[House Hearing, 115 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT: UNDERSTANDING FEDERAL EFFORTS TO STOP HUMAN
TRAFFICKING
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON
BORDER AND
MARITIME SECURITY
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
SEPTEMBER 26, 2018
__________
Serial No. 115-76
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Homeland Security
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
34-447 PDF WASHINGTON : 2019
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COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY
Michael T. McCaul, Texas, Chairman
Lamar Smith, Texas Bennie G. Thompson, Mississippi
Peter T. King, New York Sheila Jackson Lee, Texas
Mike Rogers, Alabama James R. Langevin, Rhode Island
Lou Barletta, Pennsylvania Cedric L. Richmond, Louisiana
Scott Perry, Pennsylvania William R. Keating, Massachusetts
John Katko, New York Donald M. Payne, Jr., New Jersey
Will Hurd, Texas Filemon Vela, Texas
Martha McSally, Arizona Bonnie Watson Coleman, New Jersey
John Ratcliffe, Texas Kathleen M. Rice, New York
Daniel M. Donovan, Jr., New York J. Luis Correa, California
Mike Gallagher, Wisconsin Val Butler Demings, Florida
Clay Higgins, Louisiana Nanette Diaz Barragan, California
Thomas A. Garrett, Jr., Virginia
Brian K. Fitzpatrick, Pennsylvania
Ron Estes, Kansas
Don Bacon, Nebraska
Debbie Lesko, Arizona
Brendan P. Shields, Staff Director
Hope Goins, Minority Staff Director
------
SUBCOMMITTEE ON BORDER AND MARITIME SECURITY
Martha McSally, Arizona, Chairwoman
Lamar Smith, Texas Filemon Vela, Texas
Mike Rogers, Alabama Cedric L. Richmond, Louisiana
Lou Barletta, Pennsylvania J. Luis Correa, California
Will Hurd, Texas Val Butler Demings, Florida
Clay Higgins, Louisiana Nanette Diaz Barragan, California
Don Bacon, Nebraska Bennie G. Thompson, Mississippi
Michael T. McCaul, Texas (ex (ex officio)
officio)
Paul L. Anstine, Subcommittee Staff Director
Alison B. Northrop, Minority Subcommittee Staff Director/Counsel
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Statements
The Honorable Martha McSally, a Representative in Congress From
the State of Arizona, and Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Border
and Maritime Security:
Oral Statement................................................. 1
Prepared Statement............................................. 2
The Honorable Filemon Vela, a Representative in Congress From the
State of Texas, and Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Border and
Maritime Security:
Oral Statement................................................. 4
Prepared Statement............................................. 6
The Honorable Michael T. McCaul, a Representative in Congress
From the State of Texas, and Chairman, Committee on Homeland
Security:
Oral Statement................................................. 7
Prepared Statement............................................. 8
The Honorable Bennie G. Thompson, a Representative in Congress
From the State of Mississippi, and Ranking Member, Committee on
Homeland Security:
Prepared Statement............................................. 9
Witnesses
Mr. John H. Hill, Assistant Secretary, Office of Partnership and
Engagement, U.S. Department of Homeland Security:
Oral Statement................................................. 10
Prepared Statement............................................. 12
Mr. Steven W. Cagen, Special Agent in Charge, Denver Field
Office, Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Department of
Homeland Security:
Oral Statement................................................. 15
Prepared Statement............................................. 17
Mr. John Gore, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights
Division, U.S. Department of Justice:
Oral Statement................................................. 21
Prepared Statement............................................. 23
Ms. Michelle Demmert, Chief Justice, Central Council, Tlingit and
Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska:
Oral Statement................................................. 26
Prepared Statement............................................. 27
For the Record
The Honorable Val Butler Demings, a Representative in Congress
From the State of Florida:
Statement of Elisabeth Barna, Chief Operating Officer &
Executive Vice President, Industry Affairs, American Trucking
Associations................................................. 43
HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT: UNDERSTANDING FEDERAL EFFORTS TO STOP HUMAN
TRAFFICKING
----------
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
U.S. House of Representatives,
Committee on Homeland Security,
Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 11:05 a.m., in
room HVC-210, Capitol Visitor Center, Hon. Martha McSally
(Chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
Present: Representatives McSally, Hurd, Higgins, Bacon,
Vela, and Demings.
