Date: 2015-01-27
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker. I am glad that the manager. Congressman POE. set the tone again for the vigorousness of the bipartisanship around what all of us want. which is to. in essence. cut out the cancers of human trafficking and sex trafficking. Let me first of all congratulate Mr. POE. Judge POE. a Texan whose language I can fully understand. as well as his partner. Congresswoman MALONEY. Over the years. she has championed the rights of women and the empowerment of our children: what a great partnership. Judge POE and Congresswoman MALONEY. I am delighted to join with them in my commitment to fighting human trafficking and sex trafficking in supporting H.R. 181. the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2014. marked up in the Judiciary Committee. Many amendments were accepted. and so this bill has a holistic approach. I am also glad that we did not run away from this issue in Houston. as we convened a hearing that I called for with my colleagues. Republicans and Democrats. to openly and forthrightly listen to law enforcement. people who had been victimized. adults who are still suffering from what had happened to them as a child. This hearing was held in March. It was a field hearing. titled. "Combating Human Trafficking in Our Major Cities." It was a fitting venue because. regrettably. Houston has been noted as a human trafficking hub in the United States. But it was the important contributions of my colleagues. many on the floor today. who added to the record to begin to craft or to continue to work on important legislation such as the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act. I am glad that we are here again to move it so it can ultimately be signed by the President of the United States. At that hearing. we heard testimony from Federal. State. and local law enforcement officials regarding an operation the day before in which they discovered and rescued 115 from a packed. rancid stash house in south Harris County. It was not completely vetted as to whether or not all of the individuals in the stash house or some of the individuals or a few were victims of human trafficking or sex trafficking. I would venture to say that their future would not be a future worthy of promoting. Ninetynine of those victims were men. 16 were women. one of whom was pregnant. and 19 others were juveniles. You wonder what would happen to the juveniles. I went to that stash house. It was a terrible scene. All of them had been kidnapped and smuggled into the United States. And as previously said. human trafficking. sex trafficking. is a great business for those who are of that kind of vile mind because they can use them and use them and use juveniles over and over again. some of whom. however. have been driven to such low ends of the Earth. meaning the victims. that their life is ruined. Some have probably been driven to suicide. Trafficking of any human being. especially domestic child trafficking. has no place in civilized society. The term "slavery" has often been used. And it is true that slavery exists around the world. We need to ensure that State and local law enforcement agencies have the tools. resources. and training necessary to identify. apprehend. and prosecute criminals who ruthlessly traffic in children. These children have suffered the worst imaginable trauma. and as a result. they require and are deserving of comprehensive and tailored services to assist in their recovery. We need to ensure that funding is in place to provide for such comprehensive services. This bill is an essential step toward combating the crisis of domestic minor sex trafficking and helping survivors begin their lives anew. Throughout this afternoon. we have said that they have to have an opportunity to change their lives. While the rescue of trafficking victims is necessary. so is the prosecution of traffickers. While we habitually refer to those who solicit commercial sex acts from minors as "customers" and "johns." and I have said this before on the floor. the cold. hard fact is that these people are nothing more than child rapists. We need to stop being polite and call them what they arechild rapists. Let us not let them hide behind polite names such as "john." particularly when they prey on our children. Federal courts have interpreted the existing statute. title 18 U.S.C. section 1591. to cover the acts of patronizing and soliciting. Therefore. the specifications of the terms "patronize" and "solicit" in this bill simply clarify and emphasize the fact that these actions are actually covered. Those who patronize and solicit are already criminally liable under the language contained in the original text of section 1591. Under this legislation. a child rapist will no longer be able to find refuge in any jurisdiction. This bill will also promote the coordination of investigations among Federal. State. and local law enforcement and enhance reporting data for missing childreneverything that the witnesses at the March 2014 hearing told us call for this. Let me say that I am also grateful that this bill emphasizes the local. State. and Federal collaboration. As a member of the Homeland Security Committee. which is what the hearing was held under. under the auspices of the Homeland Security Committee. we recognize that is part of the threat to national security. The utilizing of our children. the victimizing of our children. the coopting of our children. the soliciting of our children. and this bill gets right at the target. Human trafficking is the second fastest growing criminal industry in the world. generating over $32 billion annually. This bill is the most comprehensive piece of legislation to deal with this problem over the years. and it is a great foundation to continue to build. to weed out every nuance. every person hiding behind the rock who is dealing in sex trafficking and human trafficking. For years. we have labeled child victims of sex trafficking as prostitutes and juvenile delinquents rather than the victims that they are. We have seen runaways and we have condemned them for being a runaway. but we dont know the horrible stories and what they have experienced. They are victims of criminal conduct. and we need to treat them that waynot prostitutes. not juvenile delinquents. This bill recognizes and treats victims as victims. provides for more services and shelters for them. and provides resources to law enforcement. child welfare. health care officials. and others who will come into contact with them. One of the early organizations. the Center for Missing and Exploited Children. which I have associated with throughout my entire time in the House of Representatives. early on raised the clarion call that we must do something about these exploited and missing