-guide which is available to all communities. 

We certainly are aware and we agree with this Committee that 

we want to make sure the funds are being used wisely and that 

we are not duplicating efforts. Our commitment to this is reflected 

in our participation in the Senior Policy Operating Group to coordinate the work of multiple agencies, and I want to make clear to the 

Committee that before we award a dollar in grant funding, we run 

it by that Senior Policy Operating Group so that we will know that 

we are not duplicating our efforts. 

We have strong oversight of our grantees. More details, again, 

are in my written testimony, and as Senator Leahy pointed out, the 

Inspector General’s office recently did determine that OJP had 

made significant improvements, and we are aware that that is a 

constant struggle, and we work at it every day. 

So thank you. I am happy to take any questions. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Leary appears as a submission 

for the record.] 

Chairman Leahy. Thank you very much. 

We will hear from all three witnesses, then go to questions. Ambassador CdeBaca is the Ambassador-at-Large at the Department 

of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, and 

I appreciate the fact being from Iowa and getting my geography 

lesson here this morning. Prior to his appointment, he was a prosecutor at the Department of Justice, and Ambassador CdeBaca was 

the lead trial counsel in what was then the largest slavery prosecution in U.S. history, over 300 workers enslaved in a garment factory in American Samoa. A very, very significant case. 

Please go ahead, sir. 

STATEMENT OF LUIS CDEBACA, AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE, 

OFFICE TO MONITOR AND COMBAT TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, DC 

Ambassador CDEBACA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Senator 

Grassley, and the entire Membership of the Committee. Thank you 

for the opportunity to testify today. 

As you put it, Mr. Chairman, this is nothing less than modern 

slavery that we are dealing with. The term ‘‘trafficking in persons’’ 

describes all of the conduct involved in reducing a person to or 

maintaining them in a state of compelled service, and estimates are 

up to 27 million men, women, and children victimized globally. Fortunately, there are hundreds of governments and NGOs who are 

committed to meeting this scourge. 

But as is often the case in places where poverty and corruption 

hinder the good intentions of committed people, a lack of resources 

and capacity are sometimes insurmountable road blocks to those 

who seek to save victims from exploitation and bring their traffickers to justice. 

That is perhaps why in the last 2 years my office has received 

998 applications for assistance from 546 organizations, requesting 
7 

a total of $547 million. Our foreign assistance budget for the last 

2 years was $39.1 million—not even 10 percent of the demonstrated need—and we took a 24-percent pay cut, as it were, in 

the spring, down to under $17 million in program funds. 

We know that it will never be possible to give every organization 

the help that they want, and we know that we have a responsibility to be responsible custodians of taxpayer dollars. And so we 

have implemented a rigorous and transparent review process to ensure that every cent of our foreign assistance appropriation is spent 

responsibly, is put to the use where it will do the most good, and 

has a multiplier effect far above the $17 million that we have to 

spend. 

We support grantees that are working to advance the 3P paradigm—prevention, protection, prosecution—that guides our effort to 

combat slavery here at home and around the world. These efforts 

are closely linked to the mandates and purposes that are laid out 

in the United Nations Trafficking Protocol as well as the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and its subsequent reauthorizations, 

which, as you pointed out, Senator, enjoyed unprecedented and 

much appreciated bipartisan support throughout the years. The 

provisions of that authorizing legislation helped to prioritize the allocation of the anti-trafficking funds from the appropriated State 

Department money. 

Because the three Ps function as an interlocking paradigm, no 

single aspect stands alone. It is not enough to prosecute traffickers 

if we do not also provide assistance to the survivors and work to 

ensure that no one else is victimized. So we try to have projects 

that are cross-cutting in their approach, placing a particular emphasis on programs that involve victim protection, because we realize that it may be that the American program in a country is the 

only way that a trafficking victim will be helped. So 90 percent of 

projects we funded last year, even if they have a strong prosecution 

element, also include a protection component, and 61 percent of 

them provide direct services to victims. 

Our foreign assistance priorities and our programming priorities 

are strategically linked to the tier rankings and diagnostic assessments included in the annual Trafficking in Persons Report, and 

my prepared testimony details specifically our grant application review process as well as the steps that we take to monitor the use 

of funding after it has gone out the door. I ask that it be included 

in the record in its entirety. 

To summarize it, though, applications are solicited through an 

open process, thoroughly reviewed by my office, other State Department offices, USAID, interagency partners, and are sent to the Hill 

for congressional notification prior to the disbursement of funding. 

Following the awards, we monitor and evaluate the programs. We 

have officers who work to ensure project goals and objectives are 

implemented and funds are used responsibly, and program 

progress and financial reports throughout the project period are required, including final reports within 90 days of the end of the 

project. 

