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REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES IN THE GLOBAL FIGHT

AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING

HEARING

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

NOVEMBER 4, 2013

Serial No. 113–88

Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs

(

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/ or

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/

(II)

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

EDWARD R. ROYCE, California, Chairman 

CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey 

ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida 

DANA ROHRABACHER, California 

STEVE CHABOT, Ohio 

JOE WILSON, South Carolina 

MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas 

TED POE, Texas 

MATT SALMON, Arizona 

TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania 

JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina 

ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois 

MO BROOKS, Alabama 

TOM COTTON, Arkansas 

PAUL COOK, California 

GEORGE HOLDING, North Carolina 

RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas 

SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania 

STEVE STOCKMAN, Texas 

RON DESANTIS, Florida 

TREY RADEL, Florida 

DOUG COLLINS, Georgia 

MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina 

TED S. YOHO, Florida 

LUKE MESSER, Indiana 

ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York 

ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American 

Samoa 

BRAD SHERMAN, California 

GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York 

ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey 

GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia 

THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida 

BRIAN HIGGINS, New York 

KAREN BASS, California 

WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts 

DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island 

ALAN GRAYSON, Florida 

JUAN VARGAS, California 

BRADLEY S. SCHNEIDER, Illinois 

JOSEPH P. KENNEDY III, Massachusetts 

AMI BERA, California 

ALAN S. LOWENTHAL, California 

GRACE MENG, New York 

LOIS FRANKEL, Florida 

TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii 

JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas

AMY PORTER, Chief of Staff THOMAS SHEEHY, Staff Director

JASON STEINBAUM, Democratic Staff Director 

(III)

C O N T E N T S 

Page

WITNESSES 

The Honorable Luis CdeBaca, Ambassador-at-Large, Office to Monitor and 

Combat Trafficking in Persons, U.S. Department of State .............................. 7

The Honorable Tony Rackauckas, district attorney, Orange County, Office 

of the Orange County District Attorney ............................................................. 22

Ms. Kay Buck, executive director and chief executive officer, Coalition to 

Abolish Slavery & Trafficking ............................................................................. 27

Ms. Angela Guanzon, survivor of international trafficking, Member, CAST 

Survivor Advisory Caucus and National Survivor Network ............................. 33

Ms. Carissa Phelps, chief executive officer, Runaway Girl, FPC ........................ 37

LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING 

The Honorable Luis CdeBaca: Prepared statement .............................................. 11

The Honorable Tony Rackauckas: Prepared statement ....................................... 25

Ms. Kay Buck: Prepared statement ....................................................................... 29

Ms. Angela Guanzon: Prepared statement ............................................................ 34

Ms. Carissa Phelps: Prepared statement ............................................................... 39

APPENDIX 

Hearing notice .......................................................................................................... 52

Hearing minutes ...................................................................................................... 53

The Honorable Edward R. Royce, a Representative in Congress from the 

State of California, and chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs: Department of Justice statement for the record ........................................................... 55

(1)

REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES IN THE GLOBAL 

FIGHT AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING 

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2013

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS,

Washington, DC. 

The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:17 a.m., in the 

Titan Student Union Building, California State University-Fullerton, 800 North College Boulevard, Fullerton, California, Hon. 

Edward R. Royce (chairman of the committee) presiding. 

Chairman ROYCE. This hearing will come to order. I am going to 

ask everyone, if you could find a seat and we will begin on our 

Human Trafficking Field Hearing. 

Let me also say that we are pleased to be joined today by a number of organizations here in Orange County that have been very involved with a task force that I put together some time ago in order 

to try to bring organizations in the community together with law 

enforcement—some representation from the bench to try and come 

up with some solutions to the trafficking problems. This time we 

will just mention that we have some people in the audience, who 

will go nameless, who work with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but we appreciate their good service. 

But some of the others I am going to ask to stand for a minute 

and be recognized: Bob Smith with F.A.C.E.S.S.; Cheryl Pittluck 

from Vineyard Anaheim Human Trafficking Ministry; Chris Bauer, 

Saddleback Justice and Trafficking Initiative; Claude Arnold, Special Agent in Charge with ICE; Guido Hajenius with iEmpathize; 

Je’net Kreitner with Grandma’s House of Hope; Joyce Capelle with 

Crittenton Services, Children and Families—been around since the 

1880s helping girls; Kimberly Yim, San Clemente Abolitionists; 

Leigh Dundas with A21 Project; Linh Tran of the Orange County 

Human Trafficking Task Force; Marji Iacovetti, ZOE Children’s 

Home; Paula Daniels, Forgotten Children; Chief Raul Quezada, 

Anaheim PD; Sandra Morgan, Global Center for Women and Justice; Sherri Harris from the Salvation Army—their network that 

works with human trafficking; and Stephanie Pollaro and Wendy 

Dailey, co-founders of International Sanctuary. 

We thank them for their help on the legislation that we have authored. And I also thank my colleagues, who I am going to introduce in a minute, for their trip out here to California. 

But we must thank California State University, my alma mater 

here, today as well for making this venue possible, and our acting 

ranking member, Congresswoman Karen Bass. Many of you know 

2

that she is the former speaker here in the Assembly in California. 

She has been a leader on this issue. 

[Applause.] 

Chairman ROYCE. And we are working with her on this bipartisan legislation. We appreciate her trip out here. Randy Weber, we 

appreciate you coming all the way from Texas. Dana Rohrabacher, 

Congressman, we appreciate you and all your work as well. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. All the way from Costa Mesa. 

Chairman ROYCE. All the way from Costa Mesa. [Laughter.] 

And Alan Lowenthal will be here shortly all the way from Long 

Beach. 

But I am proud, I must say, of the work the Foreign Affairs Committee has done over the years, and all of these members serve on 

the committee with me, on human trafficking. In 2000, our committee put forward legislation that was focused on what we could 

do to force other countries around the world to put in place standards and to start to combat human trafficking. The consequence of 

that legislation is that we now we have 130 countries around the 

world over that period of time that have strengthened laws on their 

books. And the reason they do it is a simple one: They try to stay 

out of a report that the State Department now does every year that 

shames them for their failure to comply with efforts to try to stop 

the trafficking of underage girls and try to stop the trafficking with 

respect to labor trafficking. 

And so, we have these tier rankings that we do, and part of our 

efforts in Congress has been to increase the pressure, increase the 

standards. And as we are traveling and meeting with foreign heads 

of state, this does come up. This does come up. They complain 

about the report, but they try to comply with it. And we think that 

continued vigilance is what is called for on that front. 

We appreciate that our top point person in the world is here, who 

has the role of traveling, and he is headed to Algeria a little later 

after his appearance here in California. But he is Ambassador 

CdeBaca, and many of you know he has had a rather prominent 

role in forcing this issue internationally, and we are pleased that 

he is with us today. Thank you, Ambassador. 

Trafficking is a global problem, but unfortunately for us it is not 

a far-away problem. And I mentioned here in Orange County some 

of the statistics, some of the things that the District Attorney’s Office has shared with me. We have had a doubling of trafficking in 

underage girls every year for the last 3 years that those working 

in community-based organizations offering services have noticed in 

the community. And it is because of the expertise established by 

some of these criminal syndicates in the use, for example, of Romeos to find underage girls, to find a girl maybe 14 years old, convince her to leave her State, come to California, leave her ties with 

her family, and then begin the process of moving in with them. 

And before they know it, they are being beaten and trafficked. 

And as the District Attorney will tell you, it is those beatings 

which establish something of a Stockholm syndrome-type situation 

where that child is now afraid to testify against the individual who 

has done it. And now he sells her into a criminal syndicate that 

deals in these underage girls. 

3

We especially appreciate the work of the police departments, including the Anaheim PD—they are represented here today—in 

their efforts across this county and in southern California to try to 

prosecute. And for that reason, many of the organizations that we 

mentioned here today were involved in the passage of a Statewide 

initiative in California, Statewide proposition, which went into effect this year. And as a result of that law, we have our first conviction of an individual who was trafficking underage girls. In this 

case, he had taken her from Bakersfield to Sacramento, a 13-yearold, and he received, as I recall, some 32 years in prison for that 

act. 

This new legislation has teeth, but in talking to the prosecutors, 

what they say is they also need additional legislation not only to 

attack the problem of trafficked underage girls and labor trafficking out of countries in the United States, and we have legislation to do that, but also additional legislation to try to make it easier for prosecutions to go forward by creating an environment for 

underage girls especially to have an element of safety and be able 

to come forward and testify. So we are going to discuss some of 

those issues. 

But we held a committee hearing in May on this issue and had 

one of the supervisors from Los Angeles County, Don Knabe, tell 

about his experiences and the discovery that girls 10, 12 years old 

were being trafficked in Los Angeles County and some of the steps 

that the county took. 

Well, going forward, we want to build on that work. The Orange 

County Human Trafficking Task Force has assisted 250 victims. 

Ninety-three percent of them are women. Eighty of them were from 

foreign countries. A third of them are recruited in foreign countries 

by unscrupulous labor recruiters. Our legislation, the legislation 

that I have introduced, the Fraudulent Overseas Recruitment and 

Trafficking Elimination Act, requires that foreign workers be given 

accurate information about the terms of employment and anti-trafficking protections under U.S. law. It prohibits recruitment fees or 

hidden charges used as coercive leverage over workers. No longer 

can you get them into debt bondage. It requires the foreign labor 

recruiters to register. They have got to remain in good standing 

with the Department of Labor. 

Why do all of this? Because it gives us a ground for prosecution 

when people are involved in bringing trafficking into the United 

States. And it provides new incentives for law enforcement to ensure that recruiters and employers fall under a series of penalties 

and fees and consequences. 

So I look forward to the input from our expert testimony here 

today. And as my chief of staff can tell you, based on all her volunteer work with underage girls trafficked in India and in Cambodia, 

and there the average age when girls are trafficked is 11. She says 

you do not see the harm of human trafficking most clearly in numbers or statistics. You see it in the eyes of the individual person 

whose life is being stolen and whose dignity is being assaulted for 

the profit of someone else. 

We will hear today thankfully that in southern California, some 

of our organizations are on the cutting edge to fight trafficking and 

rescue and protect victims. And I want to thank our witnesses, but 

4

especially in closing I want to thank our courageous survivors who 

will testify, for being here to share their insights, share their expertise with our committee. And your message will be heard loud 

and wide, and certainly taken back to Washington, DC. 

We will now go to Congresswoman Karen Bass from Los Angeles. 

Ms. BASS. Well, thank you very much and good morning, everyone. I want to thank Chairman Royce for convening this hearing 

and in general for his leadership on the Foreign Affairs Committee, 

as well as his commitment to eradicating human trafficking. I 

know he is your congressional representative, but you should know 

that all of us are very honored to serve under his leadership on the 

committee. 

Although trafficking impacts every country across the globe, it is 

far too often unspoken and in the shadows. It is my hope that today’s hearing will shed light on both the global statistics as well 

as the local trends right here in southern California. By learning 

more about the regional strategies utilized to stop this exploitation, 

we will surely be better prepared to strengthen our prevention, protection, and prosecution efforts both here at home and abroad. I 

look forward to sharing the solutions discussed here today with our 

colleagues back in Washington. 

In 2012, according to the International Labor Organization, nearly 21 million individuals worldwide were subjected to conditions of 

human trafficking. Unfortunately, the U.S. is not immune to this 

problem. The State Department’s ‘‘Trafficking in Persons Report’’ 

outlined that the U.S. is a source, transit, and destination country 

for labor and sex trafficking of men, women, and children. While 

the assessment has been helpful in highlighting certain types of 

trafficking, it does not include raw new data recently reported 

about the domestic minor victims. 

In 2013, 60 percent of the child sex trafficking victims recovered 

as a part of an FBI nationwide raid from over 70 cities were children from foster care or group homes. This issue is very close to 

me personally because it greatly impacts Los Angeles, and our Nation’s foster youth are a vulnerable, yet resilient population that we 

remove from their homes and we pledge to keep them safe. In fact, 

in Los Angeles County alone, hundreds of youth are commercially 

exploited each year. In 2012 in Los Angeles, 78 percent of the girls 

identified as victims of trafficking were current or former foster 

youth. 

Despite these statistics, few child welfare employees have been 

adequately trained or are prepared to respond to child victims of 

trafficking. And fewer still have incorporated policies, protocols, 

and case management techniques to serve this population appropriately. It is absolutely unacceptable to allow the continued victimization and abuse of a population that we have vowed to care 

for and protect. 

That is why my fellow colleagues on the Foreign Affairs Committee and co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth, 

Representative Tom Marino, and I have introduced the Child Welfare Response to Trafficking Act. Our bill will do three things. It 

would ensure that child welfare agencies create plans to prevent 

the exploitation and provide appropriate services to victims. It 

would create a best practices toolkit for child welfare agencies. And 

5

it would provide accurate State-by-State and national statistics in 

a comprehensive report to Congress. 

As Federal legislators, we have a tremendous opportunity to ensure that local plans to prevent exploitation are in place, as well 

as collect the necessary national data to inform future Federal 

strategies. While many of the social services needed to properly 

serve trafficked youth may require a monetary investment, these 

first steps do not require additional Federal funding. 

But congressional action is not enough. We must undertake a 

whole of society and a whole of government approach that works 

to ensure the safety and dignity of trafficking victims and acknowledges that human trafficking affects U.S. citizens and foreign nationals as well as millions of adults and children, men and women 

worldwide. 

I look forward to hearing the testimony today, and I, along with 

my colleagues, really want to thank you for being willing to come 

forward and share your stories. I know that it might be painful, 

but it is just extremely important that people understand exactly 

what happens and how we need to help. Thank you very much. 

Chairman ROYCE. Thank you, Congresswoman Bass. Randy 

Weber came all the way from Texas for today’s hearing. He serves 

as vice chair of the subcommittee dealing with Global Human 

Rights, and his commitment to these issues extends back to his 

days in the Texas legislature where he offered landmark legislation 

there to combat human trafficking and to protect trafficking victims. 

Mr. WEBER. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to start out 

by thanking you for calling this important hearing, and my colleagues for taking out the time to come all the way from California 

[laughter] which is a little bit closer than Texas, I will tell you. I 

frequently joke as I leave DC to go back to my home State of Texas 

that I am returning to the land of sanity. Yet there is some real 

truth. I think it is important that we leave the Beltway behind and 

all the politics and we come back into the trenches to actually hear 

from those who are dealing with these treacherous realities of life 

as some of our witnesses have been through firsthand. And again, 

I want to echo my colleagues’ comments in saying thank you for 

being willing to come and share your story. 

We need to be back in the land of reality, as I call it, to hear 

these kinds of stories and to deal with these kinds of atrocities so 

that when we go back to DC, we realize how our decisions impact 

those who are out in the real world, as I like to call it, how our 

decisions affect them. Sometimes it is the decisions that we do not 

make, Mr. Chairman, the things that we will not take up, that we 

will not address. So I think it is important that we come back and 

we come to these kinds of events and we learn from those who are 

here on the ground. 

Mr. Chairman, you alluded to the journey I started nearly 5 

years ago in the Texas legislature when I got involved in human 

trafficking issues. And at that time, I had absolutely no idea of the 

prevalence of participation in the industry, the magnitude of profit, 

the horror, absolute horror, faced by those trapped in this life. I instinctively knew immediately then it was not right, and I had to 

pitch in and stop this madness. Since then we have been privileged 

6

to be a leader in the Texas State legislature in that fight against 

this abhorrent slavery. We created the very first Statewide human 

trafficking prevention task force in the Texas legislature, House 

Bill 4009. We added criminal enhancements for those who buy and 

sell humans as if they were commodities. And we included even 

those who assist in the trade and benefit from it. We added them 

to the criminal list. And as I said to a number of groups when we 

spoke back in Texas, that we would like to catch those perpetrators 

and put them under the jailhouse. 

We strengthened the penalties. We increased the definition of 

‘‘human trafficking’’ so that it included a lot of these 

extraterritorial, extraneous criminals, I guess I should say. We 

added significant protections for minor victims. We wrote the Code 

to simplify criminal prosecution. 

And then we began to tackle the demands. I was encouraged 

reading today about one set of comments. They do not call them 

‘‘johns.’’ They call them ‘‘purchasers of sex.’’ We tackled that demand. We changed the law to allow the creation of the First Offender Prosecution Prevention Program in our State. 

And the deeper involved I got into the fight, the more horror stories I heard. The larger the number grew of those impacted, and 

I think, Karen, you are exactly right when you say it is not the 

numbers that you have to look at, or maybe it was you, Mr. Chairman. It is the eyes. When you look into the eyes of the victims and 

you realize the pain and the suffering and you hear the stories, it 

just causes us to want to redouble our efforts. 

We must not let those numbers be so large that we become desensitized. We have got to keep this in the forefront, got to educate, 

got to make this a priority, and got to make sure that we make the 

public aware of it. The magnitude of this industry can literally be 

overwhelming, unbelievably overwhelming. 

We must focus in one individual at a time. Now, there were some 

statistics in the reading today and a lot of the comments made, I 

think, were 17,000—I forget. It was 17,500 victims in a particular 

State or county or area, I forget. And I am thinking 1 percent, 175 

lives. If we change and help 1 percent, what a great number that 

would be. Think if it was 10 percent. What a great number that 

would be. So one person rescued, one life saved, one more person 

on the road to restoration. It is worth it. It is absolutely worth it. 

All of those stories, all of your stories, all of those individuals add 

up to encouragement, hope, and keep us motivated to continue this 

fight. 

I thank you for this holding this, Mr. Chairman. I yield back. 

Chairman ROYCE. Thank you, Mr. Weber. 