Also present: Representative McCaul.
Ms. McSally. The Committee on Homeland Security,
Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security will come to
order.
The subcommittee is meeting today to assess Federal and
Tribal efforts to combat human trafficking in the United
States.
I now recognize myself for an opening statement.
Human trafficking is a multi-billion-dollar industry, it
enslaves approximately 25 million men, women, and children
world-wide, through sexual exploitation, domestic servitude,
and forced labor. It is important to understand there is no one
face of human trafficking. Truth is that traffickers do not
discriminate when it comes to their victims, victims can come
from any background, of any age, like a teenage girl who ran
away from home only to be beaten, drugged, and forced to walk
the streets; the migrant worker who paid a smuggler to help him
cross the border only to be forced into manual labor; or an
elderly woman lured by the promise of work in America and
forced to spend endless hours cleaning the mansion of her
captors.
These examples are all too common. To many Americans human
trafficking may seem like a problem happening far away from
home but sadly that is not the case. During a human trafficking
roundtable I led in my district back in 2015 we heard from a
sex trafficking survivor named Beth Jacobs.
She explained to us just how easy it was to become a
victim. She was drugged at a party at the age of 16 and then
kidnapped and forced into prostitution. Over the course of 6
years she was subjected to rapes, beatings, and forced
commercial sex acts. I worked with Beth when I was serving on
the Pima County Women's Commission and I have been inspired by
her courage as a survivor of these unconscionable crimes.
Beth is not alone unfortunately. Just last year the Human
Trafficking Institute reported there were 783 active human
trafficking cases in the U.S. Federal court system involving
thousands of victims. Even more alarming is the fact that more
than 55 percent of those cases involves sex trafficking of
children. Yet as these horrific cases are uncovered in
communities across the United States many people are still
surprised at how close to home they actually are.
Earlier this month 24 people were arrested in a human
trafficking sting in the Phoenix area of my home State in
Arizona. Some of the defendants ranging from age 21 to 80 are
facing serious charges including aggravated luring, child sex
trafficking, and money laundering.
We all need to wake up because human trafficking is
happening right here in our back yards and the victims of the
tragic crimes are often hidden in plain sight.
I call this hearing to shine a light on the heinous crime
of human trafficking and highlight the work being done by our
Federal agencies who partner with State, local, and Tribal
governments, and law enforcement agencies to eradicate human
trafficking from our streets, our local businesses, and our
neighborhoods.
I am proud of the steps the Department of Homeland Security
and the Department of Justice and their Interagency Task Force
partners are taking to combat all forms of human trafficking.
At the Federal level the Human Smuggling and Trafficking Center
serves as a clearinghouse for intelligence related to human
trafficking, representatives from DHS, DOJ, State Department,
side-by-side, providing law enforcement partners with timely
information on the trends and pushing out actionable case
intelligence to jump start and bolster criminal investigations.
Homeland Security Investigations or HSI within ICE leads
the Department of Homeland Security's effort on Human
Trafficking Investigations and has accounted for 1,932 criminal
arrests and 812 convictions in human trafficking cases in 2017
alone.
The DHS Blue Campaign which was formally authorized, signed
into law, in February of this year, I was at the signing,
thanks to the leadership of our Chairman McCaul, is a unified
effort by the Department to conduct outreach and enhance
awareness of trafficking and provide training and materials to
those in the best position to identify the victims.
The Blue Campaign works in collaboration with law
enforcement, NGO's, and the private-sector stakeholders, to
identify victims and train organizations on the indicators to
look out for. DOJ plays a vital role in combating human
trafficking and prosecuting those involved to the fullest
extent of the law.
Under the leadership of DOJ and in partnership with DHS and
the State Department, the U.S. Government works closely with
our Mexican counterparts to develop high-impact bilateral
trafficking investigations. These multi-faceted prosecutions
are aimed at dismantling international human trafficking
networks that operate across the U.S.-Mexico border and are
conducted through the U.S.-Mexico Bilateral Human Trafficking
Enforcement Initiative. I look forward to hearing about that
today.