We take very seriously the responsibility attached to the use of 

these funds, but the real success is not the fact that we have an 

efficient program design and controls. The real success are the peo-
8 

ple—people like Shweyga Molla. A few weeks ago, a CNN crew 

found her in the former home of Muammar Qaddafi’s sons. She had 

become a trafficking victim when she left her home country of Ethiopia. She worked as a nanny for the Qaddafi grandchildren, and 

when she displeased the men and women for whom she worked, 

they poured boiling water on her head to punish her. She had no 

passport, no identification, no one who could help her. When the 

Qaddafi family fled the compound, she was left behind, 3-monthold burns still open and seeping. 

Though we have no direct presence in Tripoli yet, the State Department was able to coordinate the effort through one of our 

grantees, the International Organization for Migration, to begin the 

process of getting Ms. Molla out of Libya and to a safe haven where 

she could begin the process of recovery. We hope that she will soon 

be wheels up and under the care of both burn specialists and those 

who work with survivors of modern slavery. 

This is simply one high-profile incidence and one example of how 

important it is to work on these cases. But she is merely one of 27 

million, and we can never forget that, because fighting slavery is 

more than good foreign policy. It is part of who we are as a Nation. 

The last decade has seen renewed American leadership against 

slavery, here at home and in our conduct around the world. The 

U.S. victim care regime is a global model for both restoration and 

rehabilitation of victims. The leadership is shown by our programs, 

our domestic activities, and our willingness to hold ourselves to the 

same standards by which we assess other countries, by including 

the United States in the annual Trafficking in Persons Report. 

I thank you, again, for the opportunity to testify today, and we 

look forward to working with the Committee further to provide information or answer questions that would provide additional clarity 

or background. 

[The prepared statement of Ambassador CdeBaca appears as a 

submission for the record.] 

Chairman LEAHY. Thank you very much. 

Our last witness will be Kelly Ryan, who is the Acting Deputy 

Assistant Secretary for Immigration and Border Security at the Department of Homeland Security. She is responsible for policy oversight and development in immigration and border security issues 

at the Department. Prior to joining the Department of Homeland 

Security, she served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for 

the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. 

Please go ahead, Ms. Ryan. 

STATEMENT OF KELLY RYAN, ACTING DEPUTY ASSISTANT 

SECRETARY, IMMIGRATION AND BORDER SECURITY, U.S. 

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, WASHINGTON, DC 

Ms. RYAN. Thank you. Good morning, Chairman Leahy and 

Ranking Member Grassley. Thank you for inviting me to discuss 

the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act and DHS’ 

role and progress in implementing it. This is an important hearing 

for me as well since I have worked on trafficking issues since prior 

to the passage of the landmark TVPA. 

Combating human trafficking and protecting victims remain a 

top priority for DHS. We have educated and trained our officers, 
9 

prioritized the identification of traffickers and their victims, and coordinated enforcement actions. 

We have also played a critical role in providing victim assistance 

to foreign victims of trafficking in the United States through Continued Presence and the provision of T and U nonimmigrant status. 

In July 2010, Secretary Napolitano launched the Blue Campaign 

to coordinate and enhance the Department’s anti-trafficking efforts. 

Seventeen DHS components are involved in this campaign, which 

is chaired by the Senior Counselor to the Secretary, Alice Hill. 

The Blue Campaign is comprised of the collaborative initiatives 

spanning the three President of the U.S. Government’s anti-trafficking efforts—prevention, protection, and prosecution—as well as 

a fourth P that we have added—partnership—which is critical to 

our success. 

In fiscal year 2010, USCIS reached the annual cap of 10,000 

principal U-visas. In fiscal year 2011, USCIS expects to reach the 

cap for the second year in a row. In fiscal year 2010, USCIS had 

granted T nonimmigrant status to 796 victims of human trafficking 

and their families—the highest number granted since the implementation of the T-visa program. 

Eighteen of the 26 ICE Homeland Security Investigations’ offices 

have hired full-time victim specialists. ICE has a child forensic 

interview specialist to improve its ability to communicate with 

child victims. 

ICE has designated 39 human trafficking experts to handle 

human trafficking leads, address urgent victim needs appropriately, and serve as designated points of contact for our field and 

follow leads generated through our Tip Line. 

Under the Blue Campaign, we have worked diligently to provide 

informational materials about human trafficking, including international and domestic public awareness campaigns, which have 

reached millions of people. 

Training is critical to our efforts. DHS is finalizing a new computer-based training course for its employees to increase awareness 

of human trafficking issues and provide information about the indicators. DHS has also produced training on human trafficking for 

law enforcement officers. 

ICE provides annual training to field office juvenile coordinators 

and other key field office staff on the transportation, care, treatment, and placement of minors. In March 2011, CBP implemented 

a new annual mandatory TVPRA training. To date, over 34,500 

CBP officers, agents, and specialists have taken this training. 