Congressman Rohrabacher, who represents the 48th District of 

California, is chairman of the Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, 

and Emerging Threats. Mr. Rohrabacher, would you like to make 

a statement? 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Well, I would just like to thank the chairman, Chairman Royce, for the leadership that he is providing as 

chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee and those of us who are 

on the Foreign Affairs Committee. We obviously have a very wide 

view of the problem. 

7

Can you hear me now? All right. Should I repeat what I said 

about Ed Royce? [Laughter.] 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. I would just note that those of us on the Foreign Affairs Committee have a very wide view of what is going on 

in the world. And there a lot of evil things that are happening in 

the world, a lot of things that threaten our national security, a lot 

of things that demand our attention for the immediate safety of our 

country and our people. And I applaud Ed and the other members 

of this committee for what we are trying to do to meet those challenges. 

But, you know, it is really easy when you have got these grandiose visions of an army of terrorists who want to blow up buildings and murder our people and how we are trying to thwart that. 

And it is really easy to overlook maybe something that is right in 

our own neighborhood and is an evil that we need to pay attention 

to. In this case, that evil does have ties to things that are happening in foreign countries, for young people who are being exploited and brought here. And I really, again, want to applaud our 

chairman for taking the time to look at that and to look at this and 

see what we can do about this issue that deserves our attention. 

Thank you very much. 

Chairman ROYCE. Thank you, Congressman. 

We are going to now turn to our witnesses. And as I shared with 

you before, your full prepared statement will be part of the record. 

And without objection, all members may have 5 days to submit 

statements or questions. 

And I would like to submit for the record the collection of onepage information sheets provided by the members of the Human 

Trafficking Congressional Advisory Caucus that I work with, and 

I mentioned them earlier. And that has been a very welcome resource for the committee. 

And with that, we will introduce our first witness. For 4 years 

now, Ambassador CdeBaca has served as Ambassador-at-Large and 

Director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons at the United States Department of State. Before that he 

served as counsel to the House Judiciary Committee following a 

successful career as a Federal prosecutor, during which he received 

the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award for his role as 

lead trial counsel in the largest slavery prosecution here in the 

United States. 

Mr. Ambassador, we thank you for being here in Orange County 

today and for the work that your office does every single day. 

STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE LUIS CDEBACA, AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE, OFFICE TO MONITOR AND COMBAT TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE 

Ambassador CDEBACA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank 

you, all of the members of the committee, Ranking Member Bass 

and everyone else. Good morning. 

Chairman ROYCE. Ambassador, will you pull the microphone just 

a little closer? 

Ambassador CDEBACA. Of course. Thank you for the invitation to 

testify and for your commitment to the fight against trafficking in 

persons. The work of Congress on this issue has sent a clear mesVerDate 0ct 09 2002 14:27 Jan 07, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\_FULL\110413\85480 HFA PsN: SHIRL
8

sage that the U.S. rejects modern slavery and that responding to 

this crime wherever it exists is a priority for our country. 

Now, trafficking in persons is the umbrella term that we use for 

all of the conduct involved in reducing a person to, or holding a 

person in, a state of compelled service, whether for sex or labor. 

And there are a lot of legal ways to skin that cat. There are a lot 

of euphemisms and different terms that get used. But I am glad 

that Mr. Rohrabacher named it so plainly for all of us: It is evil. 

And that evil, to really illustrate what that means, I think we have 

to look to the survivors. We have to look to the victims. 

It is the man who boarded the fishing boat with a promise of a 

good job, instead was forced to work 20 hours a day for months on 

end, beaten, starved, and told he could keep working or lose his 

life. It is the woman who left home for better work as a maid in 

a foreign country, who instead found herself cut off from the outside world, never given a day’s rest, passport confiscated, wages 

withheld, abused, and then the knock on the door at night: The 

sexual assaults. It is the child prostituted in a brothel, enduring 

unspeakable exploitation. It is the teenager aspiring to a different 

life, manipulated by promises of love and opportunity. 

These are people we know, who we have met, whose stories we 

seek to tell at the State Department. They are from abroad and 

they are American. They are men, women, and children. They are 

migrants, and they are people who have never left home. They are 

in remote countries, and they are in the communities in which they 

were raised. And the estimates, as we have heard, range from 21 

million to 28 million of them. 

That is why today’s hearing is so valuable. It reminds us that 

this is not simply a crime that happens over there, that the efforts 

to deal with this challenge are not just carried out from Washington. This crime must be dealt with in every town hall, courthouse, and police precinct across this country because modern slavery undermines the rule of law and justice. It tears at the fabric 

of our families and our communities, and it is an affront to all of 

our most dearly held values of human rights, freedom, and dignity 

for all people. 

Today I would like to talk a little bit about the way partnerships 

are an essential tool in the struggle. Because trafficking in persons 

is first and foremost a crime, it also touches many other areas: 

Labor, immigration, health, agriculture, and transportation. This is 

why we need to spread understanding about this crime and how it 

intersects with different various areas of concern and jurisdiction. 

Much like the work, Ms. Bass, that you are doing with the Child 

Protective Services around the country, that notion of preexisting 

jurisdiction, preexisting systems that were set up not thinking 

about human trafficking, how they need to incorporate it into their 

work. 

To do that, we need to share information and practices, and to 

cooperate on efforts to protect victims and prosecute traffickers. We 

have to think about how to go up the supply chain to those who 

profit, who do not care where their fish or fiber comes from, the 

hotel managers who, with reckless disregard, look the other way 

when the pimp sets up business on their property. 

9

At the Federal level, partnerships are the center of our antitrafficking efforts, and part of that is because of the President’s Interagency Task Force that Congress set up in 2000 through the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. This Cabinet-level body meets every 

year to review progress across the administration and to chart our 

path forward. 

And in doing that, we have seen that we have made a great deal 

of progress in recent years, but we are clear eyed about the fact 

that there is so much to do, and that government alone cannot 

solve this problem. And that is why our Federal partnership approach tries to bring together a wide range of activists and advocates. We are working with partners in the survivor community, 

the public sector, the private sector, the faith community, civil society, academia, everyone who cares enough to join this fight. 

Looking ahead, we know that the next step in this struggle is 

confronting this issue at the local level. After all, right now a trafficking victim is likelier to come into contact with a local patrol officer than an FBI or an ICE agent. Right now, they are more likely 

to encounter a prosecutor in a specialized domestic violence unit 

than they are one with experience in human trafficking cases. So 

in the years ahead, we hope that more and more local level partnerships will emerge to help drive this effort forward. 

Now, the partnership model that we have adopted at the Federal 

level will not be the right fit for every community. But there are 

elements of effective partnerships that we hope that State and local 

leaders will look to. For example, we need to make sure everyone 

that could have encountered a trafficking victim knows what 

they’re seeing and has the information about what to do next. We 

need to make sure that justice and law enforcement officials work 

with caregivers and activists so that survivors can get the support 

and resources they need—rehabilitation, restoration, jobs, and restitution—and knowing that their abuser will not hurt them or anyone else anymore, seeing their abusers held to account. 

Here in California, we have seen excellent examples of that, and 

we are very happy that the members of the Orange County Task 

Force and the Los Angeles Area Task Forces are able to join us. 

These partnerships work. They work here and they work abroad. 

In India, NGOs are helping victims leave the brick kilns, and the 

newly-formed anti-human trafficking units at the State level are 

starting to take those cases up. In Nigeria, the NAPTIP organization is co-locating special social workers and specially-trained police 

together for when a victim comes through the door. In Canada, Native American leaders are being brought into the fight, and hotel 

operators are stepping up in Mexico with job training. Partnership 

is the solution, whether in California or Cameroon, whether in 

Texas or Tunisia. 

In conclusion, I want to make to clear to the committee that the 

Obama administration will partner with you and anyone who takes 

this crime seriously because slavery cannot be tolerated whether in 

history or in the 21st century. My former boss on the Judiciary 

Committee perhaps said it best when John Conyers said that 

‘‘Emancipation was not a 1-day event; it was a promise, a promise 

written in the blood of all who lived in bondage and all who died 

to end it.’’

10

Today we hear the voices of the survivors of the past and of the 

present. We cannot—we will not—shirk our duty to make good on 

the promise of emancipation. And I am confident that by working 

in partnership, our shared goal is within reach—a world free from 

slavery. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Ambassador CdeBaca follows:]

11


85480a-1.eps

ST A TEMENT OF 

AMBASSADOR LUIS CdeBACA 

OFFICE TO MONITOR AND COMBAT TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS 

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE 

BEFORE THE 

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

FULL COMMITTEE FIELD HEARING 

"Regionlll Perspectives in the Globlll Fight Agllin.~t Humlln Trafficking. " 

FULLERTON, CALIFORNIA 

NOVEMBER 4,2013 

Mr. Chairman, Ms. Bass, Members of the Committee: good monring, thank 

you for the invitation to testity today, and thank you for your conmlitment to 

the fight against trafticking in persons. The bipartisan leadership of 

Congress over the last 13 years has been instmmental in spurring progress in 

anti-trafficking efforts here at home and around the world. Working across 

parties and Administrations, we have sent a clear message that the United 

States rejects all fomls of slavery in the 21 st century, and makes it a priority 

to respond to this crime wherever it exists. 

Finn as we are in that commitment, it's important still to understand just 

what this crime is and why we must combat it. Trafficking in persons is an 

umbrella tenn for all the conduct involved in reducing a person to, or 

holding a person in, a state of compelled service, whether for sex or labor. 

What does that mean, exactly? 

To answer that question, we listen to tlle stories ofthose who have been 

ensnared by human trat1icking schemes: the man who boarded a fishing 

boat with the promise of a good job, but who instead was forced to work 20 

hours a day for months on end, beaten, starved, and told he could keep 

working or lose his life; the woman who thought she could provide better for 

her family by working as a maid in a foreign country, but who instead found 

herself cut off from the outside world, never given a day oft~ her passport 

confiscated, her wages withheld, abused and raped by her "employer;" the 

child prostituted in a brothel, enduring unspeakable exploitation; the 

teenager aspiring to a different life, and manipulated by pronrises oflove and 
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85480a-2.eps

opportunity. 

There are many, many more examples ofthe way trafIickers exact this sort 

of exploitation. Trafficking occurs whenever and wherever people are 

willing to deprive others of freedom for their own benefit. It's a crime that 

victimizes men, women, and children; migrants, and people who have never 

left home; remote countries, and communities just 1 ike this one. 

That's why a hearing like this one is so valuable. It reminds us that 

trafficking in persons isn't just a crime that occurs in faraway places. And it 

reminds us that efforts to combat trafficking in persons aren't just carried out 

from Washington's halls of power. 

This is a crime that must be dealt with at every level of govennnent-in 

every town hall, courthouse, and police precinct across the country. Because 

no community is immune. It must be dealt with because modem slavery 

undermines the mle oflaw and justice. It tears at the fabric of our families 

and our communities. And it is an affront to our most dearly held values of 

human rights, freedom, and dignity for all people. 

So what are the best ways to respond to this crime? Today I'd like to talk 

about the way we use partnerships at the federal level to advance our work, 

and about the way partnerships at all levels are an essential tool in the 

stmggle against modern slavery. 

Why are partnerships so important? 

They're important because, while trafficking in persons is first and foremost 

a crime, it's also an issue that touches many other areas: labor, immigration, 

health, agriculture, and transportation to name a few. That's why we need to 

spread understanding about what this crime is and how it intersects with 

various areas of concern and jurisdiction. Then we need to share 

infonnation and practices, and cooperate on efforts to protect victims and 

prosecute traffickers. 

At the federal level, partnerships are at the center of our anti-trafficking 

efIorts. Once again, in this area, we owe Congress a great deal ofthanks. 

The lawmakers who crafted our modem anti-trafficking law, the Trafficking 

Victims Protection Act, had the vision to establish a whole-of-government 

stmcture to address this crime: the President's Interagency Task Force to 

2 
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85480a-3.eps

Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. This cabinet-level body meets 

every year, most recently in May, to review progress across the 

Administration and chart our path forward. 

This year, the Task Force focused on four main areas to guide our efforts. 

First, we want to improve victim services. Finding victims and getting 

them out of harm's way is the first critical step in stopping this crime. 

Following through to ensure victims get the support and services they need 

is essential for helping them move past their exploitation and choose the 

futures they want for themselves. With these factors in mind, our colleagues 

at the Departments of Justice, Health and Human Services, and Homeland 

Security have been leading the effort, in collaboration with other Federal 

agencies to develop a comprehensive action plan on victim services here in 

the United States. 

Second, we're taking a hard look at government procurement. The U.S. 

government is the single largest purchaser of goods and services in the 

world. We need to be sure taxpayer dollars aren't being used to fuel modern 

slavery. Last year, President Obama issued an Executive Order to 

strengthen our zero-tolerance policy on human trafficking in government 

contracting. The Office of Management and Budget along with my office 

and our federal partners are presently working to implement this order. 

Third, we want to strengthen the rule oflaw in the areas that deal with 

modern slavery. The Department of Justice, working with the Departments 

of Homeland Security and Labor, has stood up six Anti-Trafficking 

Coordination-or ACTeams. These teams of federal agents and prosecutors 

are working to develop high-impact trafficking cases. These agencies 

participate in a week-long, advanced human trafficking training programs to 

promote the exchange of expertise among national human trafficking 

experts. In another effort that was launched just last month, the State 

Department, working with DOl, DHS, and other law enforcement agencies, 

identified 10 potential countries to launch new initiatives with U.S. 

embassies to increase the flow of trafficking-related law enforcement 

infollnation from host countries to our own law enforcement and 

intelligence agencies. This sort of cross-border collaboration will help us 

identifY victims and hmnan traffickers both in the United States and arOlmd 

the globe. 

3 
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85480a-4.eps

Finally, we will continue to make public awareness a top priority. After 

all, this is a crime that touches all our lives, whether through its effect on the 

connnunities in which we live, or its role in the production ofthe coffee we 

drink, the clothes we wear, or the technology we rely on. It happens in the 

hotels we stay in and restaurants we visit. We also realize, that as much 

progress as we've made in recent years, government alone can't solve this 

problem. 

That's why our partnership approach at the federal level includes many more 

stakeholders than just federal agencies. We're working with partners in the 

survivor community, private sector, the faith commlmity, civil society, 

academia, and the public to seek input, increase knowledge, develop new 

innovations, and share effective practices. 

We're working with government and industry leaders in supply chain 

management and other stakeholders to help Federal agencies and businesses 

address the potential risk of trafficking in the supply chains. We're 

partnering with legal experts in the private sector to develop resources for 

pro bono legal services networks to enhance the services available to 

trafficking victims. We've advised businesses interested in developing staff 

training on the indicators of human trafficking. And we've seed-funded 

innovative anti-trafficking partners in order to replicate and scale up efforts 

to engage consumers, support hotlines overseas, and build civil society 

capacity, to name a few. 

Despite the progress we've made at the federal level, with our partners 

inside and outside government, we know that the next stage of this stmggle 

is confronting this issue at the local level. After all, the first law 

enforcement official likely to come in contact with a trafficking victim isn't 

an FBI agent, but a local patrol officer or sheriff's deputy. The first justice 

official a trafficking victim will meet in a legal proceeding probably isn't a 

federal prosecutor, but an assistant DA or a local magistrate. 

And the reality of this crime, and the needs of its victims, are clearer at the 

local level than anywhere else. So in the years ahead, we hope more and 

more local-level partnerships will emerge to help drive tlus effort forward. 

Now, the partnership model we've adopted at the federal level won't be the 

right fit for every community. But there are elements of effective 

4 
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85480a-5.eps

partnerships that we hope state and local government will look to as they 

make partnerships a part ofthe way they deal with this crime. 

For example, we need to make sure at all levels that anyone who might 

encounter a trat1lcking victim has the knowledge to recognize what they're 

seeing, and the information about what to do next. We need to make sure 

that justice and law enforcement officials are working together with 

caregivers and advocates, so that victims get the support and resources they 

need and their abusers can be held to account. 

Here in California, we find some excellent examples of cross-cutting 

collaboration between governments and civil society groups. 

California's regional anti-traHicking task forces are employing a 

comprehensive, victim-centered approach. On these task forces we tind law 

enforcement and local, state, and federal prosecutors, as well as other 

governmental leaders and NGOs. 

In this area there are two regional anti-trafficking task forces doing 

particularly great work:: the Los Angeles Metro Area Task Force, of which 

CAST is a co-chair. You'll be hearing from CAST CEO Kay Buck on the 

next panel. Also, we're seeing real results from the Orange County Task 

Force. They are clear examples of how law enforcement and NGO 

collaboration leads to effective responses that punish traffickers and provide 

care to victims. 

Across the cOlmtry, we're seeing innovative partnerships and task forces 

making a difference from Houston to Seattle to Chicago. And today I want 

to reiterate to this Committee and this community: the Obama 

Administration will stand with you and with anyone who takes this problem 

seriously and is conIDlitted to combating modem slavery. Because whether 

in Southern California, or Washington, or halfway around the world, this 

crime carmot be tolerated. To the survivors oftraHicking - and those still 

trapped in modern slavery - we see you. We hear your voices and will not 

rest in the face ofthis abuse. Although we're facing a monumental 

challenge, I'm confident that by working in partnership, our shared goal is 

within reach: a world free from modem slavery. 

Thank you and I'm eager to answer your questions. 
16

Chairman ROYCE. Thank you, Ambassador. Let me ask you one 

or two questions, and then we will move down the panel with some 

questions on this. 

One of those questions I was going to ask is we had the reauthorization of the Traffic Victims Protection Act this year. We put it 

into the larger bill of the Violence Against Women Act. And as part 

of that, we had language that was focused on what we would do 

on ranking countries overseas to try to ramp up the pressure. And 

some of those countries have been entering into these agreements, 

antitrafficking agreements, that are called partnerships, that to 

quote from the agreement, ‘‘have resulted in concrete and measurable outcomes.’’