Congress has made it a priority in a bipartisan way to pass
legislation that would enable law enforcement, prosecutors, and
other stakeholders to fight human trafficking. To name a few
over the last few years we have reallocated existing grants for
human trafficking deterrence and victim support, made it a
Federal crime to knowingly advertise for the commercial sex
exploitation of minors and trafficking victims, enhance the
ability of health care professionals to identify victims, and
provided the financial industry more tools to detect and deter
money laundering attached to human trafficking.
Criminals engaged in trafficking range from amateur family-
run organizations to sophisticated transnational organized
crime syndicates. It is critical that we prosecute trafficking
offenders who victimize vulnerable populations. We must support
efforts to raise awareness and educate those who work in law
enforcement, at ports of entry, in health care, in child
protective services, and elsewhere, to identify trafficking. We
must also ensure that victims receive the care they need after
they have been rescued.
This is a complex and multifaceted problem. There are no
quick or easy solutions but I do take comfort in knowing that
the brave men and women within the Department of Homeland
Security and DOJ are tracking these criminals down and saving
these victims.
I look forward to hearing from our Federal and Tribal
witnesses today on their experiences in combating human
trafficking and what more we have to do.
So my hope with the help of your testimony, we will raise
awareness on this issue and identify solutions that would have
an impact on human trafficking throughout the Nation.
[The statement of Chairwoman McSally follows:]
Statement of Chairwoman Martha McSally
September 26, 2018
Human trafficking is a multi-billion dollar industry that enslaves
approximately 25 million men, women, and children world-wide through
sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, and forced labor.
It is important to understand that there is ``no one face'' of
human trafficking.
The truth is that traffickers do not discriminate when it comes to
their victims. Victims can come from any background or be of any age,
like a teenage girl who ran away from home, only to be beaten, drugged,
and forced to walk the streets. The migrant worker, who paid a smuggler
to help him cross the border, only to be forced into manual labor. Or
an elderly woman, lured by the promise of work in America, and forced
to spend endless hours cleaning the mansion of her captors.
These examples are all too common.
To many Americans, human trafficking may seem like a problem
happening far away from home. Sadly, that is not the case.
During a human trafficking roundtable I led back in 2015, we heard
from sex trafficking survivor Beth Jacobs. She explained to us just how
easy it was to fall victim to sex trafficking. She was drugged at a
party at age 16, then kidnapped and forced into prostitution. Over the
course of 6 years, she was subjected to rapes, beatings, and forced
commercial sex acts. And just last year, the Human Trafficking
Institute reported that there were 783 active human trafficking cases
in the U.S. Federal court system, involving thousands of victims. Even
more alarming, is the fact that more than 55 percent of those cases
involved sex trafficking of children.
Yet, as these horrific cases are uncovered in communities across
the United States, many people are still surprised on how close to home
they actually are.
Earlier this month, 24 people were arrested in a human trafficking
sting in the Phoenix area of my home State of Arizona. Some of the
defendants, ranging in age from 21 to 80 years old, are facing serious
charges including aggravated luring, child sex trafficking, and money
laundering.
Let me be very clear, human trafficking is happening right here in
our backyards, and the victims of this tragic crime are often hidden in
plain sight.
I called this hearing today to shine a light on the heinous crime
of human trafficking, and highlight the work being done by our Federal
agencies who partner with State, local, and Tribal governments and law
enforcement agencies to eradicate human trafficking from our streets,
our local business, and our neighborhoods.
I am proud of the steps that the Department of Homeland Security,
the Department of Justice, and their interagency task force partners
are taking to combat all forms of human trafficking.
At the Federal level, the Human Smuggling and Trafficking Center
serves as a clearinghouse for intelligence related to human
trafficking. Representatives from DHS, DOJ, and the State Department
sit side-by-side providing law enforcement partners with timely
information on human trafficking trends, and pushing out actionable
case intelligence to jumpstart and bolster on-going criminal
investigations.
Homeland Security Investigations (or HSI), within ICE, leads the
Department of Homeland Security's effort on human trafficking
investigations, and has accounted for 1,932 criminal arrests and 812
convictions in human trafficking cases in 2017 alone.
The DHS Blue Campaign, which was formally authorized in February of
this year--thanks to the leadership of Chairman Mccaul--is a unified
effort by the Department to conduct outreach to enhance awareness of
trafficking and provide training and materials to those in the best
position to identify trafficking victims.