USCIS also provides training to law enforcement officers as well as 

NGOs that assist trafficking victims. 

DHS has worked diligently to implement the provisions relating 

to UACs identified under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. 

Our role is critical to protecting children. I am proud to note that 

while TVPRA requirements are limited to the screening of unaccompanied alien children from contiguous countries, CBP issued 

guidance in March 2009 requiring its officers and agents to screen 

all UACs for the risk categories, including severe trafficking and 

fear of persecution. 

Absent exceptional circumstances, UACs are turned over to 

Health and Human Services within 72 hours after determining 
10 

that the child is unaccompanied. DHS recognizes that holding 

UACs in our facilities for a prolonged period is not in the best interest of children. 

I would also like to take this opportunity to highlight some of our 

successes. 

At our L.A. office, ICE agents investigated and successfully rescued 15 victims who were forced into prostitution by a family-run 

trafficking organization. As a result of our agents’ successful investigation, we were able to prosecute and obtain convictions for nine 

foreign nationals. These individuals were found guilty of sex trafficking of children and other offenses. 

TVPRA permits derivative family members to receive nonimmigrant status based on a fear of retaliation from traffickers. In 

2010, we approved a T-visa for a mother of a sex trafficking survivor based on this new exception and worked with the State Department to bring the victim’s mother to the U.S. The mother, who 

had received death threats from the traffickers, was able to reunite 

with her daughter and to testify at her daughter’s trial. 

We have made remarkable progress since the passage of the 

landmark law in 2000. We believe there is work yet to be done. For 

example, DHS will continue to refine its guidance on Continued 

Presence and discretionary parole of trafficking victims’ relatives. 

ICE recently issued a protocol on Continued Presence which outlines the procedures for law enforcement agencies to request Continued Presence and explains their respective roles. 

With regard to parole for relatives of trafficking victims, ICE’s 

Continued Presence guidance specifically incorporates the TVPRA 

expansion. 

Secretary Napolitano has led DHS efforts to combat human trafficking and has made this issue a top priority for the Department. 

We are committed to fighting human trafficking through protection, prevention, prosecution, and partnerships. 

Thank you, again, for the opportunity to testify. I would be 

pleased to answer any of your questions. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Ryan appears as a submission 

for the record.] 

Chairman LEAHY. It is good to know from all three of you the 

names of the procedures and the programs and all. That we will 

put in the record. And I am not suggesting it is not important, but 

it reminds me sometimes of PowerPoint presentations where 

everybody’s eyes may glaze over. I suspect what people are going 

to remember of this hearing is what Ambassador CdeBaca said 

about Ms. Mullah in Tripoli and, Ms. Ryan, what you spoke of, the 

mother being brought back to testify. It is some of these real stories far more than the names of what our programs are and which 

Department and all that are important if we want to actually get 

this reauthorized because people have to know exactly what it is. 

And so with this in mind, Ambassador CdeBaca, in your written 

testimony, you discuss the work being done to fight trafficking in 

Mexico, Cote d’Ivoire, and Thailand. Tell me what is being done, 

tell me some more about what is being done in those countries, 

what you are funding. What is that doing with individual lives? I 

mean, these are three major places. 
11 

Ambassador CDEBACA. Mexico is perhaps the most complex of all 

of them, I think, because so much of what happens in the fight 

against trafficking in Mexico also is happening in the United 

States. It really requires a level of jointness in our approach. And 

so one of the things that we have seen is the heroism of folks from 

the Mexican nongovernmental organizations, journalists like Lydia 

Cacho in the State of Quintana Roo, which is where the tourist 

areas of Cancun are, who has investigated child sex tourism and 

investigated child sex trafficking, even to the highest levels of State 

government, to the point where she had to flee to neighboring 

states to get protection from their State police because of corruption issues. 

One of the things that we are trying to do is to make sure that 

people like her are supported—supported not only with funding to 

the NGOs that she is working with, but also the work that we and 

the Department of Justice and DHS are all doing jointly with an 

embassy task team on trafficking which folks from each of our 

agencies that are supporting the work of the Mexican Government 

to investigate and prosecute these cases. 

So you have got prosecutors like Delcia Garcia in Mexico City 

who have gone from a D.A.’s office that was basically doing zero 

trafficking cases 3 or 4 years ago to having dozens of cases on their 

docket. They are doing that because of the training that they are 

receiving and the encouragement that they are receiving from the 

United States presence at our embassy, but also here in Washington. 