What I wanted to talk to you about is how do you get those outcomes to be something truly measurable? How do you promulgate 

perhaps regulations to say it is going to depend upon the number 

of prosecutions or it is going to depend upon the number of victims 

who are assisted, something tangible that allows us more than a 

judgment call when you do the assessment on compliance? 

Ambassador CDEBACA. I think, Mr. Chairman, that goes to the 

heart of how we are looking at this requirement from the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act. What we do not 

want, just as at the same time that we are saying that partnerships are emerging as the fourth P from the three-P paradigm of 

prevention, protection, and prosecution, that partnerships are the 

way to effectuate that. But partnerships for partnerships sake are 

not a panacea, and they should not be a refuge for a country that 

is doing nothing on human trafficking. 

And so, we are working right now with the rest of the State Department as we ramp up for this coming year—it will be the first 

year of the report—where we are taking those partnerships into account. And one of the things that we are talking about internally 

is that notion of weighting those partnership efforts, and I think 

that just as you yourself have expressed and just as the legislation 

has as its touchstone that notion of concrete and measurable. 

Concrete and measurable comes back to the things that are in 

the other minimum standards: The number of prosecutions, the 

number of victims held, whether the sentences are actually in line 

with kidnapping, extortion, et cetera. Those are the things that I 

think that we are going to be looking to. So we are trying to make 

sure that we will not have strategic behavior on the part of countries around the world to enter into empty partnership agreements 

that do not have time-bound goals and structures put in place. 

Chairman ROYCE. Well, we want to work with you on something 

concrete where you can show exactly what are the prosecutions, 

you know, what are the programs out there to assist underage victims and so forth. 

The other question I was going to ask you is, the Orange County 

Anti-Trafficking Task Force has reported that nearly 90 percent of 

the labor trafficking victims that they assist are foreign citizens. 

We will hear from one such victim here on the panel today. But 

how significant a factor is fraudulent overseas labor recruiting in 

international human traffic in the United States in your assessment? 

17

Ambassador CDEBACA. Mr. Chairman, we think that this is a big 

factor in the exploitation of the workers. And this is one of the reasons why in the executive order that President Obama issued for 

Federal contracting, the standard that we put in place and that is 

currently in the Federal Acquisitions Register, which is open for 

public comment right now, is the notion that no recruiting for fee 

is appropriate. Now, we understand that that’s something that we 

can do by executive order for Federal contracts, and that those who 

do not want to abide by that can choose not to apply for a Federal 

contract. 

It is something, though, that we see across the globe, that when 

people have to buy a job, they end up going to either the labor recruiters themselves for the loan, or they have to go to a loan shark 

in their home village. And so, they owe so much money that they 

are almost already in debt bondage before they even show up at 

work. 

And so, when we are looking at this through the executive 

order—we know that there is some legislation out there on this as 

well—we very much want to be moving the conversation both in 

the U.S. and globally to confront this, because we have seen in 

country after country where it is not the stereotype of illegal immigration that is fueling the trafficking. It is, as we saw in this year’s 

report, the advertisement in the paper that said ‘‘Indonesian maids 

for sale,’’ perhaps more honest than they should have been. In that 

country, the way that they were bringing in those Indonesian 

maids was through labor recruiters. 

And so, I think that that’s what we see time and time again is 

it is not simply the underground economy. It is in labor recruiting. 

It is in the places where the vulnerable are brought in to do the 

types of dirty and dangerous jobs that others do not want. 

Chairman ROYCE. Thank you, Ambassador. My time has expired. 

Karen Bass? 

Ms. BASS. I actually want to follow up on what you were saying 

in terms of the labor recruiting, and a couple of things. One, I 

wanted to ask you which countries are involved in recruiting labor 

to the United States. And then in terms of the fees, you know, I 

recently learned about au pairs and how they are recruited into the 

United States. And a person who wants an au pair pays a fee and 

does not realize that the person who wants to be an au pair pays 

a fee. 

So is there something that we could do about that since it is directly coming here and there are businesses that I imagine that are 

U.S. businesses? 

Ambassador CDEBACA. As far as the biggest countries that are 

sending folks into the U.S. through labor recruiters, we have just 

been looking at the cases that have come to light. We have certainly seen folks coming from India. We have seen folks coming up 

on some of the agriculture visa programs from Mexico. And we 

have ended up seeing a lot of eastern European labor brokers, who 

will end up in perhaps nontraditional visa categories. The abuse 

that has been seen, for instance, in the Summer Work and Travel 

Program is something that the State Department has been looking 

at issuing new rules as to what those students can be put into in 

the first place. 

18

So I think that it is something that we are seeing that places 

that unfortunately have trafficking problems at home, and that 

have trafficking problems when they are sending their people to 

other parts of the world are also sending their people to the U.S. 

Ms. BASS. Do they come over here legitimately and then they fall 

out of status, and then they wind up being——

Ambassador CDEBACA. A lot of times they fall out of status because the labor recruiter is putting them into a job that they did 

not get approved for, so they will bring them over. I think, for instance, a good example is a case that I prosecuted when I was at 

the Justice Department where the girls had not been taken to Virginia Beach to work in the retail stores that they were supposed 

to under their visa. Instead they ended up in Detroit in a strip 

club. Now, at that point they were out of status because they were 

not working at the place. 

Now, of course, the second that they were out of status, the traffickers started telling them——

Ms. BASS. Right. 

Ambassador CDEBACA [continuing]. You know, you cannot go for 

help because they will turn you over to immigration. So it is an out 

of status situation that is created by the fact that they have been 

exploited by the traffickers. 

Ms. BASS. So are these U.S. companies? And then if you could 

answer the au pair question because I guess I am trying to get at 

the same thing that the chairman was mentioning, is like how can 

we tie it down to do something specific. If they are U.S. companies, 

can we not do something about that? 

Ambassador CDEBACA. Some of them are U.S. companies. For instance, if you are looking at the au pairs, if you are looking at 

Summer Work and Travel, et cetera, they are companies that exist 

to facilitate those things. Some of them are overseas companies 

where you will have labor recruiting companies that are, for lack 

of a better term, flagged in other countries. 

So there was a situation a few years ago with a company called 

Global Horizon, which is actually owned by an Israeli. There are 

situations with folks from Bangladesh and India that are bringing 

people in, whether it is training visas or otherwise. So it is, I think, 

something that we have seen in both U.S. and foreign companies, 

but all of those end up going through the process. And so, there is 

very much a Federal jurisdictional hook, whether it is through immigration law or whether it is through regulating these American 

companies. 

As far as the au pairs are concerned, I think, you know, what 

we have seen is that this notion of double dipping by the recruitment fees is a problem around the world. And I was talking recently to a now former president of Manpower Group, who said 

that he told the folks from the Bangladeshi Recruiters Association, 

Manpower does not require the applicant to pay because the employer, the potential employer, pays all of their costs. And they are 

very reputable, the largest sourcing company in the world, and 

they have done that profitably not by shipping the costs over to the 

workers. 

And one of the things that he certainly has seen was that not 

only was the exploitation higher, but the ability of those recruiting 

19

companies to get the right workers into the right jobs is less because they do not care about that. The only thing they care about 

is, is this person willing to mortgage themselves to me so that I 

will then be able to profit from placing them? 

So I think that making sure that the model that we have seen 

successfully in the marketplace of the employer pays for recruiting 

as opposed to employee pays kickbacks to get the job, moving toward that would be, I think, revolutionary. 

Ms. BASS. Thank you. 

Chairman ROYCE. Thank you, Congresswoman Bass. 

So we go now to Congressman Weber. 

Mr. WEBER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Let me follow up on 

something, Mr. Ambassador, if I may. You said you were speaking 

to, was it a former executive of Manpower? Okay. And you said he 

was from Bangladesh, and they have a recruiters association? Are 

we able to get in touch with those associations and say, look, we 

would like to see an outline, a format, whereby we can track this? 

Do we have that capability? 

Ambassador CDEBACA. We certainly have the ability to meet 

with the folks from BAIRA, for instance, in Bangladesh. I think 

that what we have seen is that the pressure that was being put 

on BAIRA both by the U.S. Government, by some of the other destination countries, but also by the Bangladeshi Government in the 

wake of them passing their new trafficking law about a year and 

a half ago, may have lessened a little bit as so much of the attention now has moved over toward the tragedy at Rana Plaza with 

the collapse of the building, coming as it did after another tragedy 

involving a fire. 

I think that right now, a lot of the energy in the relationship 

with Bangladesh around workers’ treatment and safety is being 

seen through that lens of the garment sector. 

Chairman ROYCE. Mr. Ambassador, you are going to have to pull 

that microphone closer. 

Ambassador CDEBACA. Sorry about that. So I think that what we 

have seen is that the focus on the garment sector in the wake of 

the Rana Plaza tragedy and others perhaps has taken a little bit 

of heat off of BAIRA, the Bangladesh Labor Recruiters Association. 

But it is something that we continue to look at, and we are certainly trying to work with the Bangladesh Government to put pressure on it. 

Mr. WEBER. Well, I was unaware—forgive me, Mr. Chairman, for 

taking so long. But I was unaware that there were those kinds of 

associations. I guess my question is, if we went country by country, 

and I know there are 180 or whatever number of countries it is. 

And we have got the good guys who will sign up with an association, trying to do it the right way, and, of course, the bad actors 

are not going to do that. But can we give them an incentive in each 

of those countries, those associations, in order to turn over to us 

the names of the bad actors, because I am sure they would like to 

do away with that competition as well. We have a little competition 

incentive for them. Have we tried that, to your knowledge? 

Ambassador CDEBACA. That specifically I do not think that we 

necessarily tried, and I think we will definitely take that on board. 

20

I think that one of the things that we are very interested in, and 

we are seeing this with the supply chain work, it really first came 

out of the California Supply Chain Transparency Act that I know 

a lot of folks here in the room worked so on. And that is that notion 

of the companies that use these recruiting companies, the companies that are using those factories, such as the Rana Plaza and others, having to now publicize their anti-slavery and their antitrafficking policies. That is something that is only here in California. 

It does not have a lot of penalties. It does not look to how good 

those policies actually are. 

I know that our cousins over in the UK are looking at legislation 

that would be more akin to the Dodd-Frank work on the conflict 

minerals where companies are going to have to start certifying the 

conflict minerals——

Mr. WEBER. Yeah, I saw that——

Ambassador CDEBACA [continuing]. Come this spring. And so, 

that is something to look at. I am not sure if she has reintroduced 

it, but I think Ms. Maloney may have some legislation on that for 

trafficking and slavery as a whole. That may be a way to look at 

this to be able to drive that change such as the Dodd-Frank legislation did with eastern Congo. 

Mr. WEBER. That is something that I hope you will look at. And 

one final question. I know that we have tiers set up—Tier I, II, and 

III—and we have countries that wind up getting bad grades, and 

we wound up actually having to sanction them. It seems like there 

has been a new category established, an automatic downgrade. 

How did that come about, and was that because we were sensitive 

to foreign diplomacy? I mean, if we have a bad actor, do we somehow try to soften that blow? How did that come about? 

Ambassador CDEBACA. Well, I was on staff at the time, and I 

know that a lot of the members had the concern as we were looking 

at the 2008 reauthorization, a concern that a number of strategic 

countries had been on the tier 2 watch list for many years. And 

there was a term that we bandied about at the time at both the 

staff and member level, was this notion of the tier 2 watch list 

parking lot, the idea that a country might be so important that you 

just had them on the tier 2 watch list rather than actually having 

them fall into tier 3. 

The way that the auto downgrade works is that over the course 

of several years, the country can avoid falling automatically if it 

has an action plan and resources to effectuate that action plan. 

Some countries were able to do that, and other countries fell to tier 

3. This last year, the waivers for the action plans were no longer 

available, and we indeed saw Russia, China, and Uzbekistan fall 

to tier 3 on the Trafficking Persons Report. 

And we have seen, I think, certainly the downgrading of those 

countries having as good result as far as conversations that we 

have been having since then. I am going to be going to Moscow 

soon. I was meeting with the Uzbek Ambassador a couple of days 

ago. So I think that it is something that we are getting these countries’ attention. 

Mr. WEBER. Thank you, Mr. Ambassador. 

Chairman ROYCE. We will go to Mr. Rohrabacher. 

21

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Can you give us some just two or three specific recommendations of where local officials and local authorities 

can work with the government and vice versa with the Federal 

Government where you would like to see an expansion of cooperation or doing a better job? 

Ambassador CDEBACA. Thank you, Mr. Rohrabacher. I think that 

the places where we would like to see a better job done I think is 

in the notion of the longer-term, more proactive investigations. 

Right now, there is kind of a divide between feds do long-term investigation and local first responders are doing kind of, you go to 

a hotel, you see something, you charge it, and then it gets referred 

up to the prosecutor’s office. And that first police officer kinds of 

hands off the case. 

There are phenomenal detectives in State and local law enforcement around the country, and they can do that type of longer-term, 

more proactive investigation. They can only do that, though, if they 

are cut loose from some of their other responsibilities. It is a bit 

of a zero sum game right now. If you take somebody off of looking 

at drugs in biker gangs so that you can then go after the pimps, 

then the biker gang problem can end up getting out of control. 

So I think that that’s one of the things that we want to look at, 

but recognizing that this is a time of austerity. This is not necessarily a time of new federally-funded task forces as we have seen 

in some other areas in the past. So I think to me one of the things 

is that notion of moving away from responsive law enforcement and 

moving toward proactive law enforcement, harnessing the power of 

the local detectives to really make cases. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Thank you very much. 

Chairman ROYCE. We have been joined by Congressman Alan 

Lowenthal, who represents the 47th District in California, and he 

serves on the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and 

Trade. Thank you very much, Alan. Did you have any questions at 

this time? 

[Nonverbal response.] 

Chairman ROYCE. Okay. We are going to go now to our second 

panel, and we will begin with Tony Rackauckas, who is in his 

fourth term as district attorney here in Orange County. He served 

as judge and presiding appellate judge of the Orange County Superior Court, also as a municipal court judge, and as a social worker 

in Los Angeles County. He is a former U.S. Army paratrooper. He 

is a graduate of the Loyola University School of Law in Los Angeles. 

We also have Ms. Kay Buck, CEO and executive director of the 

Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking—that is CAST—in Los 

Angeles. During her 20 years of human rights work, Kay Buck as 

served as director of the Rape Prevention Resource Center of the 

California Coalition Against Sexual Assault. And she spent over 5 

years in Asia working with nongovernmental groups on anti-slavery projects there. 

We have Ms. Angela Guanzon, a survivor of international trafficking who, while attempting to help support her family, was lured 

from her home in the Philippines to Long Beach, California. Now 

a certified nurse assistant, she is a member of the National Survivor Network and the CAST Survivor Advisory Caucus. She was 

22

honored with their 2012 Seeds of Renewal Award for her advocacy 

and her leadership. 

Ms. Carissa Phelps is founder and CEO of Runaway Girl. She is 

a survivor of child sex trafficking and an abusive life on the streets 

as a runaway youth. I think at the age of 12 this challenge began 

for her. And she later earned her JD and MBA degree from UCLA 

School of Law and the UCLA Anderson School of Management. She 

was named one of her alma mater’s top 100 inspirational graduates 

in 2010. 

We welcome all of our panel, and we will be begin with Tony 

Rackauckas. Five minutes of testimony if you want to summarize, 

and then we will go to questions from there. 

STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE TONY RACKAUCKAS, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, ORANGE COUNTY, OFFICE OF THE ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY 

Mr. RACKAUCKAS. Thank you. Chairman Royce, Ranking Member 

Bass, and other distinguished members of the House Committee on 

Foreign Affairs, thank you for convening this hearing on one of the 

most significant abuses that is plaguing us locally and globally. It 

is a $32 billion enterprise, second only to narcotic sales and profitability. And, Chairman Royce, thank you for your continued leadership in this fight, including the recent introduction of the new bill, 

H.R. 3344, the FORTE Act, which is the Fraudulent Overseas Recruitment and Trafficking Elimination Act of 2013. 

A hundred and fifty years ago, President Abraham Lincoln 

signed the Emancipation Proclamation and declared that all persons held as slaves henceforth shall be free. Today, 150 years later, 

we have been given a new mandate by State and national legislation. More than two-thirds of the commercial sex victims in the 

U.S. are American citizens, while a third of them are trafficked 

from foreign countries. It is time that we abolish modern-day slavery, including the commercial sexual exploitation of women and 

children. 

Human exploitation and trafficking generally comes in two 

forms: Forced labor, which we believe are highly under reported, 

and commercial sexual exploitation. Unfortunately, the things that 

make our county so great and such a tourist destination with our 

mild weather and available wealth also make our county one of the 

circuit stops for these sex traffickers and modern-day slave owners. 

The most concerning cases are the children who are being prostituted on the streets in strip clubs and brothels, and child pornography also that is being produced and traded on the Internet and 

around the world just simply with a click of the mouse. No child 

grows up hoping to someday be sold for sex. 

Shockingly, the average age of a child being trafficked in this 

county is 12, a little girl who has not even reached her teens. These 

victims are being isolated, coerced, seduced, threatened, and beaten 

into turning profits for individuals. These people have absolute disregard for other human beings. One of our defendants made a 

$25,000 profit in 2 weeks off just one trafficked victim. One defendant denied medical care for a young woman who was begging to see 

a doctor for her burning pelvic region. Another refused a shivering 

girl from coming inside from the cold. When one of the victims 

23

pleaded by text, ‘‘I can’t keep anything down, you don’t care,’’ the 

defendant’s response was, ‘‘(Expletive), eat crackers.’’

Career criminals and gang members have decided that exploiting 

humans is cheaper and safer than trafficking drugs and guns. A 

typical modern-day slave owner is Berneal Holman, who was convicted of pandering a 16-year-old victim in Orange County. Before 

he perpetrated this crime, he had previously attempted to rape a 

10-year-old girl and tried to use a 13-year-old girl to turn tricks for 

the 10-year-old. 