The Blue Campaign works in collaboration with law enforcement, NGO,
and the private-sector stakeholders to identify victims, and trains
organizations of indicators to look out for.
The Department of Justice plays a vital role in combating human
trafficking by prosecuting those involved to the fullest extent of the
law.
Under the leadership of the Department of Justice, and in
partnership with DHS, and the State Department, the U.S. Government
works closely with our Mexican counterparts to develop high-impact
bilateral trafficking investigations.
These multifaceted prosecutions are aimed at dismantling
international human trafficking networks that operate across the U.S.-
Mexico border and are conducted through the U.S.-Mexico Bilateral Human
Trafficking Enforcement Initiative.
Congress has made it a priority to pass legislation that would
enable law enforcement, prosecutors, and other stakeholders to fight
human trafficking. To name a few, over the last few years we have
reallocated existing grants for human trafficking deterrence and
victims' support; made it a Federal crime to knowingly advertise for
the commercial sex exploitation of minors and trafficking victims;
enhanced the ability of health-care professionals to identify victims;
and provided the financial industry more tools to detect and deter
money laundering attached to human trafficking.
Criminals engaged in human trafficking range from amateur family-
run organizations to sophisticated transnational organized crime
syndicates.
It's critical that we prosecute human trafficking offenders who
victimize vulnerable populations. We must support efforts to raise
awareness and educate those who work in law enforcement, at ports of
entry, in health care, in child protective services, and elsewhere to
identify trafficking. We must also ensure that victims receive the care
they need after they've been rescued.
This is a complex, and multifaceted problem. There are no quick or
easy solutions, but I take comfort in knowing that the brave men and
women within the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of
Justice are tracking these criminals down, and saving these victims.
I look forward to hearing from our Federal and Tribal witnesses on
their experiences in combating human trafficking.
It is my hope that with the help of your testimony, we will raise
awareness of this issue and identify solutions that will have an impact
on human trafficking throughout the Nation.
Ms. McSally. The Chair now recognizes the Ranking Member of
the subcommittee, the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Vela, for a
statement he may have.
Mr. Vela. Thank you, Chairwoman McSally and Chairman McCaul
for holding this hearing today.
Thank you to all of our witnesses for taking the time to be
here with us.
Human trafficking is one of the most profitable forms of
transnational crime. The International Labor Organization
estimates that forced labor generates annual profits of $150
billion per year and claims more than 20 million victims world-
wide. Trafficking victims can be of any age, race, gender, or
nationality, and are largely found in workplaces within the
manufacturing, agriculture, hospitality, and domestic service
industries.
The Federal Government has a significant role to play in
building capacity, resources, and synchronization among
communities, local government, and international partners,
however one area that I believe we are overlooking are Tribal
lands. Last year the Government Accountability Office issued 2
related reports about the number of investigated and prosecuted
human trafficking cases that involved American Indians and
Alaskan Native victims and that occurred on Tribal lands.
The Departments of Justice, Interior, and Homeland Security
each have some form of responsibility for investigating and
prosecuting human trafficking crimes on Tribal lands. Forty-
nine of the 94 U.S. Attorneys' offices include Indian country
within their jurisdiction, however 3 out of 4 of these Federal
entities do not require their agents or attorneys to
consistently collect or record the race or ethnicity, including
Native American status, of victims in their cases. As a result,
the total number of Federal human trafficking investigations
and prosecutions that involve Native American victims is
unknown.
We also do not know how many Native American victims
receive services under Federal grant programs intended to
assist human trafficking victims for much the same reason.
Grantees are not required to capture this information. This
seems like a major gap and makes it difficult for us to
understand the full scope of the problem.
Despite our best efforts to encourage more interagency
coordination, improve law enforcement training and resources
for victims, and push out more awareness campaigns, we do not
know how effective or helpful they may be if we don't fully
understand the full scope of people affected by human
trafficking or why they may be vulnerable. For this reason, I
thank Judge Michelle Demmert for accepting our invitation to
testify. She serves as the chief justice of the Supreme Court
for the Tlingit and Haida Tribes of Alaska and she also serves
as the co-chair of the National Congress of American Indians
Task Force on Violence Against Women.