One of the things that we have seen is that the Civil Rights Division now has been investing cases with the Mexicans in both countries. So Mexican police were able to come up to Atlanta and investigate their part of the case, interviewing the witnesses, and at the 

end of the day we were able to get prosecutions successfully done 

in both countries. Rather than being consumed by extradition paperwork, we were able to take apart the traffickers on both sides. 

I think that is a perfect—— 

Chairman LEAHY. So what you have is a case where they will use 

these children, try to bring people down to these resort areas, enslaving the children for that. 

Ambassador CDEBACA. Exactly. 

Chairman LEAHY. And it was happening with no prosecutions before. 

Ambassador CDEBACA. That is correct. 

Chairman LEAHY. And obviously, or at least I assume from what 

you are saying, with help here in the United States from individuals. Is that correct? 

Ambassador CDEBACA. With help here in the United States from 

individuals from DHS, DOJ, and the State Department, with some 

of our grantees working with their legislatures—— 

Chairman LEAHY. No, I mean they had people who were conspiring down there and here in the United States. 

Ambassador CDEBACA. Oh, yes. Indeed. 

Chairman LEAHY. And those you were able to prosecute? 

Ambassador CDEBACA. We have been able to prosecute both 

sides of the criminal organization, both here in the U.S. and in 

Mexico. And part of that is because of the technical assistance that 
12 

we were able to provide through our grantees and directly to the 

Mexican Congress when they were able to pass a law that is very 

similar to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. It solved a lot of 

the legal impediments that they were facing out in the field. We 

had some real leadership from both the Senate and the House of 

Deputies. 

The same types of things are happening in the other countries 

that you mentioned. I want to specifically mention Cote d’Ivoire 

where our grantee, Prosperite, was able to continue to serve victims even as their shelter came under direct fire during the unfortunate incidents earlier this year with the holdout government. 

They were in the middle of a war zone, and they continued to take 

care of those children. 

Chairman LEAHY. That is amazing. 

Ms. Leary, you talked about how law enforcement was able to 

prosecute cases when appropriate victim services are available. You 

referenced a case where the Department of Justice helped a trafficking victim secure a T-visa for her children who had been left 

behind in Mexico and were threatened by traffickers. Tell us how 

this T-visa works and how important that was and what effect that 

has on our ability to prosecute trafficking cases. 

Ms. LEARY. Senator, I can speak to how important it is for victims to feel safe, but I would defer to DHS on the specifics of how 

the T-visa program works. But I can tell you that for many years 

as an ADA and an Assistant U.S. Attorney and then as the director 

of a national victims advocacy organization, the number one concern of any victim of any crime is safety. A victim needs to feel safe 

before he or she can even speak about what has happened to him 

or her, let alone cooperate with law enforcement. 

But my experience also tells me very strongly that if a victim is 

going to cooperate in an investigation or in a prosecution, the victim has to feel that he or she can trust the law enforcement folks 

who are involved in it, and you build that trust by specific mechanisms to make the victim feel safe and by providing the kinds of 

services—health care, counseling, places to live, to be safe, to be 

with their children. That is how you build the trust. But I defer 

to DHS. 

Chairman LEAHY. Also, we see right here in the United States 

a headline in a local paper here in the last few days about a vicious 

crime here in the District of Columbia, and nobody seems to know 

what is going on, and they will not talk to the police or anything 

else. I look at the District of Columbia, which has the same population as my State of Vermont, and I remember a year or so ago 

reading in the paper that they had as many murders over a weekend as we had in a year in Vermont. 

Ms. LEARY. Right. 

Chairman LEAHY. I will not go into questions if it is competence 

or anything else when that sort of thing happens, but, Ms. Ryan, 

if we are going to go into—and I apologize, Senator Grassley, if I 

could just continue on this. We talked about the T-visa. That started in 2002, I believe. But since that time, only 2,500 have been 

issued to trafficking victims, just a few hundred a year. Why are 

these numbers so low? You have other types of protection-based immigration visas. Why aren’t more T-visas applied for or issued? 
13 

Ms. RYAN. Thank you, Senator. First, on the question that you 

asked my colleague, I would like to say that on the Carretero case, 

which I have some knowledge of, actually the provision of the Tvisas to the dependents of the victims was absolutely critical in the 

successful prosecution which led to very long sentences. So we believe from a DHS perspective that the provision of a T-visa to the 

victim and their dependents is absolutely critical to the law enforcement piece as well as victim assistance. 

In terms of the numbers, you are absolutely right, we have come 

nowhere near the number permitted, the statutory cap of 5,000. I 

think the chief reason for that—we have alluded to it this morning—is the difficulty in finding the victims. They are, you know, 

often secreted. Sometimes there are circumstances where it has 

been so debilitating that they prefer to return home. But the numbers are small, and we carefully vet each and every case. 

Chairman LEAHY. And these are also people who are not used to 

having—— 

Ms. RYAN. Trust in the law enforcement community. 