Like the slaves of the past before they were emancipated, modern-day sex slaves are branded with tattoos of their owners’ names. 

They are being bullied and beaten into selling their bodies, some 

over 10 times a day. For many of these victims, the slave owner 

is the only family they have, and they are forced to call these people ‘‘daddy.’’ Some of these victims are foreign women who are 

lured with the promise of earning a lot of cash to work in a legitimate job, and then they are stripped of their passports and forced 

instead to work in brothels. Some of these brothels are located in 

luxury apartments in upper class neighborhoods in Orange County. 

In order to protect these victims, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office has responded to the mandate of the people by formalizing our efforts and launching a new vertical prosecution unit 

named HEAT, Human Exploitation and Trafficking. The HEAT 

Unit scrapped the conventional and traditional ways of law enforcement and took a fresh, more comprehensive approach to solve the 

problem using a tactical plan called PERP, Prosecution, Education, 

Resources, and Publicity. With the new weapons provided by Proposition 35, these defendants are going away to State prison for multiple years and even life terms. We have been educating police officers, prosecutors, students, community members, and we want to 

produce webinars and videos to take the message directly to parents and to children. 

The human trafficking victims need to be rescued, and we need 

to have resources to do that. They need a place to go or they will 

end up back on the street with their abusers. The Orange County 

public-private partnership, made up of corporations, non-profits, 

faith-based groups, law enforcement, and victims’ rights groups, 

work hard to rescue these girls off the street. But sadly, we need 

a lot more resources. 

We are working hard now. Our HEAT unit has been in operation 

for about a year, and maybe a little more than a year, and we have 

many open cases. We have cases involving victims who are from 

other countries, involving victims who are from the United States. 

We have quite a number of felony cases. Five of those defendants 

are facing life counts, and many others are facing mandatory sentences of several years in prison. Like I said, we have some victims 

who are foreign nationals also. 

Our HEAT unit is here, and I am very proud of the work that 

they have been doing. And the police you can see also from Anaheim Police Department are the head of the Orange County—not 

HEAT, but the Orange County victims group that we have and 

working to reduce this kind of a problem. I think they have done 

a magnificent job in Orange County. In fact, I think I can with 

some pride say that we have a defendant, for example, who is in 

24

prison, and he has been grumbling that if he was in another county 

he would be out by now. So with legislation, and prosecutions, and 

the kinds of sentences that get their attention, I think that we can 

make some inroads. 

And thank you again for conducting this forum so that we can 

end this modern-day slavery now. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Rackauckas follows:]

25


85480b-1.eps

Written Statement by District Attorney Tony Rackauckas 

Hearing: Regional Perspectives in the Global Fight Against Human Trafficking 

Scheduled: November 4, 2013 

Chairman Royce, Ranking Member Engel} and other distinguished members of the House Committee on 

Foreign Affairs: 

I am Tony Rackauckas and I serve as the elected District Attorney for Orange County, the second largest 

county in the State. If Orange County were a state, it would be the 30th most populous state in the 

country. Economically} no other state even comes close to Orange County. The median family income 

in Orange County is $85,000 and only Maryland comes close at $70,000. Our office files approximately 

65,000 cases a year, and our felony conviction rate is over 90 percent. 

Thank you for convening this hearing on one of the most significant abuses that is plaguing us locally and 

globally, as a $32 billion dollar criminal enterprise, second only to narcotics sales in profitability. 

Chairman Royce, thank you for your continued leadership in this fight, including the recent introduction 

of the new bill - H.R. 3344, the Forte Act - The Fraudulent Overseas Recruitment and Trafficking 

Elimination Act of 2013. 

150 years ago, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation and declared that "all 

persons held as slaves ... henceforth shall be free." Today, 150 years later, we have been given a new 

mandate by state and national legislation. More than two-thirds of the commercial sex victims in the 

U.S. are American citizens, while a third of them are trafficked from foreign countries. It is time we 

abolish modern-day slavery, including the commercial sexual exploitation of women and children. 

Human exploitation and trafficking generally comes in two forms -forced labor, which we believe are 

highly unreported, and the majority in the form of commercial sexual exploitation. Unfortunately, the 

things that make our County so great and a tourist destination, with the mild weather and the available 

wealth, make our County one ofthe circuit stops for these sex traffickers and modern-day slave owners. 

The most concerning cases are the children who are being prostituted on the streets, in strip clubs and 

brothels, and child pornography is that being produced and traded on the Internet around the world 

simply with a click ofthe mouse. No child grows up hoping to one day be sold for sex. 

Shockingly, the average age of a child being trafficked in this country is 12 ... a little girl who has not 

even reached her teens. These victims are being isolated, coerced, seduced, threatened and beaten into 

turning out profits for individuals with absolute disregard for other human beings. One of our 

defendants made $25,000 in two weeks off just one trafficked victim. 

One defendant denied medical care for a young woman who was begging to see a doctor for her 

burning pelvic region. Another refused a shivering girl from coming inside from the cold. When one of 

the victims pleaded by text, "I can't keep anything down u don't care." The defendant's response? 

"(Expletive) eat crackers." 

Career criminals and gang members have decided that exploiting humans is cheaper and safer than 

trafficking drugs and guns. A typical modern-day slave owner is Berneal Holman, who was convicted of 

pandering a 16-year-old victim in Orange County. Before he perpetrated this crime, he had previously 

attempted to rape a 10-year-old girl and tried to use a 13-year-old girl to turn tricks on the 10-year-old. 
26


85480b-2.eps

Like the slaves of the past before they were emancipated, modern-day sex slaves are branded with 

tattoos of their owner's names. They are being bullied and beaten into selling their bodies, some over 

10 times a day. For many of these victims, the slave owner is the only family they have and are forced to 

call these predators "daddy." Some of these victims are foreign women who are lured with the promise 

of earning a lot of cash to work a legitimate job and then are stripped of their passports and forced 

instead to work in brothels. Some of these brothels are located in luxury apartments in the upper class 

neighborhood of Orange County. 

In order to protect these victims, the Orange County District Attorney's Office responded to the 

mandate of the People by formalizing our efforts and launching a new vertical prosecution unit named 

HEAT, which stands for Human Exploitation and Trafficking. The HEAT Unit scraped conventional and 

traditional ways of law enforcement and took a fresh, comprehensive approach to solve the problem 

using a tactical plan called PERP - Prosecution, Education} Resources, and Publicity. With the new 

weapons provided by Proposition 35, these defendants are going away to state prison for multiple years 

and even life terms. We have been educating police officers, prosecutors, students and community 

members. We want to produce webinars and videos to take the message directly to parents and 

children. 

These human trafficking victims need to be rescued and we need resources to do that. They need a 

place to go, or they will end up back with their abusers. In Orange County, the public-private 

partnership made up of corporations, non-profits, faith-based groups, law enforcement, and victims' 

rights groups work hard to rescue these girls off the street. But sadly, we need a lot more resources. 

We are also working to expose the sex purchasers in our attempt to shed light on these crimes from the 

shadows of the night. We are refusing to use the euphemism of "John" to describe these defendants 

and instead call them what they are - sex purchasers - and we are publishing their names and their mug 

shots. We also raised awareness through our recent "Keep Calm and Beat H.E.A.T. Rocking & Rally." We 

made more than 200/000 direct-citizen contacts to raise awareness and the rock concert was a huge hit. 

All of the law enforcement in Orange County is united and working together closely. As a result, the 

HEAT Unit is batting a thousand percent in our felony conviction rate. We have sent 24 defendants to 

state prison, even during the post-AB 109 era, with their sentences ranging from one to eight years. We 

currently have over 40 active felony cases with five defendants facing life counts and many others facing 

a mandatory sentence minimum of five to eight years in prison. We've had six victims that were foreign 

nationals, and we presently have multiple cases currently under investigation in which the victims are 

foreign nationals. 

With pride, I report to you that a defendant has been grumbling while serving time in Orange County 

jail, ((If I was in another county, I would be out./I With legislation and prosecutions allover the countrYI 

perhaps we can make all human traffickers fear and loathe our government. 

Thank you again for conducting this forum so we can end modern-day slavery now. Thank you. 
27

Chairman ROYCE. Thank you, Mr. Rackauckas. 

We go now to Kay Buck. 

STATEMENT OF MS. KAY BUCK, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND 

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, COALITION TO ABOLISH SLAVERY & TRAFFICKING 

Ms. BUCK. Thank you, Chairman Royce, and the committee 

members for holding this forum today. As the chairman mentioned, 

my name is Kay Buck, and I am the executive director of the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking, also known as CAST. We 

are located in Los Angeles, California. 

Since 1998, CAST has been providing specialized services to survivors of human trafficking, while informing the movement to prevent modern-day slavery through our evidence-based approaches. 

CAST has worked directly with over 1,000 survivors, children and 

family members from over 58 countries around the world, including 

a growing population right here from the United States to provide 

emergency response, shelter, case management, and legal services, 

as well as a high-level leadership development program for survivors. 

CAST works closely with other nongovernmental organizations. 

We are a coalition of pro bono attorneys, law enforcement agents, 

as well as both Federal and local government agencies. We were 

the founder of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Task Force on Human 

Trafficking many years ago, and were the first to do that in the 

country. 

However, despite ongoing efforts to leverage existing resources, 

CAST acutely feels a gap in services because of the shortage of resources that are currently available for survivors of human trafficking. And I want to thank the chairman for pointing out all of 

my coalition partners in Orange County earlier in the hearing. 

They are the human rights defenders of our time, and they do so 

with very little resources. 

Last July, a report showed that that the U.S. Government 

spends approximately $100 million annually to combat the 9-billion-dollar—and growing—industry of human trafficking. Compare 

this to the approximate $15 billion that we spend annually on the 

war against drugs. Clearly, efforts to prevent trafficking and assist 

more and more survivors need more and more support. This is evidenced in our numbers. Three years in a row, our numbers in serving new cases, new people coming to us for help, have doubled 3 

years in a row. And I am sure my colleagues in Orange County 

have similar statistics. 

Victims of human trafficking are enslaved not only through physical means, but also through coercion, through fear and intimidation. In today’s global economy, workers can be enslaved by threats 

of deportation, lack of viable alternatives, and especially death. We 

often think of undocumented immigrants as vulnerable to human 

trafficking, but almost 50 percent of our cases at CAST include individuals who come to the United States on lawful visas. 

Human trafficking thrives when immigrant workers are forced to 

pay labor recruiters high fees. And what we saw as maybe $2,000 

as a fee 10 years ago is now upwards of $30,000. They are often 

charged very high interest rates, most of the time by the loan 

28

shark from a community, which puts the families at risk, and they 

do this in order to work lawfully in the United States. So these 

workers actually become vulnerable to debt bondage, one of the 

most pervasive forms of modern-day slavery today. 

CAST believes that one of the most important policy changes we 

can make is better regulation of foreign labor recruiters through 

the following four-pronged approach. First, the elimination of fees. 

Foreign labor contractors should not be allowed to assess any fees 

to the worker. Such fees may be borne by the employer. Second is 

disclosure. Foreign labor contractors must disclose all of the terms 

and conditions of the work in writing in both English as well as 

the worker’s native language. Third is registration. Employers 

must use foreign labor contractors who are properly registered with 

the Department of Labor. And last, but not least, is enforcement 

and accountability. The Department of Labor should establish a 

process for receiving, investigating, and adjudicating complaints 

against either foreign labor contractors or employers. 

CAST commends Chairman Royce for his leadership in introducing H.R. 3344 in the House. This piece of legislation takes the 

comprehensive four-pronged approach I just outlined, and this bill 

is such an important one that will help prevent human trafficking 

and protect more workers. In addition to the protections already 

mentioned in the legislation, I would like to recommend also the 

inclusion of J–1 visa holders so that au pairs and nannies will receive the same protection as other workers coming to the U.S. from 

abroad. 

Finally, CAST believes that the business community must be an 

integral partner in combating modern-day slavery. CAST was an 

original co-sponsor of S.B. 657, the California Transparency and 

Supply Chain Act, that the Ambassador mentioned earlier. It requires companies to publicly reveal the steps they are taking to 

eradicate modern-day slavery from all supply chains. Today, over 

400 goods in 352 countries are produced by either child or forced 

labor. Given how prevalent modern-day slavery is in the global 

supply chain, CAST now hopes that measures similar to the law 

that we have in California, S.B. 657, can be adopted federally. We 

call for the House to reintroduce the Business Transparency in 

Trafficking and Slavery Act. 

Thank you for your attention today and for the invitation to testify before all of you. And I also want to commend you for including 

survivors not only to speak of the suffering that they endured in 

the course of human trafficking, but as the experts they are to really help us find the policies that will eradicate modern-day slavery. 

Thank you so much. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Buck follows:]

29


85480c-1.eps

House Committee on Foreign Affairs 

Regional Perspectives in the Global Fight Against Human Trat11cking 

Testimony of Kay Buck 

Executive Director 

Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trat11cking (CAST) 

Los Angeles, CA 

November 4, 2013 
30


85480c-2.eps

I appreciate the privilege of testifying for you today on behalf of the remarkable women, 

children, and men, I serve as the Executive Director of the Coalition to Abolish Slavery 

and Tranicking (CAST). There is no doubt that modem-day slavery exists in California 

and around the world today. I have witnessed first-hand for over 20 years the impact of 

this grave human rights abuse on a day-to-day basis. 

Since its inception in 1998, CAST has been providing specialized services to survivors of 

tranicking and modem day slavery, while informing the movement to prevent modernday slavery through our evidence-based experiences gained by working directly with 

over 1000 survivors from over 58 countries, including the United States. We use a 

survivor-centered empowerment approach to support tranicked victims in realizing their 

individual potential. CAST serves survivors who suffer from all forms of modem-day 

slavery- including sex tranicking and labor tranicking. CAST's youngest survivor has 

been two years old; our oldest survivor is 72 years old. All have been exploited and 

forced to work against their will, often for years at a time. 

At CAST, our key priority is to ensure that survivors of tranicking receive the 

comprehensive services they deserve and need in order to rebuild their lives. Our services 

include emergency response, shelter, case management and legal services. Clients who 

graduate from CAST programs are invited to join our survivor leadership program to be a 

voice for people who are still enslaved. Survivors' voices inform CAST's training and 

policy work at both the state and national levels. 

To provide the comprehensive services that survivors so greatly need, CAST works 

closely with other non-governmental organizations, pro bono attorneys, law enforcement 

onicials, and both federal and state government agencies. Despite ongoing efforts to 

leverage existing resources, CAST feels the gap in services that are currently available to 

all survivors of human tranicking. 

In April, a new California law was implemented which mandates posting of the CAST 

hotline at adult businesses, bus stops, emergency rooms, urgent care centers, transit 

centers and truck stops throughout the state. In just the first six months since the law was 

implemented, CAST has seen a dramatic increase in calls to its hotline--a more than 

300% increase over previous years. As a result, our Emergency Response System and 

comprehensive service staff capacities have been exceeded, forcing us to start a wait list 

for services for the first time in the agency's history. It is critical for CAST, and others, to 

further expand the scale of the services programs for victims of human tranicking. 

For the last three years, the United States Tranicking in Person's onice has 

recommended additional money for survivor services. Despite this recommendation 

almost no increases have been made in funding for survivors since the TVPA of 2000. 

Last July, a report showed that the U.S. government spends approximately $100 million 

annually to combat the $9 billion dollar and growing industry of human tranicking 

("Following the Money: Spending on Anti-Tranicking," Anti-trafficking Review, Global 

Funding Information Sheet, Issue 3, July 2013). Compare this to the approximate $15 
31


85480c-3.eps

billion dollars that we spend annually on the war on drugs. Clearly, efforts to prevent 

trat1icking and assist victims need more support. 

Through CAST's direct work with survivors in California, CAST understands that 

the 21 st century slave may not be in chains or shackles. However, modern-day slaves are 

no freer. Modern-day slavery takes many forms. Trat1icking victims toil in factories in 

the United States. Trat1icking victims harvest vegetables and process food that ends up 

on our dining room tables. They clean people's homes and take care of the young, elderly 

and sick. They are enslaved not only through physical restraint, but also through 

coercion, fear, and intimidation. In today's global economy, workers can be enslaved by 

threats of deportation, lack of viable alternatives, and especially debt. 

We often think of undocumented immigrants as vulnerable to human trat1icking. But, 

CAST's work shows that labor trat1icking is flourishing in the context of documented 

visa programs. Almost 50% of CAST's legal case load includes individuals who came to 

the United States on lawi'ul visas. 

Human tratlicking thrives in the United States and around the world when immigrant 

workers are forced to pay labor recruiters' high fees, often at exorbitant interest rates, in 

order to work lawi'ully in the United States. These workers become vulnerable to debt 

bondage - one of the most pervasive forms of modern slavery. Unscrupulous foreign 

labor recruiters deceive workers about wages and working conditions. Immigrants, who 

are eager to work, often pay hundreds or thousands of dollars at inflated interest rates 

only to end up with false contracts and broken promises. 

CAST believes that one of the most important policy changes we can make is better 

regulation of foreign labor recruiters through the following four-prong approach: 

1. Elimination of Fees: No foreign labor contractor, or agent or employee of a foreign 

labor contractor, should be allowed to assess any fee (including visa fees, processing 

fees, transportation fees, legal expenses, placement fees, and other costs) to a worker 

for any foreign labor contracting activity. Such costs or fees may be borne by the 

employer, but these fees cannot be passed along to the worker. This is one of the 

most crucial elements to eliminate debt bondage for immigrant workers. 

2. Disclosure: Foreign labor contractors and employers must be required to fully 

disclose to the worker all of the terms and conditions of their work in writing (both in 

English and in the worker's language). 