I found the statistics you shared in your written testimony
sobering and I am pleased that the committee will get the
benefit of your views on this issue given your long experience
fighting on behalf of American Indian and Alaska Native women
and children who have been subjected to this and other forms of
violence. I would like to hear from you and what more needs to
be done to improve services to victims and to help bring
traffickers to justice.
As the Ranking Member of this subcommittee, I was glad to
co-sponsor and support passage of the Department of Homeland
Security's Blue Campaign Authorization Act of 2017. The Blue
Campaign brings DHS components together with Federal, State,
local law enforcement agencies, and private industry, to
dismantle human trafficking networks across the country.
I would like to hear from our DHS and DOJ witnesses today
about how this and other Federal efforts under way assist
Tribal law enforcement in addressing human trafficking on their
lands. Federal programs and coordination are crucial in this
fight but there is clearly work left to do to ensure that
vulnerable people across this country and around the globe are
protected.
My hope is that we all walk away today with a more
meaningful understanding of how else we need to partner to end
human trafficking and incorporate it into the National
conversation.
Thank you again to our witnesses for joining us today. I
yield back.
[The statement of Ranking Member Vela follows:]
Statement of Ranking Member Filemon Vela
September 26, 2018
Human trafficking is one of the most profitable forms of
transnational crime. The International Labour Organization estimates
that forced labor generates annual profits of $150 billion per year and
claims more than 20 million victims world-wide.
Trafficking victims can be of any age, race, gender, or nationality
and are largely found in workplaces within the manufacturing,
agriculture, hospitality, and domestic service industries.
The Federal Government has a significant role to play in building
capacity, resources, and synchronization among communities, local
government, and international partners.
However, one area that I believe we are overlooking are Tribal
lands. Last year, the Government Accountability Office issued two
related reports about the number of investigated and prosecuted human
trafficking cases that involved American Indians and Alaska Natives
victims and that occurred on Tribal lands. The findings left me
puzzled.
The Departments of Justice, Interior, and Homeland Security each
have some form of responsibility for investigating and prosecuting
human trafficking crimes on Tribal lands. Forty-nine of the 94 U.S.
Attorney's Offices include Indian country within their jurisdiction.
However, 3 out of 4 of these Federal entities do not require their
agents or attorneys to consistently collect or record the race or
ethnicity, including Native American status, of victims in their cases.
As a result, the total number of Federal human trafficking
investigations and prosecutions that involved Native American victims
is unknown. We also don't know how many Native American victims
received services under Federal grant programs intended to assist human
trafficking victims for much the same reason--grantees are not required
to capture this information.
This seems like a major gap and makes it difficult for us to
understand the full scope of the problem.
Despite our best efforts to encourage more interagency
coordination, improve law enforcement training and resources for
victims, and push out more awareness campaigns, we won't know how
effective or helpful they may be if we don't fully understand the full
scope of people affected by human trafficking or why they may be
vulnerable.
For this reason, I thank Judge Michelle Demmert for accepting my
invitation to testify today. She serves as the chief justice of the
Supreme Court for the Tlingit and Haida Tribes of Alaska, and she also
serves as the co-chair of the National Congress of American Indians
Task Force on Violence Against Women.
I found the statistics you shared in your written testimony
sobering, and I am pleased that the committee will get the benefit of
your views on this issue given your long experience fight on behalf of
American Indian and Alaska Native women and children who have been
subjected to this and other forms of violence. I would like to hear
from you on what more needs to be done by Federal agencies to improve
services to victims and to help bring traffickers to justice.
As the Ranking Member of this subcommittee, I was glad to cosponsor
and support passage of the Department of Homeland Security's Blue
Campaign Authorization Act of 2017 late last year. The Blue Campaign
brings DHS components together with Federal, State, local law
enforcement agencies, private industry to dismantle human trafficking
networks across the country.
I would like to hear from our DHS and DOJ witnesses today about how
this and other Federal efforts underway assist Tribal law enforcement
in addressing human trafficking on their lands. Federal programs and
coordination are crucial in this fight, but there is clearly a lot of
work left to do to ensure that vulnerable people across the country and
around the globe are protected.
We also should be mindful of policies put in place by the
administration that may end up increasing the likelihood of human
trafficking and undermining our best efforts. I would note persistent
reports of ``metering'' or the practice of wait-listing people seeking
asylum who were turned away at land ports of entry due to capacity
issues.