Chairman LEAHY. Ambassador CdeBaca talked about the situation in Mexico. There are a lot of place there where the last thing 

in the world you would want to do is go to the police. When prosecutors do not dare go to the police without the possibility of being 

killed, why would a victim? 

Ms. RYAN. That is right. We try to take a victim-centered approach, as does the Department of Justice, but it is a very difficult 

trust exercise to build the trust with the victims. 

Chairman LEAHY. Thank you. Thank you very much to all three 

of you. I appreciate the testimony. As a parent and a grandparent, 

when I look at the ages of some of these people and the vulnerability of them, and even the adults, the fact that they are so totally vulnerable, they are treated as chattel, not as human beings, 

in 2011—I mean, this is horrible. 

Senator Grassley, again, I appreciate your forbearance in letting 

me go over time, but this is something I care very deeply about. 

Go ahead, please, sir. 

Senator GRASSLEY. Yes, thank you very much. 

I am going to start out with Ms. Leary on this prosecution, if I 

could, and obviously it has been very clear here in our discussion 

that one of the critical ways that we accomplish combating trafficking is bringing successful prosecutions. Victim advocates have 

questioned—I am following what victim advocates tell me. They 

have questioned the low number of trafficking prosecutions brought 

last year by the Department of Justice. One of the hurdles that advocates have identified is the low number or lack of witnesses. Obviously, prosecutors and law enforcement officers need witnesses 

and cooperation from victims in order to combat trafficking. 

There is a provision in the pending bill that makes it easier for 

victims to not cooperate with law enforcement. Now, there may be 

circumstances where visa applicants should be excused from cooperation, but that should be a rare exception, in my view. 

So does the Department of Justice support legislation that makes 

it easier for visa recipients and potential witnesses to be excused 

from cooperating with law enforcement officials? And if the answer 
14 

is yes, then I would like to have you explain to me how this helps 

human trafficking investigations? 

Ms. LEARY. Senator Grassley, I would start by saying that the 

Department has not yet finished its review of a formal position on 

that legislation, so I cannot give you an official position for the Department. 

I would, however, say that in general in our work we have two 

objectives which you hope work in concert. One is to serve and to 

protect victims of trafficking, and another is to prosecute traffickers 

and those who perpetrate these offenses. And in the best of all 

worlds, you prosecute a case, and you are meeting all the needs of 

the victims, and you are also getting everything you need for successful prosecution. But in the real world, I have to say that, based 

on my own experience, requiring certain levels of cooperation from 

victims does not always work, and, you know, there are victims 

who are so traumatized, so incapable of functioning, really, and 

making rational decisions, who are so fearful, that you cannot really rely on any—necessarily rely on even what you have to offer 

them. 

So we look forward, though, to providing comments on the proposed legislation, and we will do that. 

Senator GRASSLEY. Since you said your Department has not studied the bill and you cannot give us a position, would you provide 

us—well, I guess I would like to have you say that the Department 

would provide us their views on the provision before we mark up 

the legislation on that question I just asked you. 

Ms. LEARY. We will provide those views as soon as possible, and 

I hope that it will be before the markup, and I will certainly get 

back to the Senator on that. 

Senator GRASSLEY. But that would be on the specific point I was 

making about whether it is better to make it easier for visa recipients to be excused from cooperating. 

Ms. LEARY. Yes, I will certainly bring that right back to the Department and let them know that you would like—— 

Senator GRASSLEY. Closely connected with this, but not a long 

answer, do career prosecutors have the final word on whether visa 

applicants are excused from cooperating with law enforcement? 

And if the prosecutors do not, why do they not have that authority? 

Ms. LEARY. I do not have the answer to that question, sir, and 

I will have to get that for you. 

Senator GRASSLEY. In writing? 

Ms. LEARY. I think maybe DHS has the answer. 

Senator GRASSLEY. If she would have the answer, that is okay 

with me. But I assume it is under the—isn’t it within the Justice 

Department as opposed to Homeland Security? 

Ms. RYAN. Senator, the T-visa requirement for the adjudication 

is within the Department of Homeland Security, and the requirement is that they be willing to cooperate. And so our adjudicators 

look to make sure that they are willing to cooperate, and we can 

take evidence from the law enforcement officials on that issue. 

Senator GRASSLEY. Okay. And so if Justice has a role in that, 

then I would like to have that answer in writing from you, Ms. 

Leary. 

Ms. LEARY. Certainly. 
15 

Senator GRASSLEY. And for you, another question, and it gets 

back a little bit to what the Chairman brought up about T-visas 

and U-visas. Generally, in order to receive either of these visas, an 

applicant must comply with reasonable requests from law enforcement. However, there are exceptions to the cooperation. 