3. Registration: The Department of Labor should administer a process for foreign 

labor contractors to obtain a certiticate of registration. Employers must be required to 

use only foreign labor contractors who are properly registered under this system. 

4. Enforcement & Accountability: The Department of Labor should establish an 

administrative process for receiving, investigating, and adjudicating complaints 

against the compliance of either foreign labor contractors or employers. The civil 
32


85480c-4.eps

rights for workers themselves are also key to preventing trafficking. Workers must be 

protected from retaliation and employers must be held accountable for the actions of 

the foreign labor contractors that they hire. 

CAST commends Chairman Royce for his leadership in introducing HR 3344 in the 

House last week. This piece of legislation takes the comprehensive four- prong approach 

outlined above. HR 3344 is an important bill that will help prevent human trafficking 

and protect workers coming to the U.S. from around the world. 

In addition to the protections already mentioned in the legislation, CAST would like to 

recommend the inclusion of J-l visa holders. Polaris Project has found that the J-l visa is 

the second most frequently cited visa in labor exploitation and human trafficking for the 

period December 2007 through July 2013. J-l visa holders, who are often au pairs and 

nannies, deserve the same protection as other workers coming to the U. S. from abroad. 

Finally, CAST believes that business must be an integral partner in combating modernday slavery. CAST was an original co-sponsor of SB 657, the California Transparency in 

Supply Chains Act, which requires companies to publicly reveal the steps they are taking 

to eradicate modern-day slavery from their supply chains. In 2009 the U.S. government 

released a report for the Erst time showing that 122 goods in 58 countries around the 

world were made by forced labor and/or child labor. Today, this number has grown to 

409 goods in 342 countries. These goods are items that we might encounter on a daily 

basis, including agricultural products, textiles and electronics. 

Given how prevalent modern-day slavery is in the global supply chain, CAST now hopes 

that measures similar to the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act can be 

adopted federally. CAST calls for the House to reintroduce HR 2759 (1 12th): Business 

Transparency on Trafficking and Slavery Act. 

Thank you for your attention and for the invitation to testify before you today. I look 

forward to answering any further questions you may have. 

I am now pleased to introduce Angela Guanzon, a member of the CAST Survivor 

Advisory Caucus. Angela is a survivor of labor trafficking and will speak on the abuses 

she sutTered and her recommendations for policy change. 
33

Chairman ROYCE. Thank you, Kay. 

Angela? 

STATEMENT OF MS. ANGELA GUANZON, SURVIVOR OF INTERNATIONAL TRAFFICKING, MEMBER, CAST SURVIVOR ADVISORY CAUCUS AND NATIONAL SURVIVOR NETWORK 

Ms. GUANZON. Good morning, and thank you, Chairman Royce. 

My name is Angela. I am from the Philippines. I came to the 

United States with a lawful visa and a promise to have a good job. 

In the Philippines, coming to the United States is like winning the 

lottery. I was so excited to go that I did not even ask many questions. When I got my visa to go to the United States, my passport 

was taken away from me, and I was told it would be held for me 

until I got to the United States. I traveled with about 10 workers 

to the United States. 

When I got to the U.S., things were very different than I thought. I was told I owed $12,000 for my transportation and visa 

and have to work for 10 years to pay it off. I was then forced to 

work in a retirement home for elderly care located in a suburb in 

Los Angeles. I worked 18 hours a day, 7 days a week, and we had 

to sleep on the floor in the hallways. My co-worker and I, Jayson, 

were threatened that if we tried to escape, we would be deported 

by calling the police and telling them that we stole something from 

her. And my situation, trafficking is not only for women. It is also 

for men. And this went on for 21⁄2 years. 

Finally I was rescued by the FBI through the neighbor who noticed that we did not get a day off. I spoke to the FBI about what 

happened to me, and eventually I testified against my trafficker in 

a criminal court, and she got a 5-year sentence. 

Now, I am a certified nurse assistant and a member of the CAST 

Survivor Advisory Caucus and the National Survivor Network. 

CAST Survivor Advisory Caucus is a group of survivors who are 

learning leadership and advocacy skills to raise awareness of 

human trafficking and to influence policies to help better protect 

and help the survivors of human trafficking. National Survivor 

Network, this consists of, like, 58 or 60 survivors around 18 States 

here in the United States. 

I do not believe what happened to me, what happened to other 

people. Because of the work that I do in CAST, I have learned that 

what happened to me happened to a lot of survivors that I met in 

National Survivors Network and CAST Survivor Advisory Caucus. 

I have met a lot of workers that came with an H–2B visa and were 

supposed to work with an H–2A visa. I have learned that they 

came to work in agriculture, but ended enslaved on farms all over 

the United States here with armed guards keeping watch. And 

some have an H–2B visa and a promise to have a good job like I 

was told, but ended up working in a hotel under threat of police. 

I am very thankful to Chairman Royce for making such a big 

step to introduce the H.R. 3344. And I feel that he is really listening, and he is really listening about the issue. And I am so proud 

that I am here today to participate in this H.R. 3344 on behalf of 

the survivors so we can speak and we can be in a world that is free 

of abuse. Thank you. 

[Applause.] 

34

[The prepared statement of Ms. Guanzon follows:]


85480d-1.eps

Testimony of Angela Guanzon 

Survivor of Labor Trafficking 

CAST Survivor Advisor Caucus Member & 

National Survivor Network Member (NSN) 

House Foreign Affairs Committee 

Regional Perspectives in the Global Fight Against Human Trafficking 

Fullerton, CA 

November 4,2013 
35


85480d-2.eps

My name is Angela Guanzon. I am from the Philippines. I came to the United States on a 

lawful visa with the promise of a good job. In the Philippines going to the United States is 

like winning the lottery. I was so excited to go I did not ask many question. When I got my 

visa to go to the United States my passport was taken and I was told it would be held for me 

until I got to the United States. I travelled with about 10 other workers to the United States. 

When I got to the US things were very different than I thought. I was told lowed $12,000 

for my transportation to the United States and the visa. I was told I would have to work for 

10 years to pay this off. I was then forced to work at a retirement home for the elderly 

located in a suburb of Los Angeles. I worked 18 hour days and had to sleep on the floor in 

the hallway. I am my co-worker, Jayson were threatened that if we tried to escape, I would 

be deported by calling the police and telling them that we stole something from her. This 

went on for two years. My experience shows that human trafficking happens today in the 

United States and that it happens to both men and women. 

Finally I was rescued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after a neighbor noticed 

that I never had a day off. I spoke out about what happened to me to the FBI and 

eventually testified against my trafficker in criminal court. She got a 5 year prison 

sentence. 

I am now a Certified Nurse's Assistant and a member of the CAST Survivor Advisory 

Caucus, a group of survivors in California who are learning leadership and advocacy skills 

in order to raise awareness and influence policies to better protect and help survivors of 

human trafficking. I am also a member of the National Survivor Network (NSN) which has 

over 85 survivor members from 18 state around the United States. Because of my work 

with the Caucus and the National Survivor Network I know the type of abuse that happened 

to me and my co-workers happens to other people as well. I know about workers who 

came to the US on an H-2B visa and was promised a good job like I was but instead had to 

work in a hotel under threats of the police. Other workers came to the US on an H2-A visa 

to work in agriculture but instead ended up enslaved on farms around the US with armed 

guards keeping watch. 

I don't want what happened to me to happen to anyone else. Noone should believe they 

have to work for an employer night and day for 10 years after getting a visa to come to the 

United States. Workers like me need information and protection so when we take an 

opportunity to come to the United States we have our freedom like everyone else does. 

For this reason I would like to thank Chairman Royce for taking such an important step 

and introducing HR 3344. I feel like he has really listened to what I and other survivors 

have seen as a grave abuse that can be prevented. I hope to work in the future to help pass 

this piece ofiegislation and I am proud to stand here today to speak on behalf of other 

survivors to a world more free of abuse. To often we only hear about sex trafficking both in 
36


85480d-3.eps

the United State and abroad and its very important to me that the Committee is paying 

attention to all forms of human trafficking. 
37

Chairman ROYCE. Thank you, Angela. 

Carissa? 

STATEMENT OF MS. CARISSA PHELPS, CHIEF EXECUTIVE 

OFFICER, RUNAWAY GIRL, FPC 

Ms. PHELPS. Thank you. Thank you for this opportunity to be 

here and to speak about strength in survivorship. 

At 12 years old I thought I was born free. I thought that I could 

do anything and be free. But when I was kidnapped by a trafficker, 

kidnapped by a pimp in the town that I was born in, people looked 

the other way. Law enforcement looked the other way. Social services looked the other way. And I was blamed for what was done 

to me. 

It took me over 15 years earning my education, graduating from 

law school and business school, connecting with community members, to be able to embrace my story, to be able to share it, and 

to be able to speak to this difference that we see today, this movement that we see today to end trafficking for domestic minors of 

sex trafficking. 

The work that I do is not just based on my story from the past. 

It is my story of advocacy. I found out as I was becoming an advocate that survivors who were sitting alongside of me did not have 

financial means to be there. They were not being compensated. 

They had day care issues. They had transportation issues. And 

they were being asked to come in to share their stories, asked to 

influence policy, asked to make policy, write policy, inform policy, 

and yet they were not being treated as experts in the sense that 

they were not being compensated. 

At one very high profile and federally-supported event, survivors 

were separated from the experts and taken to a basement room 

and asked to share their horror stories to complete strangers. I was 

told at that event that I was not an SME, a subject matter expert, 

and so that is why I was left out. I informed that person that I, 

in fact, was an attorney, and did hold an MBA, and was an expert, 

but I realized at that moment that we needed a united front. We 

needed to connect with each other and to stand up for each other 

in these instances. 

And since then I founded Runaway Girl as a flexible purpose corporation. And what that means is that we have a charitable purpose in our articles of incorporation. It is a way for us to create a 

platform and lower barriers to entry for survivors who are speaking 

out and educating. It has no borders. It does not see international 

and domestic as any different. The more united we are, the stronger we are. 

Slave owners knew that when Willie Lynch wrote his infamous 

letter to his colleagues who were slave owners and told them that 

they needed to lower the self-esteem, to basically demean their 

slaves and to divide them and have them fight against each other, 

the light-skinned against the dark-skinned, the house against the 

field. And when he did that, he knew what he was doing. He was 

dividing them. He was keeping slavery in existence. In order to end 

slavery, we need to unite. We need to build up each individual survivor and support them and unite them across any borders globally 

together. And I believe that we are going to end slavery for good. 

38

In this next step as we look at this legislation that was survivor 

informed, I do have recommendations. I do believe that anyone who 

is receiving any type of support or a corporation needs to look at 

and figure out if someone has been a victim of human trafficking. 

They should never be arrested for immigration issues. They should 

never be charged, held in a prison for being a prostitute for solicitation or even for a runaway violation if they, in fact, have been recruited and are being trafficked. As long as we arrest and we hold 

people criminally accountable for what has been done to them, we 

are allowing slavery to exist. 

We need to address demand. We need to arrest demand—literally arrest demand. We need to treat demand as part of the trafficking equation. So trafficking in arms and trafficking in drugs we 

know requires sellers and buyers and that they are all traffickers. 

But for some reason we have excluded buyers from our trafficking 

work and what we do. We will no longer protect the buyers who 

allow this to happen. 

As a survivor group and as a survivor voice, I hear that loud and 

clear from my colleagues and from my friends. And we must end 

the demand for trafficking by going after those people who allow 

it to happen from the very top to the very bottom in our society. 

We have people who buy children, and who buy labor, and who are 

enslaving, and we need to hold them accountable as buyers as well 

with more than 5-year sentences, with more than 13-month sentences—with real sentences for what they have done, which is taking away someone’s freedom. 

[Applause.] 

Ms. PHELPS. My final recommendation is to invest in survivors 

individually and in groups. We need to see to the longevity of survivors. What is it that they are offering as they are growing, and 

learning, and becoming a part of our community? Once again, how 

can we in the long run expect survivors to be there if we are having 

them pay their own way to be there? It just does not make any 

sense. So investing in survivors individually and in groups, and 

supporting their global leadership, and supporting them supporting 

each other is something that I would highly recommend. 

And I thank the people who are here today that are doing the 

work. And I know that here, I know there is a group who is part 

of the FACT Alliance and the fight against child trafficking, and 

that does not have borders, does not see international and domestic 

differently, that supports freedom for children in all areas of the 

world. So thank you so much for your support today. 

[Applause.] 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Phelps follows:]

39


85480e-1.eps

Carissa Phelps, JD/MBA 

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Runaway Girl, FPC 

House Committee on Foreign Affairs 

November 4, 2013 

"Regicmal Perspectives in the§lobalfightA~ainstJI uman Trafficking." 

Story of Runaway Girl. FPC 

I hold a joint Juris Doctorate and MBA from UCLA, I pursued my degrees based on an 

interest I had in community economic development. In 2007, I was on a path to working 

in the financial industry, when I learned that children were being arrested and charged 

with prostitution and solicitation in Los Angeles County. Having survived trafficking at 

the age of twelve, I knew, from my own experience, that each time victims were 

stopped by police or treated like criminals; they were pushed closer to their trafficker. 

Whether victims were being questioned, booked, or even released on the spot, the 

failure to protect a child from their trafficker is where the harm was being done --- not 

only to the child, but also to our communities. I felt a sense of urgency to speak out, and 

search for ways to end this re-victimization of youth, not only in Southern California, but 

across the country. Between 2007 and present, I have brought the issue of arresting 

victims to community groups, social services, nonprofit organizations, media outlets, 

educators, doctors, lawyers, police, elected officials, rotaries, foundations, business 

leaders, and most recently to bus drivers and janitors on behalf of San Joaquin County 

Office of Education. In 2011, at the request of the State Department, I traveled overseas 

to share my message with countries searching for ways to address human trafficking in 

all of its forms. In 2012, I published a memoir, Runaway Girl: Escaping Life on the Streets 

One Helping Hand at a Time. In an effort to increase penalties for traffickers, I also 

became an outspoken supporter for Proposition 35. 

In 2012, I returned to my interest in finance and community economic development, by 

founding Runaway Girl, FPC a California Flexible Purpose Corporation that offers 

survivors a chance to create and sustain their own initiatives. Runaway Girl, FPC offers 

survivor facilitated trainings in Human Trafficking. Our i-Day training is an effort to 

reach out to wide community groups, who wish to build a Community Protocol for 

Response [CPR] to human trafficking. Our 2-Day Empowerment Model Training [EMT] is 

an opportunity for those who work more closely with victims and survivors of trafficking 

to develop empowerment models, within their organizations. In addition to building a 

sustainable pipeline of survivor leaders, Runaway Girl, FPC also offers career 

development opportunities to survivors of human trafficking. Runaway Girl, FPC 

supports survivor led initiatives and businesses by compensating survivors, who give 

their time and resources to the issues of human trafficking. Runaway Girl also promotes 

businesses led by survivors, such as Neefs Sweets, a Charlotte, NC based baking 
40


85480e-2.eps

business founded by Antonia "Neet" Childs, a social entrepreneur and survivor of human 

trafficking. 

Protection for Victims of All Forms of Human Trafficking 

We must create clear mandates for local governments, near and far, by strengthening 

and enforcing legislation that protects victims of human trafficking. Slavery in the United 

States was abolished; however, nearly 150 years later, human trafficking in its many 

forms persists and is widespread. Under section 2 of the Thirteenth Amendment, 

Congress enacted a statute by which it prohibited anyone from "holding, arresting, or 

returning, or causing or aiding in the arresting or returning, of a person to involuntary 

servitude."l1J The business of human trafficking enjoys protections from local 

governments that criminalize and fail to protect victims of human trafficking. By 

arresting or not assisting someone who has been victimized, we are in effect "causing or 

aiding in the ... returning of a person to involuntary servitude." The failure to protect 

and mistreatment of victims of human trafficking continues to be the biggest challenge 

to ending all forms of modern day slavery. 

Recommendation #1 

When a victim of human trafficking is in contact with any agency that receives federal 

funding, all actions should be in accord with existing federal legislation. Victims should 

be offered services and protections. Victims of human trafficking should never be 

arrested or charged with crimes related to their being trafficked. 

Specific to Victims of Sex Trafficking 

Arresting victims of sex trafficking violates state and federal law, and has proven to be a 

highly ineffective approach to ending the demand for sex trafficking. Autumn Burris, a 

long time leader in the fight against sex trafficking, says "victims are targeted for arrest, 

while buyers of exploited individuals oftentimes remain invisible." Buyers make sex 

trafficking possible. In order to formulate an effective strategy, buyers need to be held 

accountable for their role in sex trafficking. In order to deter buyers, penalties must hurt. 

According to a 2011 study by Dr. Melissa Farley, one hundred percent (100%) of sex 

buyers said they would be deterred from buying sex if a month jail term were imposed 

and ninety percent (90%) said they would be deterred if a $1,000-$2,000 penalty were 

imposed·l:Zl 

Recommendation #2 

End sex trafficking by arresting and fining buyers, who drive up the demand for 

commercial sex. 

Survivor Voice in Combating Labor Trafficking 

As a member of a community of survivors of all forms of human trafficking, my goal in 

testifying is to offer solutions that are as broad as the picture of modern day 

slavery. According to the California Department of Justice, "fifty-six percent (56%) of 

victims who received services through California's task forces were sex trafficking 
41


85480e-3.eps

victims. Labor trafficking is under-reported and under-investigated as compared to sex 

trafficking. Yet, data from other sources indicate that labor trafficking is 3.5 times as 

prevalent as sex trafficking worldwide." [3J Congressman Royce's proposed legislation 

H.R. 3344-Fraudulent Overseas Recruitment and Trafficking Elimination {FORTE} Act 

introduced last week proposes protections and remed ies for foreign workers in the 

recruitment process to combat the potential for labor exploitation. I have learned from 

training alongside Kanthi Salgadu, a member ofthe CAST [Coalition to Abolish Slavery 

and Trafficking] Survivor Caucus, that there is a great need for education and outreach 

to potential victims who are recruited by employment agencies to work overseas. 

