Date: 2015-01-27
Speaker: CAROLYN B. MALONEY (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: New York

Mr. Speaker. I thank my good friend and colleague for her leadership and for yielding to me. I want to commend the Republican and Democratic leadership for bringing to the floor a large number of bipartisan bills to address the problem of human trafficking. I particularly want to thank Judge POE for his enlightened leadership. He has brought an informed. intelligent. effective focus on this crime. and he has brought new momentum that is helping this country address this issue. I thank the bipartisan Womens Caucus that has made this goal. this common goal of attacking the exploitation of children as a joint priority for our caucus and for this Congress. It is an important way to mark Human Trafficking Awareness Week. and this modernday form of slavery happens all across the world. We dont like to admit it. but it is happening right here in America. It is happening in our small cities. our big cities. every State. every race. creed. and color. There are no reliable estimates. but by some accounts. there are as many as 2 million minors trafficked within the U.S. alone. When they have missing children reports. many of the parents believe their children have been stolen into sex trafficking. Most of these child victims who are sextrafficked are United States citizens or are here legally in the United States. Human trafficking. as my colleague pointed out. is the fastest growing crime and the third largest criminal activity in the world. but unlike drugs and guns that are sold only once. human lives can be sold repeatedly over and over and over again until their lives are shattered and destroyed. It destroys lives and comes with a huge social and economic cost. We can all agree that no child should be for sale in Americanot now. not ever. Our children should not be for sale. but they are for sale under the guise of human traffickers and pimps. I am very pleased to work shoulder to shoulder with Congressman POE on the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act. As a former judge and a former prosecutor. he knows firsthand how damaging this crime is to the lives of our young peopleand it involves young boys. tooand how difficult it is to get a conviction. His knowledge in this area is tremendously appreciated. and his knowledge is in this bill. I thank him for having been the key author on it and for his passion and hard work on it. This bill directly and specifically supports law enforcement training and prosecution of sex trafficking crimes. and it creates a domestic trafficking victims fund within the Treasury Department to support critically needed services for victims. We know there are not enough beds. there is no treatment. Many trafficked women tell me they get saved. but then they are put in a park with no place to go. and the traffickers come up and try to get them back into it. It goes after those who are trying to exploit children and vulnerable women. those who would profit off the misery of others by going after their wallets. It targets the demand side: the child abusers. the child molesters. Our victims fund will be financed through fines levied on those convicted of child pornography. human trafficking. child prostitution. sexual exploitation. and human smuggling offenses.