So my first question is: Which unit at Homeland Security makes 

the decision to excuse T- and U-visa applicants from having to cooperate with law enforcement? And what criteria are used in deciding whether to grant an exemption? 

Ms. RYAN. Thank you, Senator. The Vermont Service Center has 

a specially trained group of adjudicators that decide the T- and Uvisa applications, and they look at the willingness to cooperate. We 

reach out and can reach out to our colleagues in the law enforcement community to ensure that the cooperation is there. 

Also, law enforcement can submit a form showing that the person is cooperating. The cooperation cannot be excused, but you are 

right that there are certain times where it is not required, and that 

is in circumstances, for example, when the person is under the age 

of 18. We do not require minors to testify. But they must cooperate, 

and that cannot be excused. 

Senator GRASSLEY. Do the people at the Vermont unit making 

the exemption decision actually meet in person with the applicant 

requesting the exemption? And if they do not meet in person with 

them, why not? 

Ms. RYAN. We adjudicate the application on a paper review, but 

we also reach out and have information from the law enforcement 

people. But we do not require them to come to Vermont for the decision on the T. 

Senator GRASSLEY. Okay. Are the decisions of the unit employees 

reviewed or tracked to see if there are any patterns of denying exemption requests or being overly generous in granting them? 

Ms. RYAN. Yes, all of the T- and U-visa applications have supervisory review, and one of the reasons we made one unit rather than 

have them be accepted all over the country was to make sure that 

there was uniformity in the decision. So that actually helps us with 

that particular piece. 

Senator GRASSLEY. Ms. Leary, I wanted to talk to you about 

grants, and I am aware of the fact that the Chairman said that the 

IG said that maybe there has been improvements in this area. So 

I kind of want to be sold on that fact if that is true. 

It is kind of like we are running into the same problems with the 

IG or GAO review of grant applicants pretty much like we did the 

Violence Against Women Act when we had that hearing in July. 

Every time that we look at audits of individual grantees or serious 

problems, unauthorized expenditures, failure to provide matching 

funds, questionable costs, these select individual audits signal to 

me that there is a bigger problem. 

My first question is: The Inspector General audited seven trafficking grantees and found serious problems in all seven. These audits randomly selected grantees and concluded that 100 percent of 

the grantees audited have serious problems. One grantee was given 

over $2 million for human trafficking assistance. The Inspector 

General questioned $900,000 in salaries and $174,000 in fringe 

benefits because they did not have supporting documents. And I 
16 

hope you could shine light on those? If, in fact, you agree that those 

are failures, how is that helping trafficking victims? And that is 

the whole point of the program. 

Ms. LEARY. Senator Grassley, I agree that those are failures, and 

I will say that the Office of Justice Programs has basically turned 

its relationship with the Inspector General’s office into one of collaboration, and based largely on the fact that we take very seriously what we learn from these audits. And we looked at the particular audit that you are speaking of. We looked very closely. The 

first thing we did was we worked with each and every one of those 

grantees to resolve all the issues that were pointed out in the 

audit. Every single one of those audits has been closed except there 

are two where the OIG still has the request for closure pending 

and we do not expect to have a problem with that. 

But perhaps the most important thing is that the Office of Justice Programs looked at the individual audits, got them closed, but 

more importantly, developed systems to work with and to monitor 

all of our grantees in the trafficking realm in particular but across 

the board, so that these kinds of things would not continue to happen. And there are a few specifics that I could highlight for you, 

Senator Grassley, with respect to that particular audit. 

One of the failures—it is not so much untimely reporting. It was 

inaccurate reporting. And so BJA, the Bureau of Justice Assistance, and the Office of Victims of Crime both developed and implemented reporting tools, data reporting tools, which the Bureau of 

Justice Statistics helped them to shape. And then they improved 

those tools so that, for instance, a grantee who used to report the 

children of a victim as victims, so we were not getting accurate 

data, we changed the reporting system so that you cannot do that. 

There are separate places to report, for instance, children of victims. So the data we are getting is more accurate. 

In addition, the Office of Victims of Crime specifically based on 

that audit developed a very detailed checklist, and every application that comes in from a grantee who wants to do human trafficking work has to pass that checklist, and it is extremely detailed, 

geared right towards the findings of the Inspector General. And 

there is an extremely thorough review of the budget and the program strategy as well. It takes time to do that kind of up-front preventive work, but it is definitely worth it because it is really the 

best way we know to avoid these kinds of problems in the future. 

Senator GRASSLEY. I have already used more time than the 

Chairman did. Just let me ask you, and shortly answer this: Do 

you ever recover any money from any of these grantees when it has 

been misused? 