Experts like Kanthi, who have survived human trafficking, have earned a seat at the 

table, and are prepared to lead education and outreach initiatives that will support the 

FORTE Act. 

Recommendation #3 

Invest in survivors both individually and in groups, and support their global leadership in 

the fight against human trafficking. 

Conclusion 

Traffickers attempt to keep victims down, and keep them divided. Survivors have shown 

that they can and will rise above; however, this requires an investment in services and 

protection. Basic needs must be met, as survivors of trafficking overcome severe 

emotional, financial, and physical challenges. Creating opportunities for partnership, 

and uniting survivors in their fight against slavery, also requires planning, action and 

investment. The result will be survivors leading the way, and a greater understanding of 

how trafficking happens today. Survivors are the key to developing timely, relevant and 

appropriate responses to all forms of human trafficking. Empowering survivors to lead in 

the United States will have a global impact on abolishing human trafficking, as we enjoy 

the rights, freedom, liberties and protections that allow us to move out of a life of 

victimization and to a role of leadership. 

[1] Upheld in Clyatt v. United States, 197 U.S. 207 {1905}; and see United States v. 

Gaskin, 320 U.S. 527 {1944}. See also 18 U.S.c. Sec. 1584, which is a merger of 3 Stat. 

452 {1818}, and 18 Stat. 251 {1874}, dealing with involuntary servitude. Cf. United 

States v. Shackney, 333 F.2d 475, 481-83 {2d Cir. 1964}. 

[2] bttp'1lW\N\N.jJrostitlitionE"search.com!fldfs!FarleyetaI20JlC:ornparin&SexBuy~rs.pdf 

[3] CA Department of Justice, "The State of Human Trafficking in California" , 
42

Chairman ROYCE. Thank you, Carissa. Thank you, Carissa, for 

that testimony. And I was going to ask Tony Rackauckas, the district attorney, a question along those lines. Your circumstance, the 

fact that, as Tony shared, the average age for teen underage girls 

now is 12 when we are bringing these cases. Under the new law, 

under Prop. 35, I guess one of the advantages is a focus on those 

involved in the criminal syndicates and those participating as 

pimps, and more focus on those who create the demand as well. 

But the fact is that we have that new prosecution with the result 

of 32 years for an individual who is involved in trying to recruit 

underage girls, and this particular girl was 13 that he tried to lure 

up to Sacramento, and he was caught doing it. 

Let me ask you, if I could, Mr. Rackauckas, are there any common factors that increase the susceptibility, the nature of the risk, 

for a 12-year-old, 13-year-old, being vulnerable to being trafficked? 

If you would give us some insights on that. And what strategies 

have our panelists found to be most successful in addressing that 

particular problem? 

Mr. RACKAUCKAS. Well, those are certainly great questions. I 

think that as far as the vulnerability is concerned, what seems to 

happen mostly is that they wind up meeting somebody, and this 

person appears to be somebody who looks fine and appears to be 

upstanding, and gets them into a car or some kind of a compromising situation, and then just takes them off. And we have seen 

quite a number of cases where a young girl would willingly get in 

the car with somebody or go off with somebody, and then, of course, 

once that person gets control, he winds up taking her quite far 

away. It is not usually just in the local area, but it might be to another State, and then gets control, dominates her, beats her up a 

few times to let her know that she cannot disobey anything that 

he has to say. And then he starts trafficking her. 

So as far as what would be the common thing, you know, I do 

not know if I can put my finger on it except to say that, you know, 

just being out on their own, not being supervised, and winding up 

being in the hands of a stranger. It is not usually a kidnapping off 

the street where somebody jumps out of the bushes and grabs a 

young girl and throws her in the car. It is usually a cooperative 

sort of a thing. 

Chairman ROYCE. Kay, let me ask you that question, too, or any 

of the other panelists. 

Ms. BUCK. The same question? 

Chairman ROYCE. Yes, just the factors that, in your opinion, 

make girls of that age at risk for being recruited into or kidnapped 

into this type of situation. 

Ms. BUCK. Well, there are definitely factors, and certainly socioeconomic status is one factor. That said, we have served clients, 

served survivors, here in LA who have had university degrees. So 

I think we need to look at, you know, there is a domestic population, yes, that have been survivors. There is also a foreign national population. And I really want to credit Carissa that the similarities are more than the differences. And as a movement, we need 

to look at this more when we are looking at the factors of vulnerability. 

43

So what I am saying is that the foreign labor contractor who 

drives into a community in a foreign country and looks, you know, 

nice, drives a nice car, says come with me, or, let me take your 

children, they’ll be given a really great education, is not that different from the pimp who seeks out one girl in the same fashion. 

So when we are talking about vulnerability factors, and I do 

want to say that we are really proud to be working with Representative Bass’ office on the child welfare system. And we are doing 

some really innovative things in LA working with the county board 

of supervisors to address the vulnerability factors, which can be everything from socioeconomic status to, you know, to the traffickers 

going in and being allowed to do recruitment in the way that they 

are doing that. 

So I think there are a lot of vulnerability factors is what I am 

saying. 

Chairman ROYCE. Thank you. I was going to ask one last question of Angela, and that is if during the visa application process 

you had been given information about antitrafficking protections 

under U.S. law or maybe the number to that antitrafficking hotline, do you think that that would have helped you escape sooner, 

Angela? Angela, if you had had access——

Ms. GUANZON. I am so sorry. 

Chairman ROYCE [continuing]. To the antitrafficking hotline at 

the point that you——

Ms. GUANZON. No. 

Chairman ROYCE [continuing]. Had the visa application——

Ms. GUANZON. No. 

Chairman ROYCE [continuing]. Would that have helped you if 

that had been given up front, or if you had been given information 

about antitrafficking protections in the United States, would that 

have assisted you? 

Ms. GUANZON. Yes, it would be helpful, and I am just going to 

show this one, the Survivor Advisory Caucus that we have, a member, she worked as a nanny. And they were based on—and when 

they came, when she went through the immigration, somebody 

handed her the information about the hotline, and that is how she 

got help. And when she got to the hotel, she called the number, and 

that is how she got help from CAST. 

Chairman ROYCE. Thank you. Thank you. We are going to go to 

Representative Karen Bass. 

Ms. BASS. Thank you. Well, once again let me just thank all of 

the witnesses for your testimony. And to Carissa and Angela, I 

really appreciate you coming forward and being willing to share 

your story. And Carissa is just amazing because I met her years 

ago and back when you were a student, and to see progress and 

what you have done is just really incredible. And I appreciated that 

you pointed out the demand side, and also that you talked about 

how those of us who are well meaning have to make real sure that 

we do not re-assent or exploit your time in the way that you described. 

But we mentioned the demand, and I wanted to go to our witness 

from the DA. One of the things that I do not understand, and especially on the underage side, I do not understand, and maybe I am 

wrong, but that the men are not charged with rape, and also that 

44

I do not think you can use the word ‘‘prostitution’’ for a child because if you are below the age of consent, then how can you be considered a participant? 

So the question is, are people charged with rape as opposed to 

soliciting? 

Mr. RACKAUCKAS. Yes. Yeah, the answer to the question is, of 

course, yes. Any time that we would have a case where the child 

who is so young, that person would definitely be charged with rape. 

But, you know, this Proposition 35, by the way, has been very helpful. Even since 8109 went into effect, and so many people in California do not go to prison. Under Prop 35, we are sending a lot of 

these traffickers to prison now for a long time period. 

Ms. BASS. But the solicitors, the johns. 

Mr. RACKAUCKAS. If we can show that the john knows or should 

know that this young lady is under 18 years of age, then, yes, we 

would, of course, charge that person at least with statutory rape. 

Ms. BASS. Right, because anybody is supposed to know that. I 

mean, that is statutory rape, right? Because what I understand, 

this is what the LA FBI told me, is that guys specifically ask for 

age. I mean, apparently there are places in LA where you can go 

on this one street, and that is where they are between 12 and 13, 

and so people are specifically doing that. 

It is raising the issue of really going after the demand, obviously 

the traffickers, but——

Mr. RACKAUCKAS. Absolutely. And we are not calling them 

‘‘johns’’ anymore. We are not using that kind of a euphemism. Now, 

they are being referred to as sex purchasers. 

Ms. BASS. Or if they are under age. 

Mr. RACKAUCKAS. Right. And if they are under age, we are going 

to prosecute them on the rape charge, and if the victim is not 

under age, then, of course, we are still going to prosecute them for 

soliciting, and we are going to publicize their names as well. 

Ms. BASS. Good. Now, are the girls, when they are arrested, 

which I do understand sometimes that is an important thing to do. 

But what are they charged with? They are not charged with soliciting, right? 

Mr. RACKAUCKAS. Well, in the past it has always been a soliciting to commit prostitution. But we are taking a much different 

approach on that now because looking at circumstances, and we 

are treating them like the victims that they are, and we are trying 

to work with them to develop the case because we need them to 

give us the information that will take us to the person who is trafficking them. 

Ms. BASS. I know, and I will bet you that is a huge challenge because it is probably very difficult for them to actually do that. And 

I think it is part of the community education to not view an underage child as being capable of prostitution, you know what I mean? 

Changing that. 

Mr. RACKAUCKAS. It is a huge challenge, and that is one of the 

reasons we are talking about resources because we are committing, 

of course, resources from the DA’s office, and the Anaheim Police 

Department has resources committed for the county-wide committee. But a lot of the police departments do not have that kind 

of resource. 

45

Ms. BASS. Right. 

Mr. RACKAUCKAS. And it requires a good deal of investigation. It 

is not just a quick thing. It requires a serious investigation that is 

going to take place over time to get the job done. 

Ms. BASS. Exactly. 

Mr. RACKAUCKAS. So that is an issue with us, too. 

Ms. BASS. Thank you. And then just one further question, if you 

do not mind, Mr. Chairman. Carissa, if there was one type of social 

service that would be most needed for the girls, what is that? 

Ms. PHELPS. I think the number one protective factor that has 

come up is information and education. It is empowering those 

young women, and boys, and foreign nationals, people that are vulnerable. It is giving that phone number and that information at a 

very early age in the early stage because not everyone who even 

has a mom and dad at home has protection and information about 

what is going on out on the streets. And I think with more education, that would lead to greater prevention. 

Chairman ROYCE. Mr. Weber? 

Mr. WEBER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am really glad that our 

district attorney is present. He was telling us not to call them 

johns. We have fought that fight in Texas. You know, we have a 

term for them, but since we are being recorded and maybe broadcast, so I will not tell you what that is. [Laughter.] 

I said earlier we would like to put them under the jailhouse, you 

know. The City of Waco had a great program where they actually 

posted their pictures on billboards throughout the city, and I would 

love to see every city doing that. 

And one of you cited—Carissa, maybe it was you—a study by a 

lady that said the ‘‘purchasers of sex,’’ POS. That is what we call 

them. [Laughter.] They pretty much agree that if they had paid a 

$1,000 to $2,000 fine or spent a month in jail that they would not 

be out looking for it. And I was shocked when I did some research 

on her. She has actually done research all the way back to ’94 

along these lines. I do not know how you followed her. It is really 

interesting. It is really good stuff. 

And the thought occurred to me, and, Mr. District Attorney, you 

might be able to tell me, you know, we have sexual offender registries, and we put them online, and they are precluded from living 

near schools, and it varies by State. But how about this? What if 

we put that on their driver’s license so that——

[Applause.] 

Mr. WEBER [continuing]. So when they have a habit—and it gets 

better, so just stay tuned. [Laughter.] When they have a habit of 

being POSs, it goes on their driver’s license and their credit report. 

People need to know what they spend their money for. Has anybody ever thought—I mean, I am talking from a policy making 

standpoint. Have you ever heard of any legislation like that? 

Mr. RACKAUCKAS. I have not. I have not. 

Mr. WEBER. We will get to work on that. [Laughter.] 

[Applause.] 

Mr. RACKAUCKAS. Maybe it would be helpful if you would come 

and work with our California legislature on that particular idea. 

[Laughter.] 

46

Mr. WEBER. Okay. And then another question I have. It seems 

to me that we are talking about education and helping our victims 

with what they need the most, and I appreciate Member Bass’ 

question, what do they need the most. Are we going down into the 

junior high and middle schools, and are we saying, ladies, guys, 

this is what is out there in store, you need to be aware of it. We 

are doing that in the local school districts, are we? One is saying 

yes, the other is saying no. We are having a disagreement here. 

Ms. PHELPS. We want to. We definitely want to, and we want to 

bring more survivor leaders in for that preventative work because 

we know it is personal stories that make that impact. So it is definitely something we are looking at in partnership with school districts. Some have reached out and been very proactive about it. 

Others will need some mandates to get it done. 

Ms. BUCK. Yeah. 

Mr. WEBER. Okay. Well, I would just encourage you to do that. 

Any help we can give, and I know you all have very capable members here in California who would help, too. So, Mr. Chairman, I 

will yield back. 

Chairman ROYCE. Thank you. We will go now to Mr. Rohrabacher, and then we will finalize with Mr. Lowenthal. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. So I assume by the last answer that perhaps 

we need to be more proactive in our schools at an earlier age and 

giving as much warning to our young people. That is something we 

need to do more of? 

Ms. PHELPS. Yeah. I cannot remember the name of the study, but 

I will provide it to you later. There is a study for overseas victims, 

and it was about positive deviance. So when all of these vulnerable 

factors are in place, when all of them are in place and when they 

are living in poverty, when trafficking is all around them in their 

community, what was the difference for the people that were not 

trafficked, the positive deviance. It was information and education, 

and that is true empowerment. And it says, you know, we can inoculate and prevent this from happening with information and education. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. And, Tony, our district attorney, I have noticed in your testimony about the recent 24 defendants that went 

to State prison. And you have 40 active felony cases or 5 defendants facing lifelong counts and there are other major accomplishments in terms of law enforcement. 

You interact with your fellow district attorneys because your report says one of the fellows that you picked up was in county jail 

said that he would have been out if he was in another county. So 

how do you rate, and I will not ask you to rate them specifically 

by name, but how do you rate the way district attorneys around 

the country are doing on this issue? 

Mr. RACKAUCKAS. I think that district attorneys’ offices are not 

uniform, that there has been, I think, an awareness or an awakening that has developed just in the last couple of years. And so, 

it is in the process of developing at this point. 

I know that in the last Statewide district attorney conference 

that we had, the California attorney general and some other district attorneys made a lot of effort to present information, particularly the Alameda district attorney, but a lot of effort to present 

47

this kind of evidence and the sort of things that we are talking 

about here for the DAs on a Statewide level. And I think that it 

is improving a great deal. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Was that giving them a good assessment or 

a bad assessment for your fellow DAs? [Laughter.] 

I think that is what we are supposed to do at hearings like this. 

I mean, is law enforcement—number one, I am satisfied that you 

are doing a great job. I would not back you for election otherwise. 

I am satisfied of that. I am not necessarily satisfied that law enforcement around the country is meeting that same standard. 

Mr. RACKAUCKAS. You know, I can just relate more to Orange 

County, and I can tell you that police departments are having a 

tough time trying to keep resources in this kind of an area. For example, one of our large police departments has a number of people 

who are in the vice squad who may have been paying attention and 

doing these investigations for the last 11⁄2 or 2 years and doing 

some pretty good work. But now with the cutting of resources and 

the difficulty of keeping resources in an area like this, they probably are going to take those resources away and just put them in 

the more general kind of police work. So it is tough to get good 

local investigations to bring these cases forward. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Okay. Well, obviously this is not a job just for 

local police, and it is obviously more than just our local school 

teachers. And Mr. Royce is pointing out the national and international aspect of this challenge to our society. And so, obviously 

we have from the administration a commitment to all of us working together, and I think that is what this is all about. 

Thank you very much, Mr. Royce, and all of the witnesses. 

Chairman ROYCE. Mr. Alan Lowenthal? 

Mr. LOWENTHAL. Thank you, Mr. Chair. First, I have a question 

for Ms. Buck, but really the question will be a follow on to really 

all the panelists. I really want to compliment you for advocating for 

victims of human trafficking. Your work obviously here today and 

with all the panelists really sheds light on this egregious offense 

which affects the dignity of, I think, worldwide more than 20 million people. And I noticed that CAST provides, in looking through 

and listening to you, many critical kinds of services, such as legal 

services, and emergency response, shelter, and case management. 

But I am interested in a particular subset in terms of the healing 

of people that have gone through this. As a mental health professional in the Congress——

Ms. BUCK. Yes. 

Mr. LOWENTHAL [continuing]. I would really like to understand 

from you and from the others about how we really deal with some 

of the long-range healing of people who have been subjected to this 

kind of abuse, really long-term abuse. And if you could shed some 

light on what we should be dealing with in terms of long-term mental health issues. And then I would like to ask the rest of the panelists also about really where mental health really fits into this. 

Ms. BUCK. Absolutely. That is a great question because I think 

as both Carissa and Angela pointed out, empowerment is really 

necessary. Sometimes the traditional modalities of mental health 

are not necessarily provided through an empowerment program or 

48

an empowerment approach. And so, what the field is really moving 

toward is what is called trauma informed care. 

And so, actually even our legal services program at CAST, we 

train our attorneys in trauma informed care so that not only are 

mental health services delivered in that fashion, but legal services, 

shelter, and emergency response. And that has been the number 

one indicator for us of success where, you know, we work very 

closely with survivors. Most survivors stay with us on average 

about 2 years. 