By these accounts, people would rather risk spending several nights
in a row on these bridges than to lose their opportunity to claim
asylum. This leaves them incredibly vulnerable to traffickers who are
more than willing to exploit them.
DHS must be sure they are not creating a whole new set of problems
because the administration wishes to carry out an inhumane policy that
can deliberately interfere with people's right to claim asylum.
My hope is that we all walk away today with a more meaningful
understanding of how else we need to partner to end human trafficking
and incorporate it into the National conversation.
Ms. McSally. The gentleman yields back.
The Chair now recognizes the Chairman of the full
committee, the gentleman from Texas, Mr. McCaul and the sponsor
of the Blue Campaign legislation for any statement you may
have.
Mr. McCaul. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman and Ranking Member
Vela.
Human trafficking is a despicable multi-billion-dollar
industry. It enslaves an estimated 25 million people world-wide
including more than 300,000 people in my home State of Texas,
80,000 of whom are minors. Many of these victims are sexually
exploited or forced into slave labor and to some Americans
trafficking may seem like an industry that only exists in
poverty-stricken dictatorships or other poor parts of the world
but sadly that is not the case, trafficking is an epidemic and
it grows by the day.
The Polaris Project reports that 1 in 20 men in the United
States have purchased sex on-line. Traffickers are targeting
our schools, and preying on our kids through social media and
apps on their phones. This evil industry is a global enterprise
and we must do more to fight it.
I believe like every issue it starts with awareness. As a
father of 5 children I continue to be personally struck by the
horrifying stories of trafficking victims. Last month I visited
Hope Rising, a rehabilitation program in Texas that matches
trafficking victims with a foster family while they complete
recovery therapy. It was a reminder that we need a proactive,
not reactive approach to end this kind of exploitation and that
is why many years ago I created the Internet Crimes against
Children Unit when I was Deputy Attorney General for the State
of Texas, under then-Attorney General John Cornyn. This has
since led to the prosecution of hundreds--hundreds of on-line
child predators.
I have also worked closely with the National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children which serves as a central source
in the United States for information of child victims depicted
in sexually exploitive images and videos.
And earlier this year I stood in the Oval Office and
watched the President signed the Blue Campaign Authorization
Act into law. This was bipartisan legislation that I
introduced. It provides resources to DHS to help deter, detect,
and mitigate instances of human trafficking around the United
States. It also protects victims and helps to raise public
awareness of human trafficking threats throughout our
communities.
While I am proud of what we have accomplished I believe
there is much more to be done. I am eager to continue this
fight with anyone who wants to stop human trafficking and I
think today's hearing will give us a chance to discuss
innovative ways to continue our efforts.
I want to thank the witnesses for being here and your work
on this very important issue that is becoming as I said an
epidemic. I have to say I have heard countless stories and not
just inner-city stories but suburban, parents whose daughters
and sons have been swept up into this industry and they can't
get them back. Some people they don't know that exists in
suburban America but it does and we want to do something about
it on this committee.
I want to thank the Chairwoman for holding this hearing.
Thank you.
I yield back.
[The statement of Chairman McCaul follows:]
Statement of Chairman Michael McCaul
September 26, 2018
Human trafficking is a despicable multi-billion dollar industry. It
enslaves an estimated 25 million people world-wide, including more than
300,000 people in my home State of Texas--80,000 of whom are minors.
Many of these victims are sexually exploited or forced into slave
labor. To some Americans, trafficking may seem like an industry that
only exists in poverty-stricken dictatorships or other poor parts of
the world. Sadly, that is not the case.
Trafficking is an epidemic and it grows by the day. The Polaris
Project reports that 1 in 20 men in the United States have purchased
sex on-line.
Traffickers are targeting our schools and preying on our kids
through social media and apps on their phones. This evil industry is a
global enterprise and we must do more to fight it.
I believe, like every issue, it starts with awareness. As a father
of five, I continue to be personally struck by the horrifying stories
of trafficking victims.
Last month I visited Hope Rising, a rehabilitation program in Texas
that matches trafficking victims with a foster family while they
complete recovery therapy. It was a reminder that we need a proactive,
not a reactive approach to end this kind of exploitation.