Ms. LEARY. We do. We do. I do not know the specifics on these 

particular audits, but, yes, we do. And, in addition, we take that 

data that we get from their reporting, and we take information like 

what we got from the Inspector General, and that is considered 

very seriously in applications for future funding. 

Senator GRASSLEY. May I sum up by saying I think you are telling me that we will not see these problems in the future, then? 

Ms. LEARY. I hope not. 

Senator GRASSLEY. Okay. Thank you very much. 
17 

Chairman LEAHY. And I appreciate these answers, too. Senator 

Grassley and I share concerns about these programs working right. 

We want them to work right. And I appreciate that you have been 

working with the Inspector General to improve them. 

I am going to place in the record letters of support from the Alliance To End Slavery and Trafficking, the Lutheran Immigration 

and Refugee Services, letters from two people who have been involved. You just cannot read these reports without your skin crawling at some of the things going on, so we want you to be successful. 

[The letters appear as submissions for the record.] 

Chairman LEAHY. I am going to turn the gavel over to Senator 

Franken, and if others come, he will turn the gavel over to them. 

Senator Grassley has to go to Finance. I have to go to Appropriations. Senator Franken, I thank you for—and you have had a 

long—— 

Senator FRANKEN. I know Senator Grassley has to go, and I just 

wanted to say something nice about the Ranking Member, so you 

can hear it as you are walking out, if you like. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator FRANKEN. I know you have to go to Finance. I was just 

going to say how he always is reading these audits and he is one 

of the Members of this body who keeps an eye on that and does 

a marvelous job doing it, and he is a wonderful Member of this 

body because of that. Thank you very much. 

Chairman LEAHY. And I agree with you. 

Senator FRANKEN. Okay. Now that he is gone. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator FRANKEN. No. 

Ms. Leary and Ambassador CdeBaca, I would like to start with 

both of you because your Departments are doing amazing work to 

combat a huge problem, but it would be a mistake to pretend that 

we are not in the middle of a budget crisis where hard choices have 

to be made about what programs are worthy of continued funding 

at the same level, and this reauthorization is actually a reduction 

from what we authorized in 2008, and I think it is important for 

people to understand how many people need trafficking assistance. 

Can you tell me for each of your programs how large the demand 

is and what unmet need there is? 

Ambassador CDEBACA. Thank you, Senator. There is a lot of 

unmet need. As you may know, the State Department Trafficking 

in Persons Office’s budget for programs was cut by about 24 percent earlier this spring, so we are down to a little bit under $16.5 

million in a world in which there is about 27 million people who 

are enslaved. And so we are not talking even $1 a person at that 

point. 

What we have seen is over the last 2 years almost a thousand— 

998—applications for assistance requesting $547 million. That is 

for prosecutor training, police training, for shelters for the victims 

around the world, and our foreign assistance budget that we were 

able to get out the door for that was about $39.1 million in total. 

So not even 10 percent of the demonstrated need being met from 

what we have been able to do. And, again, the 24-percent reduction 

this spring. 
18 

We certainly know shared sacrifice, and we are making our 

money go as far as we can, but that is something that certainly is 

starting to play out in the field in that there are some countries 

in the world in which if we are not funding the victim care, it is 

just not getting funded. 

Senator FRANKEN. Ms. Leary. 

Ms. LEARY. With respect to the Department of Justice, Senator 

Franken, in fiscal year 2011 we received 120 applications for 

human trafficking grants, but we were only able to fund 33 of 

those. So there is a huge unmet need. 

And, in addition, there is a very strong need for more research 

and more data so that we can truly understand this problem, even 

the extent of the problem and characteristics of victims, characteristics of traffickers, what approaches really work, where is the evidence that they work. And we do not really have the funding to do 

that kind of research, and all of our partners, our Federal partners, 

we are all trying to work together to close—— 

Senator FRANKEN. And to bring that home just in terms of talking about one unfunded grant request and, you know, just to bring 

it home on human terms—and any one of you can do this—what 

the request was, what the situation was, what the exploitation was. 

Put a human face on just one of those unmet grants. 

Ambassador CDEBACA. With the caveat that there obviously are 

some confidentiality issues, as far as the ones that we select and 

send up for congressional notification, obviously, that is part of the 

record, but the ones that we do not, not necessarily. But there are 

a few of the ones that really stood out for me, especially in West 

Africa. A Catholic organization in one of the smaller West African 

countries that was not only trying to put together a victim services 

shelter, something that we help young women, young men, as they 

come out of slavery, that kind of transition facility, but also would 

work with the government in order to come up with the legislation 

that they so sorely need. You know, we had a 13th Amendment 

from 1865 until the year 2000, and for us to really hit our stride, 

we needed modern, updated statutes, and this country does as well. 