So, you know, we have the opportunity and really the privilege 

of following them through their healing process. And what we know 

works is a variety of options, so it is not one modality that people 

have to stick to through that whole 2-year process. It is really 

using the arts and music, mentoring as well as something that is 

very helpful. 

When you think about it, most of our clients, whether they be a 

domestic client or a foreign national client, come to us with a very 

small support system. Sometimes they do not have any support 

system at all. So by empowering them and helping them connect 

with other survivors, that begins their social network, and then 

going into the community do that more, we have a lot more success. 

We are doing something or piloting something that is new in the 

coming weeks where it is called ‘‘Open Table.’’ And it is actually 

a modality that is used, and the first one has been very successful 

in Arizona in a faith-based context and for the homeless population. We are adapting it to serve human trafficking survivors 

where they can meet every Sunday with a group of community 

members who can mentor them, who can become their social network for 2 years at a time. And they open up jobs for them. They 

connect them to other community resources. That is the kind of 

services that are really necessary. So it is not a traditional modality, but rather other progressive modalities that we know work. 

Mr. LOWENTHAL. Thank you. And I wonder if other panelists 

might want to comment about the healing process, and how we empower people, and how we even change the, what I have just heard, 

is the very nature of the delivery of all services, that this empowerment model has to be included in the training of all folks, including 

law enforcement. And so, I am just wondering how that is being 

played out in your experiences and what you can add to that, because I am convinced that frequently we overlook mental health as 

one of the critical issues to deal with. 

Ms. GUANZON. I am just going to speak for myself. I lived in a 

shelter for 11⁄2 years, and through the CAST Survivor Advisory 

Caucus, we have this, like, every week or once in a month we have 

this potluck. Before I was too scared to get out from the shelter because I did not know anybody. I am so scared that if I go out, am 

I going to be, like, with anybody else, or am I going to be, like, 

somebody knows that I am different. 

But through the CAST Survivor Advisory Caucus, they make me 

feel that even though I have been in that situation, I have a family. 

And CAST staff, they are so good for making us feel and teaching 

the proper way of—we can say no. ‘‘No’’ is not a light word for us, 

but from the CAST staff, we are taught that at every step or every 

49

decision that we are going to do, you are entitled to say ‘‘no.’’ It is 

up to you. 

So with that, we learn. And in the Caucus, I have learned that 

being outside the shelter is like just regular people that you can 

be mingled and talk to, and there is no, like, situation between us 

and the people outside. 

Ms. PHELPS. When I initially came out with my story, I would 

be introduced at events that had nothing to do with trafficking as 

here is Carissa Phelps, a former child prostitute. And it became the 

fixation of people when they met me. And so, education in our communities as well is critical. And with sexual assault, any type of 

victimization, educating your community about how to receive people, whether they are law enforcement, education, mental health 

providers, is critical. 

Susan Draper from West Coast Clinic, she is in Alameda County, 

and she is the leading expert for child sex trafficking response, 

mental health response. She is, I think, getting ready to retire, so 

we could, like, find a job for her to lead the way and educate other 

communities about the mental health approach, because it is critical that the team of mental health professionals are also not just 

educated, but supported because there is a level of trauma and victimization that they are learning about, and hearing, and taking 

in. 

In order to make that job sustainable for them, they really need 

a strong, supportive network themselves. And I think Susan is the 

lead expert in that right now. 

Chairman ROYCE. Thank you. Well, in summation, let me just 

thank our panelists for helping us to understand not only the challenges going forward, but also the important work that is being 

done out in the community today. And especially we want to thank 

my Human Trafficking Congressional Advisory Committee for their 

input. 

As we go forward, we are going to be working with members of 

the Panel and members of the community to try to strengthen legislation. 

I want to thank my committee members who are here as well. 

This will be a committee product, and so we thank them for their 

participation. And out there in the audience, we thank the members of the community that came forward in order to hear more 

about this issue, to be involved. And we appreciate the activism 

from so many who are supporting some of the community groups 

that are dealing with the survivors, those who are involved in these 

situations of sexual slavery of children that were pressed into this, 

or for those overseas who have been trapped with respect to labor 

trafficking. 

And lastly, thank you very much to you, Ambassador CdeBaca, 

for coming out. 

And I shall share with you all that today’s video, and testimony, 

and legislative info are available online at foreignaffairs.house.gov. 

Thank you very much. 

[Applause.] 

Chairman ROYCE. We stand adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 12:06 p.m., the committee was adjourned.] 

(51)

A P P E N D I X 

MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING RECORD

52

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FULL COMMITTEE HEARING NOTICE 

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

WASHINGTON, DC 20515-6128 

Edward R Royce (R-CA), Chairman 

November 4,2013 

TO: MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

You are respectfully requested to attend an open FIELD hearing of the Committee on Foreign 

Affairs, to be held in the Titan Student Union building on the campus of California State University 

Fullerton (800 N. State College Blvd., Fullerton, CA, 92834) and available live via the Committee 

website at hLlp:/!\-Vv"w.Foreiml£}JIalrsJ1Qu5e._,gQ~( 

DATE: 

TIME: 

SUBJECT: 

WITNESSES: 

The Committee 0/1 

cal! 2(J2 '225-502! 

Monday, November 4, 2013 

10:00 a.m. PST 

Regional Perspectives in the Global Fight Against Human Trafficking 

Panel I 

The Honorable Luis CdeBaca 

Ambassador-at-Large 

Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons 

U.S. Department of State 

Panel IT 

The Honorable Tony Rackauckas 

District Attorney, Orange County 

Office of the Orange County District Attorney 

Ms. Kay Buck 

Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer 

Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking 

Ms. Angela Guanzon 

Survivor of International Trafficking 

Member, CAST Survivor Advisory Caucus and National Survivor Network 

Ms. Carissa Phelps 

Chief Executive Officer 

Runaway Girl, FPC 

By Direction of the Chairman 
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85480m-1.eps

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

MINUTES OF FULL COMMITTEE HEARING 

Day_----"1It=on"'d=a"'y_~Date ___ "'1"'l/i_'()'_'4'_''/1~3'__ __ Room Titan Student Union 

Starting Time 10:17 A.M. Ending Time 12:06P.M 

Recesses :_0_ "-to ~ "-to __ ) "-to ~ ( __ 10 -'l "-to __ ) "-to ~ 

Presiding Mem ber( s) 

Rep. Edward R. Royce, Chairman 

Check all oflhe following that apply: 

Open Session [Z] 

Executive (closed) Session 0 Televised [Z] 

TITLE OF HEARING: 

Electronically Recorded (tapcd)[Z] 

Stenographic Record [Z] 

Regional Perspectives in the Global Fight Against Humall Trafficking 

COMMITTEE tvillMBERS PRESENT: 

See Attendance Sheet. 

NON-COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESE:'IIT: 

None. 

HEARL'IG WITNESSES: Same as meeting notice attached? Yes0 :'1100 

(If "no ", please list below and include title, agency, department, or organization.) 

STATEMENTS FOR THE RECORD: (List any statements suhmittedfor the record) 

SFR - Department of Justice 

TIME SCHEDULED TO RECONVE:'IIE ___ _ 

or 

TIME ADJOUR1\'ED 12:06 P.M 

L4~~ Zan Marter, Director of Committee Operations 
54

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Present 

X 

X 

X 

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

FilII Committee Hearing 

Memher Pre,'i'en{ Member 

Edward R. Royce, CA Eliot L. Engel, NY 

Christopher H. Smith. NJ Eni F.H Faleomavacga. AS 

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, FL Brad Shennan, CA 

Dana Rohrabacher. CA Gregory W. Meeks, NY 

Steve Chabot. OH Albia Sires. NJ 

Joe Wilson, SC Gerald E. C01111011y, VA 

Michael T. McCaul, TX Theodore E. Deutch. FL 

Ted Poe, TX Brian Higgins, NY 

Matt Salmon. AZ X Karen Bass, CA 

Tom Marino, PA William Keating, MA 

Jeff Duncan, SC David Cici11ine. RT 

Adam Kinzinger, IL Alan Grayson, FL 

Mo Brooks, AL Juan Vargas, CA 

Tom Cotton. AR Bradley S. Schneider, IL 

Paul Cook, CA Joseph P. Kennedy IlL MA 

George Holding, NC Ami Bera, CA 

Randy K. Weber, Sr., TX X Alan S. Lowenthal, CA 

Scott Perry. P A Grace Meng. NY 

Steve Stockman. TX Lois FrankeL FL 

Ron DeSantis, FL Tulsi Gabbard, HI 

Trey RadeL FL Joaquin Castro. TX 

Doug Collins, GA 

Mark Meadows, NC 

Ted S Yoho, FL 

Luke Messer, TN 
55

MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD BY THE HONORABLE EDWARD R. ROYCE, A

REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA, AND CHAIRMAN, 

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS


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Department of Justice 

Statement for the Record 

Thank you for the opportunity to present an overview of the work of the Department of Justice (the Department) and 

its Federal Bureau ofInvestigation (FBI) to combat the scourge of human trafficking. As evidenced by the broad 

spectrum of investigative, prosecntorial, training, outreach, victim services. and research efforts by a \vide array of 

components, outlined below, the Department is fully committed to fighting human trafficking 

Humanlrafficking, also knmvll as trafficking in persons or modenl-day slavery, is a crime that strikes at the very 

heart o[llIe American promise: freedom. Today, in Uris couni!)'. people are bought, sold, and exploited lil ... e slaves 

each and e\rery day_ They are trapped in lives of misery-often beaten, stmYed, and forced to engage in prostinltion 

or to take gmeling jobs as migrant. domestic, restaurant or factory \vorkers with little or no pay 

The most \ ulncrablc among us, including our children. arc being exploited both online and in person. Orten targetcd 

because ofilldividual vuhlcrabilitics, mallY have already experienced abushc or troubled families. ha\'c disabilities, 

or come from families \vith vel)' limited resources. In the hands of their uaffickcrs. these illdhiduals vdll be 

subjected to numerous sexual assaults and continued abuse. 

The Department and its partners are ,,,orking hard to identify- and support victims and bring their abusers to justice 

\Ve provide significant resources, training and technical assistance to our fedeml, state. local, and tribal partners. 

Enforcement: Investigation 

The FBI's efforls to investigale human lraffieking arc eoordinaled by thc Civil Righls Urnt (CRU) and the Violenl 

Crimes Againsl Clnldrcn Seelion (VCACS). The CRU invesligates forced bbor. sex lralIieking by force. fraud or 

coercion and the sexual exploitation of foreign minors while the VCACS foclises on Ule cOllllllercial sexual 

exploitation of domcstic children under Ule age of 18. Sex tIafficking prosecutions lll\olving children do not require 

proof of the use of force. fraud. or coercion. 

Innocence T,os! :Vatiollallnitiative 

TIns year marks the tenth anniversary of the FBI-s most prominent initiative to combat the growing problem of sex 

trJffieking of children within the United States. In June of 2003. the FBI and the Department's Child E:'1l10itation 

and Obscenity Section (CEOS) joined the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to lalUleh 

the Innocence Lost National Initiative (ILNI). While it is difficult to imagine. the average age of a child targeted for 

prostitution in the United States is between 11 and 1 ~ years old. Once under the control of a pimp. the proceeds of 

the conUllercial sexual exploitation of the child are controlled by the captor. and attempted escapes often result in 

bmtal beatings or even death 

The FBI and its ILNI partners execute Operation Cross Country-a three-day natiomvide enforcement action 

focusing on undemge victims of prostitution. Our most recent opemtion in July 2013 - our seventh and largest such 

opemtion - conclnded with the recovery of 105 cOllUnercially seA1Jally e"-ploited children and the arrests of 150 

pimps and other individuals_ 

nns mosl recent swecp look placc in 76 cities and was carricd oUl by the FBI in partnerslnp wilh local. stale, and 

federal 13\\ enforccment agencies and NCl\.1EC. Ovcr 1.300 law enforcemcnt oITicers across the country have been 

trained through the Protecling Victims of Clnld Prostitution Course al NCMEC, winch supports the ILNI. 

Task force operations can begin (lS local actions, tnrgeting such places as tmck stops, casinos, street "tracks:' (lnd 

Internet ,Yebsites, based on intelligence gathered by officers ,yorking in their respective jurisdictions. The FBI h..1s 

developed special teams and protocols for prevention and enforcement actions surrounding large-scale sporting 

events and other events of I1Htional interest. By utilizing irrformation obtained through these operations, and by 

building a strong rapport \\/ith victims. the FBI orten uncovcrs organi/.cd efforts to prostitute ,,,omcn and children 

across many states. Thesc investigations cem lead to local. state. or fcderal charges. 
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To dale. the ILNI lask forccs have rescued more lhan 2.800 clrildrcn. Investigalions Ime led lo the conviction of 

morc than 1,-1-00 pimps. madams. and their aSSOC1.1tcs who commercially exploit children through prostitution. These 

convictions have resulted illlcngthy sentences, including nlllHiplc life sentences and Ule SCiLUrc of real property. 

vchicles. and monetary assets. 

Tn addition to the TLNT, the FBT also coordinates the Violent Crimes Against Children International Task Force - a 

select cadre of internationallmv enforcement experts working together to fornmlate <lnd deliver a dynamic global 

rcsponse to crimes against children through the establishment and furthemnce of stmtegie partnerships, the 

aggressive engagement of relevant law enforcement, and the cx.1cnsivc usc of liaison, opcmtionai support. and 

coordination. 

Through tlus task force \ve are ,yoIking closely \vith our partners to: reduce the vulnembility of children to acts of 

sex"1ml exploitation and abuse ,vhich are facilitated through the use of computers; identify and rescue child victims; 

investigate and prosecute sexual predators who use the Internet and other online services to sexually exploit clrildren 

for personal or financial gain; and strengthen the capabilities of federal. state, 10ca1. and international law 

enforcement through training programs and investigative assistance. 

lrajJicking Jixploiting Foreign Nationals 

Our CRU investigates trafficking involving foreign nationals, \vhich is orten aimed at recent migrants and other 

economically disadvanl1gcd individuals. particularly women and children Preying on the vulnerabililies of people 

seeking a better life. traffickers force migrants without documenl1tion or with precarious iImnigration status to work 

in poor, unsafe conditions where they arc exploited for prostitution, domestic selvitude. migrant [ann labor. or toil in 

restaurants and service industry jobs. Compounding Ule problem, the number of migrants subjected to these types of 

crimes is underreported, as llk1ny [car deportation or arc afraid of retaliation against themselves or their families. 

Together with our Imv enforcement partners at the Department ofHomelnnd Security (DHS), ns well as the 

Department of Labor and the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service. we arc working hard to combat 

tmfficking in anv form-not only bceausc of the phYsical and psychological toll it takcs on individunl victims and 

their families. but also the profit generated by this exploitation fuels further lwlav .. 'ful migration and organil:ed 

criminal activity 

Through our efforts, ,ve work with other local. state, tribal and federdllaw enforcement agencies and national victimbased advocacy groups injoint task forces that combine resources and expertise on the issue. Today. the FBI 

participates in over 100 human trafficking task forces and working groups around the nation who work shoulder-toshoulder in an effort to combat the exploitation of individuals ,vho work in industries. such as agriculture and 

domestic service, and who are forced into prostitution and/or slave labor 

The FBI's many field offices produce threat assessments to detennine the nature and e:xient of human trafficking in 

their areas of jurisdiction. They also agbrressively pursue hllllaIl trafficking investigations and develop actionable 

intelligence. TIns yaluable infommtion aids us \vith future potential cases, and helps us to better understand the 

nahlIe and scope of the problem. And finally, these offices are charged 'with building relationships ""ith civic aIld 

community groups and non-govenunental organizations tImt can refer cases and provide yaluable insights and 

informatioa 

FBI CRU's pending human lrafIicking invesligations have increased from 167 in 2009 lo 459 by the end of fiscal 

year 2012. Since 2009. our investigations in tIns area have resulted in-t.80 arrests. 336 infonnations and illdicllnents. 

and 258 convictions. 

Enforcement: Prosecution 

The Department's prosecution efforts are led by two specialized Units, the Ciyil Rights Division's HllllaIl 

Trafficking Prosecution Unit. and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 'which provide 

subject matter expertise and partner with our 94 United States Attorneys Offices (USAOs) on prosecutions 

natiomvide 

2 
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The Civil Rights DivisiolL through its Crinriml Section Human Tra1ficking Prosecution Unit (HTPU), in 

collabomtion with USAOs mtionwidc. Ims principal responsibility for prosccuting forced labor and sex tra1ficking of 

adults by foree, fraud. and coercion. wlrik CEOS provides cxpertise in clrild exploitation crimes. including clrild sex 

trafficking. and works in collaboralion vdlh U SAOs to investigate and prosecute cases arising under federal statutes 

prohibiting the cOlmncrcial sexual exploitation of children and Ule extraterritorial sexual abuse of children. 

Taken together. USAOs, HTPU. and CEOS initiated a total of 128 fedeml human trafficking prosecutions in FY 

2012, charging 200 defendants. Ofthcse. 162 defendants engaged predominatelv in sex trafficking and]8 engaged 

predominantly in labor trafficking. although seyeral defendants engaged in both. Tn FY 20 12, the Civil Rights 

Division, in coordination with USAOs. initiated 55 prosecutions involving forced labor and sex tranicking of adults 

by force, fraud, or coercion. Of these, 34 were predominantly sex trafficking and 21 were prcdominnntiy labor 

tmmcking; several cases involved both. Tn FY 2012, CEOS, in coordination with USAOs. initiated 18 prosecutions 

involving Ule sex trafficking of clrildren and child sex tourism. 