children. I know that they are celebrating as we have been on the floor talking about human trafficking and sex trafficking. So. Mr. Speaker. I am very pleased that the Judiciary Committee saw fit to adopt section 11 in H.R. 181. the Jackson Lee amendment. which expresses a sense of Congress that human trafficking has no place in a civilized society and that perpetrators of such vile acts should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. and we can build on this for finding those who may be thinking that they are squeezing outside the law. Mr. Speaker. as a global leader in combating global trafficking throughout the world. the United States must hold all nations to the same standards by which we hold ourselves. The demand for commercial sex is a primary cause of the human rights violation of human trafficking. Elimination of that violation requires elimination of that demand. I am glad that we are here confronting it headon. and I ask my colleagues to support the underlying legislation. Madam Speaker. I rise in support of H.R. 181. the "Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015." Madam Speaker. last year. on March 20. 2014. the Homeland Security Committee. of which I am a member. held a field hearing titled. "Combatting Human Trafficking in Our Major Cities." in my home city of Houston. It was a fitting venue because. regrettably. Houston is a human trafficking hub of the United States. At that hearing my colleagues. Chairman MCCAUL. Judge POE. Congressman AL GREEN. Congressman FARENTHOLD. and I heard testimony from Federal. state and local law enforcement officials regarding an operation the day before during which they discovered and rescued 115 people from a packed. rancid stash house in south Harris County. 99 of those victims were men. 16 were women. one of whom was pregnant. and 19 were juveniles. All of them had been kidnapped and smuggled into the United States. Trafficking of any human being. especially domestic child trafficking. has no place in civilized society. We need to ensure that state and local law enforcement agencies have the tools. resources. and training necessary to identify. apprehend. and prosecute criminals who ruthlessly traffic in children. These children have suffered the worst imaginable trauma. and as a result. they require and are deserving of comprehensive and tailored services to assist in their recovery. We need to ensure that funding is in place to provide for such comprehensive services. This bill is an essential step toward combatting the crisis of domestic minor sex trafficking and helping survivors begin their lives anew. While the rescue of trafficking victims is necessary. so is the prosecution of traffickers. And while we habitually refer to those who solicit commercial sex acts from minors as "customers" and "johns." the cold. hard fact is that these people are nothing more than "child rapists." We need to stop being polite and call them what they are-"child rapists"! Federal courts have interpreted the existing statute. Title 18 United States Code. section 1591. to cover the acts of patronizing and soliciting. Therefore. the specifications of the terms "patronizing" and "solicit" in this bill simply clarify and emphasize the fact that these actions are actually covered. Those who patronize and solicit are already criminally liable under the language contained in the original section 1591. Under this legislation. child rapists will find no refuge in any jurisdiction. This bill will also promote the coordination of investigations among federal. state and local law enforcement and enhance reporting data for missing childreneverything that the witnesses at the March 2014 Houston field hearing called for. Human Trafficking is the second fastest growing criminal industry in the world. generating over $32 billion annually. This bill is the most comprehensive piece of legislation to deal with that problem in years. For years we have labeled child victims of sex trafficking as prostitutes and juvenile delinquents rather than as the victims they are. They are victims of criminal conduct. and we need to treat them that way. This bill recognizes that and treats victims as victims. provides for more services and shelters for them. and provides resources to law enforcement. child welfare. healthcare officials and others who will come into contact with these victims. Finally. Madam Speaker. I am very pleased that the Judiciary Committee saw fit to adopt as Section 11 of H.R. 181 the Jackson Lee Amendment which expresses the Sense of Congress that human trafficking has no place in a civilized society and that perpetrators of such vile acts should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Madam Speaker. as the global leader in combatting human trafficking throughout the world. the United States must hold all nations to the same standards to which we hold ourselves. The demand for commercial sex is a primary cause of the human right violation of human trafficking. Elimination of that violation requires the elimination of that demand. I received yet more tragic illustration of the global horrors of human trafficking as recently as last evening during a meeting with the Prime Minister of Jamaica. Last year Jamaica improved its position in the U.S. State Departments Annual Trafficking in Persons ("TIP") Report after it passed amendments to its Trafficking in Persons Act. Those amendments stipulated harsher penalties for offenders with penalties of up to 30 years. Despite this new legislation. Jamaican children subjected to sex trafficking in the countrys sex trade remains a serious problem with reports of sex trafficking of children and adults occurring on streets and in night clubs. bars. and private homes. The Jamaican government realizes that it must move more vigorously to not only prosecute. convict and punish trafficking offenders. but to also identify. and assist more victims. Madam Speaker. while it is entirely proper for the United States to hold all nations to the same standard to which we hold ourselves. it is also entirely proper for the United States to lend assistance to those nations that may lack the resources needed to effectively combat Human Trafficking. I hope that we will give consideration to providing such assistance in future antihuman trafficking legislation. Finally. Madam Speaker. I must also thank Representative POE and his staff as well as Committee staff on both sides of the aisle for working together to address a point raised by an amendment that Rep. POE offered and withdrew during the bills markup. The changes that were made to the bill as a result of that collaborative work yielded some real improvements to the bill. For these reasons I support H.R. 181 and encourage my colleagues to do likewise. I reserve the balance of my time.