And so we are trying to backfill with training and technical assistance, repositioning some of our other grants that are out there 

through some of the international organizations. But it does not 

give you the day-to-day work that that nongovernmental organization could have done on the ground in West Africa. And that is, I 

think, just repeated over and over across the applications. 

Senator FRANKEN. Ms. Leary, advocates in Minnesota have 

talked about a pressing need for culturally competent services for 

Native American victims of human trafficking. Can you tell us 

about the efforts being made to offer culturally competent training 

for law enforcement or service providers? 

Ms. LEARY. It is a pressing need not just for Native American 

victims but for victims from so many different cultures, and we find 

those victims not only around the world but certainly here in the 

United States. And what we are doing to try to foster that culturally competent service delivery is providing training through our 

technical assistance providers. 

I think this is a problem across the board in victim services with 

any kind of victim. You need to understand where the victim is at 
19 

in order to effectively work with him or her. It is not just language. 

It is understanding the traditions, the culture, the kind of personal 

orientation where that individual might be. 

With respect to the Native American population, the Office of 

Victims of Crime did host a day-long meeting at the Museum of the 

American Indian with practitioners from around Indian country 

around the country and with victim service providers to try to get 

a better understanding of what was happening on reservations and 

in Indian country and what are the needs of those victims that are 

not being met. And then we try to shape our responses and our 

training and technical assistance based on what we learn from 

meetings like that. 

Senator FRANKEN. Thank you. 

Mr. CdeBaca, I was pleased that Secretary Clinton decided to 

rank the U.S. in its annual Trafficking in Persons Report. Labor 

and sex trafficking in other countries is a huge problem, but it 

would be a mistake, not to mention completely inaccurate, for the 

U.S. to pretend that this is a problem we have totally figured out. 

Have you seen a difference in your dialogue with other countries 

since the U.S. was added to the report? 

Ambassador CDEBACA. We have, Senator, and, in fact, a surprising and positive difference. There was a little nervousness as 

the data started coming in and we started putting the minimum 

standards, applying the facts and the law with the United States 

that first year. When it began to emerge—and I think not a surprise given all the work that had been done over the previous decade through the Clinton, Bush, and now Obama administrations on 

this issue—that the United States was looking like a Tier 1 country, because of what we thought might be the response from a 

number of countries saying, well, of course, you put yourself on 

Tier 1. If you are grading yourself, you are going to give yourself 

an A. But the transparency of the U.S. narrative, the accuracy, the 

data that is underpinning it, reflecting Federal and increasingly 

State efforts against human trafficking has carried the day, and 

most of the countries that we talk to actually say the fact that it 

does not pull punches but at the same time has best practices and 

then recommendations for ourselves makes it much easier to talk 

to these other countries. It has become a very important foreign 

policy tool. 

Now, there are some countries that do not like what their ranking is and have pointed out that we have a Tier 1 but have 10 million, 11 million illegal aliens in the United States, which is perhaps 

more of an evidence of their misunderstanding of what human trafficking is than it is reflective of them actually reading the report. 

So we think that it has worked out very well. I was at a conference the day before yesterday, an in-service for folks from our 

embassies around Latin America, and a couple of the people who 

were in from embassies in countries that are not always the warmest towards the United States over the last few years said that this 

particular decision to rank the United States has made a difference 

in how they can talk to their foreign counterparts about trafficking. 

Senator FRANKEN. Thank you, and I want to thank you all for 

your testimony and for your tremendous work on this issue. 
20 

The record of this hearing will remain open for a week for additional statements and questions. Thank you, again, for your time 

and testimony. 

This hearing stands adjourned. Thank you. 

[Whereupon, at 11:15 a.m., the Committee was adjourned.] 

[Additional material submitted for the record follows.] 
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A P P E N D I X 

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD
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PREPARED STATEMENT OF MARY LOU LEARY
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PREPARED STATEMENT OF LUIS CDEBACA
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QUESTIONS SUBMITTED TO MARY LOU LEARY BY SENATOR KLOBUCHAR

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QUESTIONS SUBMITTED TO LUIS CDEBACA BY SENATOR KLOBUCHAR
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QUESTIONS SUBMITTED TO KELLY RYAN BY SENATOR KLOBUCHAR
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QUESTIONS SUBMITTED TO MARY LOU LEARY BY SENATOR COBURN

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184 
185 
186 
187 
188 
189 
190 
191 
192 
193 
194 
195 
196 
197 
198 
199 
200 
201 
202 

SUBMISSION FOR THE RECORD
203 
204 
205 
206 
207 
208 
209 
210 
211 

SUBMISSION FOR THE RECORD
212 
213 

SUBMISSION FOR THE RECORD
214 
215 

SUBMISSION FOR THE RECORD
216 
217 
218 
219 
220 
221 
222 

Æ