During FY 2012. DOJ convicted a total of 1]8 traffickers in cases involving forced labor. sex trafficking of adults. 

and sex trafficking of children. Of these, 105 predominantly involved sex trafficking and JJ predominantly involved 

labor trafficking, although some cases involved both. The average prison sentence imposed for federal trafficking 

crimes during FY 2012 ,vas nine years. and terms imposed ranged from probation to life imprisonment. During the 

reporting period. federal prosecutors secured life sentences agninst both sex and labor traffickers in four cases, 

including a sentence of life plus 20 years, the longest sentence ever imposed in a labor trafficking case. 

Civll Rights DivIsion 

Since the Department created the HTPU witlrin the Crilniml Section of the Civil Rights Division in January 2007. 

HTPU has played a significant role in coordiImting the Department' s human trafficking prosecution programs. 

HTPU's mission is to focus the Civil Rights Division's human trafficking expertise and expand its anti-traITicking 

enforcement program to increase human traITicking investigations and prosecutions throughout the nation. HTPU 

,yorks to enll£l11Ce DOJ investigation and prosecution of significant hmmm trafficking cases. particularly no,-el, 

complex, multi-jurisdictionaL and nmlti-agency cases and those invohring tnmsnational organized crime ::md 

firumcial crimes. 

Consistent with increases in trafficking cascloads across thc Department, in the past four fiscal years. from 2009 

through 2012. the Civil Rights Division and USAOs Imve brought 9~ labor trafficking cases. compared to ~3 such 

cases over the previous four years. an increase of over 118%. This is in addition to the substantial increase in thc 

number of adult sex tmfficking cases prosecuted by the Civil Rights Division and USAOs. 

The HTPU. the Executive Office forU.S. Attornevs (EOUSA) and multiple USAOs have continued to lead the six 

anti-trafficking coordination teams (ACTenms) in eollabomtion with the FBT. DHS. and the Department of Labor. 

Following a competitive, nntion-wide selection process, six pilot ACTeams ,yere launched in July 20 II in Los 

Angeles. California; EI Paso. Texas; Kansas City. Missouri; Atlanta, Georgia; Miami, Florida; and Memphis. 

Tcnnessee. Sincc that time. the ACTeams. through cnhanced coordination among federal prosecutors and multiple 

federal investigative agencies, have developed significant human trafficking invcstigations and prosecutions. 

including the first multi-district, multi-defendant combined sex trafficking and forced labor case in the West em 

District of Texas. Ule first domestic servitude prosecution in the Western District of Missouri. and the first Eastenl 

European forced labor case initiated in Ule NorUlern District of Georgia, in addition to numerous oUler significant 

investigations and prosecutioIlS. 

Of particular interest to this Committee, the Department and DHS have collaborated \vith Mexican Imv enforcement 

counterparts on the U.S./TVTexico Human Trafficking Bilateral Enforcement Initiative, which has contributed 

significantly to restoring the rights and dignity of hum<1n trafficking victims through outrench, interagency 

coordination. international collaboration, and capacity-building. Through the Initiative, the United Stutes and Mexico 

have worked as partners to bring high-impact prosecutions under both U.S. and Mexican law to morc effectively 

dismantle human trafficking nenvorks operating across the U.S.-Mexico border. prosecute hurnan traffickers, rescue 

luunan trafficking \ictims, and reunite victims \vith their families. Signif'icant bilateral cases have been prosecuted in 

Atlanta. Georgia; Miami. Florida; and New York. New York. To advance the interdisciplinary Tnitiative, the 

Department and DHS Imve participated in meetings in both the United States and Mexico to ensure Urat simultaneous 
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85480f-5.eps

investigations and prosecutions enhance. raUler UU1ll impede. each other. These efforts have already resulted in three 

cross-border collaborative prosecutions, involving defendants who have been sentenced in Mexico and the United 

States to tenns ofimprisolllllent of up to 37.5 years. and resulting in the vindication of the rights of dOLCllS of sex 

traITicking victims. 

Outreach and training continue to be a large part of the Department's efforts to combat human trafficking. HTPU 

nttorneys presented numerous in-person trainings as part of the Federal Lmv Enforcement Training Center State and 

Local La,,, Enforcement Training Symposiums. CRT. FBI and other Department components joined ,,,ith the 

Department of State to create an Advanced Human Tmffieking Investigator course at the FBI Training Academy in 

Quantico. Virginia. for Central American law enforcement oITicers. The program has trained investigators from EI 

Salvador, GunteHmla, Niearaglw and Panama. DOl DHS, and DOL collaborated to develop and deliver the 

Advanced Human Tramcking Training Program to the ACTemns, bringing federal agents and federal prosecutors 

together for an intensive skill-building and strategic plmming to enhance their anti-trafficking enforcement efforts. 

('rIl1l1nal Dfl'lSlOtl 

The CEOS' mission is to protect children from sexual exploitation by investigating and prosecuting not only child 

sex trafficking, but also child pomoh'rdphy, and extraterritorial exploitation of children. CEOS conducts and 

participates in training for federal, state. local and intemational prosecutors and investigators engaged in efforts to 

enforce federal child exploitation laws. 

For example, in 20n, CEOS's section chief presented on best practices for investigating and prosecuting child sex 

trafficking cases nt n human trafficking seminar in Riverside, California, and participated in crimes ngainst children 

training conference hosted by the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children in Vietnam. Also within 

the past year, CEOS attorneys presented at international conferences in Taiwan, Mexico, Belgium, and Washington, 

DC, providing training to Imv enforcement. prosecutors, state officials, judges. and subject mattcr experts from 

various disciplines in the areas of child sex tourism and trafficking in minors 

111 March 2013, Weylin RodrigueL \:vas sentenced to life plus five years in prison following Iris conviction for forcing 

multiple minor and adult ,-ictims to engage in prostitution and for ,-arious fireanns offenses in the recmitment of 

three minor females and two young adults to \vork in prostitution. Rodriguez kidnapped some of his victims, and 

lured others through false pretenses follmved by violence. After luring his victims, he and two co-conspirators (,ak:a 

his "bottom girls"). advertised the victims for prostitution online. and forced the victims to solicit for prostitution on 

the streets, Rodrit,'uez kept all the money received by the victinlS for the commercial sex acts, To prevent the 

victims from leaving his prostitution ring. Rodriguez inflicted severe physical beatings to create an atmosphere of 

fear. He also threatened the victinlS with guns on mlllerous occasions, and shot at a customer in front of a yiCti111. 

Rodriguez has severdl prior convictions involving dmgs. fireanll, as \vell as a sexual offense agaillSt a minor. The 

case was prosecuted jointly by CEOS and the Middle District of Florida. 

In May 2012. Janles Mozie was sentenced to life imprisornnent following his conviction in a jury trial of eight counts 

of child sex trdi"ficking, one count of cOllSpirdcy to commit the same. and one count of production of child 

pornography. At triaL several juvenile victims testified that they either \vorked or were recntited to "vork as 

prostitutes for Mozie and his girlfriend, Laschell Harris, from their residence in Oakland Park, Florida. When 

customers arrived at the home, they paid a cover charge to the secnrity guard working the front door, The females, 

many of them minors, ,vorked in the house dancing for tips and engaging in sexual activity with male customers for 

money. The seven victims, all minors when the offenses occurred, testified that Mozie required them to have sex 

with him as part of their ··orientation," which he explained ,vas his way of "testing the merchandise," They also 

testified that Mozie would Inke sexlmlly explicit pictures of them, which he attached to te,1 messages adYertising the 

brothel. Also in 2012, Harris was sentenced to 156 months imprisonment after pleading guilty to onc count of sex 

trafficking, and co-conspirator Willie Rice, ,vho acted as a security guard for Mozic, was sentenced to -1-8 months 

imprisonment after pleading guilty to possessing a handgun while a felon. The case was prosecuted jointly by CEOS 

and the Southern District of Florida. 

Execlitil'c Offlccfor United ,States Attornc.\.:s 

4 
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Consistent with Ule Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act. 2012. all USAOs established or 

participate in human trafficking task forces (HTTF). and collaborate with private partners in sevcral \Yays. Eighty 

percent of the HTTFs in which USAOs arc involved includc members from NGOs. Participating private 

organiLations include conununity groups. faith-based organiLations. victim advocacy groups. academic 

organiLations, medical profcssiOlk11s. and legal aid offices. These private organizations provide various fonns of 

assistance to the HTTFs. including tips on ,,,,omen and girls who were being trafficked, social services for victims. 

and training in conjullction with USAOs. 

Public A\varcncss Victim Services and Research 

Federal Bureau ojlnvestigafioll 

The Department docs morc than investigate and prosecute those \:vho exploit victims of trafficking. For cx.amplc. the 

FBI's Office for Victim Assistance. along \-vith VictilIlS specialists from the USAOs and/or other non-government 

victim assistance service providers, \"ork \vith human trafficking victims to advise them of their rights and to ensure 

they get the help they need to address their short-tenn and long-term needs-such as legal and repatriation services, 

innnigmtion relief. housing, employment, educatioll job training. and child care. Nearly 400 victims have been 

provided services as a result of Operation Cross Country. With the launch oftlle Innocence Lost National Initiative, 

the FBI task forces have encOlUltered significant challenges in identifying and providing services for these victims. 

Often ·with histories of poverty, homelessness, and/or exposure to violence and abuse, victims may have difficulties 

reaching out for help or detenTnning 'vIm they can tnlSt. JllYeniles who become involved in seALlal trafficking face 

myriad obstacles and enonnous needs - including very basic needs such as safe housing, subsistence, and schooling 

- if they are able to leave that life. In addition, they may need substance abuse treatment, medical treatment for 

conditions like HIV/ AIDS, and mental health services. Many face impediments to remuting \vith their family of 

origin, so they need help to prepare for independent living . 

.t.'xeculive Office Jur L'niled Siaies AliorneJ';~· 

Tn order to prevcnt and incrcase the reporting of human trafficking, the Dcpartmcnt·s Exccutivc Office for United 

States Attorneys developed a public awareness campaign with the cooperation of Polaris Project, a nongovernmental 

organi/.ation dedicated to combating luunan trafficking. The campaign's advertisements targeted ethnic groups from 

countries associated with human trafficking in the U.S. An ad\'enisement was developed, translated. and placed in 

selected newspapers inl8 cities for a period oftwo to three months during the fall 0[2012. The advertisements 

defined hU11mn trafficking, explained tlmttrafficking violates S""tc and federal laws. and encouraged readers who 

considered themselves to be victims of. or witnesses to, human traITicking to call the National Human Trafficking 

Hotline, wlnch is operated by Polaris \vilh a grant from the federal govennllenL Polaris provided statistics Umt 

shO\ved a significant increase in calls to Ute hotline from cities where Ute ads ,yere placed during the periods of time 

tImt the ads were IUlllnng in those cities. 

Office (?fJustlce Programs 

In FY 2012. the Departmenf s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and Office for Yietinls of Crime (OYC) jointly 

made a,vards to seven task force sites to execute a comprehensive approach to combating all fonns of trdfficking, 

including sex and labor trafficking of foreign nationals and u.s. citizens (male and female, adults and minors). BJA 

made seven awards of up to $500.000 for 24 montllS to support law enforcement agencies (one in each task force 

site) to coordinate the goals, objectives, and activities of tile entire task force in close collaboration with tile local 

USAO and the task force pmtnervictim service organization (one in each task force site) to coordinate the provision 

of a comprehensiYe array of culturally and linguistically appropriate services to all trafficking victims identified 

within the geographic area affected by the task force. ave made seven a,vards to victim service provider partners 

who participate on the tnsk forces. Tn tOlnl. $6,609,586 was awarded by BJA and aye 

In addition to providing direct services, ove trdfficking victim-service gmntees across each grant prognull ,vork to 

enhance the community's capacity to identifY and respond appropriately to victims of trafficking. From July L 2011 

to June 30. 2012, grantees twined 28,462 professionals. representing schools and educational institutions. faith-based 

organizations and religious institutions. viCtinl service providers, civic and business cOllnllunity organizations, and 

state, tribal and local law enforcement. The top five topics covered by grantees ,"vere: the defilution of human 
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trafficking; identification of human trafficking \,ictims: procedures for reporting human tmfficking: services available 

to victims; and legal assistance for victims of human trafficking. 

During FY 20l2-20Il, OVC represented DOJ by serving as a Co-Chair along with DHS and the Department of 

Health and Human Services in the development of the first-ever federal strategic action plan to strengthen selvices 

for trafficking victims. After extensiye interagency collaboration. the co-{::hairs drafted the plan and released it for 

public comment. Over Jon comments were received and OVC is ,vorking to incorporate the public's input. The 

plan is scheduled for release in January 2014, 

In order to ascertain the scope and prilllaIY methods of perpetration of human trafficking. identify effective means of 

prevention. and maximize the impact of available victim services, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) has 

maintained the most active research portfolio on trafficking in the U.S., making dozens of research m.vards over the 

past decade. Recent NIl awards are tackling the toughest questions asked about human trafficking, inclucting 

measuring !be prevalence of labor trafficking, exploring the perpetration of trafficking and evaluating best practices 

in service provision. For example. an ongoing NU-funded project focllses specifically on one of the most understudied aspects of human trafficking: the relationship benveen gangs and human trafficking. This project ·will 

measure the nature and extent of gang involvement in human trafficking by gathering data from four sources: victims 

who are assisted by social selvice agencies in San Diego County. non-public law enforcement incidence and arrest 

records, persons identified as trafficking victims nnd perpetrators at San Diego middle and high schools, and the 

tmffiekers themselves 

For FY 2013. NIJ is funding a study focusing on the Somali-American diaspora and its involvement in 1\vo 

tnmsnational crimes: mdicalization to violent extremism and trafficking in persons. This study "ill build scientific 

knO\vledge on these crimes ,"vith an emphasis on hO\v trdnsnational issues converge in a conte~i of profOlUld 

comlllunity vulnerability and active criminal networks. The co-occurrence of radicalization and trafficking in 

disadvantaged refugee and illlilugrant conumuuties warrants an exanunation to better lUlderstand the transnational 

and convergence issues involved. and how they can inform evidence-based community practices 

Efforts to Combat Trafficking Exploiting Tribal Members 

The challenges the Fedeml Govennnent races in developing and sustaining eITeetive child weiraTe and juvenile 

justice systems and providing effective services to juveniles have been studicd and documented at the Department 

and in olher federal agencies for decades, In April 2013, the Allorne), General, acting on a recolllIllendation froIll 

lhe Defending Childhood Task Force. called for the fonmtion of U,e American Indian and Alaska Native Children 

Exposed lo Violence Task Foree (Task Force), In recognilion o[lhe unique role the Federal Governmenl plays in 

Indian Countr.y issues. a \,'orking group of federal agencies \:vas established as part of the Task Force. The worl.J.ng 

group will complement the objectives of the advisory committee of the Task Force. \yhich will consist of non-federal 

experts in children's exposure to violence. The initial focus of the working group will be actions to improve the 

federal response to the needs of American Indian and Alaska Native children e.\.posed to violence. This vulnerable 

population has been identified as being particularly susceptible to being lured by tnUliekers, 

From July 8. 2013 through July 12.2013, the Department's Omee on Violence Against Women (OVW) conducted a 

site visit to \vestem North Dakota meeting with local la\venforcement tribal leaders, victim advocates. the U.S. 

Allorne), for Norlh Dakola. slale and lribal coalilion leaders, and service providers from bOlh North Dakola and 

Montana. OVW is exploring providing funds to law enforcement and victim sen!ice providers in weslem North 

Dakola and easlern Monlam lo address domestic violence, sexual assault, slalking, and lrafficking, 

In FY 2012, BJA solicited proposals to address the issue of human trafficking on Tribal Lands by developing and 

providing training to build mvareness of the existence of human tmfficking in Indian Country. and providing Imv 

enforcement nnd community stakeholders ,yith the tools necessary to begin the process ofyictim identificntion. 

rescue and restoration, ,,,hile providing appropriate consequences for perpetrators in a consistently applied manner. 

BJA reeeiyed four applications throngh a competitive process and awarded $lIl5,1l1l0 to the Upper Midwest 

Communitv Policing Institute (UMCPI) to develop and pilot the training 

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BJA will design and plan the delivery of Human Trafficking Training to Tribal Law Enforeement wlrieh will begin a 

pilot phase of trairring by the end of 20 13. BJA is plamring to seck additioml funding to expand the number of sites 

vdrich can be trained moving forward. 

Tn response to Imy enforcement concerns about possible human trafficking on the Fort Berthold Reservation in 

western North Dakota, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of North Dakota (USAO-ND), the FBI, and 

multiple tribal organizations created a Humnn Trafficking \Vorking Group to address the abuse of women nnd 

children through prostiMion on the Fort Berthold Reservation. Thc work of this group resulted in the April 2012 

conviction of a New Tmvn, North Dakota IllHI1 on 16 counts of sex trafficking, sexual abuse, drug trafficking, and 

witness tampering. The racts revealed at trial established that the derendant had conspired to distribute marijlmna 

around the Fan Berthold Indian Reservation. As part of this conspiracy, the defendant recruited minors and young 

adults to be part or a gang. According to testimony at triaL the derendant also used physical rorce and coercion to 

cause an adult female he Imd recruited for the gang to engage in corllinereial sex acts on tire Fort Berthold Indian 

Reservation and in Williston and Minot. USAO-ND believes tlmt itmovative. cooperative efforts. like tire 

investigation that led to this conviction, arc essential to battling organized crinrilL.ll activity on the resen'ations, 

ronclusion 

The Department's efforts to combat hUlImntrafJieking present a multifaceted approach to a multifaceted problem 

As a rcsult. our efIorts span from invcstigation to prosecutioll and arc supplemcnted by an array of invcstigative. 

training, outreach, and victim services carried out by a wide nmge of components, Simply put. \yc arc proud of the 

,vork ,ve do in Uris area, and look forward to continuing to Imve a leading role in the go\ennnent-wide fight against 

hUnk11l trafficking, 

Vve thank you again for the opportunity to submit tIris statement 

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