That is why I created the Internet Crimes Against Children Task
Force when I was deputy attorney general for criminal justice in Texas
under then-State attorney general, John Cornyn. This led to the
prosecution of hundreds of on-line child predators.
I have also worked closely with the National Center for Missing &
Exploited Children (NCMEC), which serves as the central source in the
United States for information of child victims depicted in sexually
exploitative images and videos.
And earlier this year, I stood in the Oval Office and watched
President Trump sign the Blue Campaign Authorization Act into law.
This was bipartisan legislation I introduced that provides
resources to DHS to help deter, detect, and mitigate instances of human
trafficking around the United States.
It also protects victims and helps raise public awareness of human
trafficking threats throughout our communities.
While I am proud of what we have accomplished, there is more work
to be done. And I am eager to continue this fight with anyone who wants
to stop human trafficking.
Today's hearing will give us a chance to discuss innovative ways to
continue our efforts.
I'd like to thank the witnesses for being here today. Your hard
work and expertise will help us put the trafficking industry out of
business once and for all.
Ms. McSally. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The gentleman yields back.
Other Members of the committee are reminded that opening
statements may be submitted for the record.
[The statement of Ranking Member Thompson follows:]
Statement of Ranking Member Bennie G. Thompson
September 26, 2018
According to U.S. Federal estimates, at any given moment there are
25 million people around the world being trafficked, and Polaris
estimates this number could be as high as 40 million people.
These victims have been stripped of their freedom and are being
forced or coerced into performing labor or commercial sex acts. And
these victims could be anyone, all ages, all races, socioeconomic
backgrounds, male, female, foreigners, or U.S. citizens.
A victim could be from any country, State, or city, because human
trafficking exists everywhere. It exists throughout the United States,
in both cities and rural areas, in our own communities and
Congressional districts, even though it may not be visible to those who
are not trained to detect it.
One thing everyone seems to agree on is that certain factors can
make people more susceptible to being victimized by a trafficker.
Being a youth, recent migration or relocation, substance abuse,
mental health issues, being a runaway or homeless, or involvement with
the child welfare system--these risk factors are often associated with
people who are or have been trafficked.
Traffickers take advantage of these vulnerabilities to control and
exploit their victims.
I was interested to read the testimony of one of our witnesses
today, Chief Justice Demmert, because it pointed to an extremely high
incidence of trafficking among the American Indian and Alaska Native
populations. She cites a 2016 report from The National Institute for
Justice that found that 84 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native
women will experience intimate partner violence, sexual violence, or
stalking in their lifetime, and 1 in 3 have experienced it in the past
year.
This is an extraordinarily high rate of violence focused on a
specific population.
Knowing this, particularly as Members of Congress, we have a duty
to ask ourselves what we are going to do to address this problem. While
statistics are part of the story, it does nothing to convey the impact
of this violence.
I look forward to hearing from Chief Justice Demmert today, to
better understand the totality of circumstances facing our native
peoples and to hear her comments and recommendations on how we can
begin to tackle this problem.
Many of our Federal departments work together to around the world
to combat human trafficking, some of whom are represented here today.
Each partner plays an important role in a unified effort to combat
trafficking. From obtaining and sharing information, identifying and
supporting victims, building investigations and cases against
perpetrators and networks, and shutting down opportunities for
traffickers to exploit more victims.
I also hope to hear from our Federal witnesses about how they work
with their State, local, Tribal, private-sector, and other non-
governmental partners.
Growing our understanding of how these criminal enterprises
operate, who their victims are, and how we can all better work together
is integral to rooting out these operations and ending the enslavement
of millions of people.
I look forward to hearing about some of the coordinated work being
accomplished today and what kind of resources or support is needed to
further identify and eradicate the stain of human trafficking.
Human trafficking is a detestable crime and Congress must do its
part to provide the tools that are necessary to bring these crimes out
of the shadows where trafficking thrives.
Ms. McSally. We are pleased to have four distinguished
witnesses before us today. Assistant Secretary John Hill, is
responsible for the Department of Homeland Security Office of
Partnership and Engagement or OPE. Is that how you say it or do
you have an acronym, OPE or something? OK. OPE coordinates DHS
outreach to State, local, Tribal, and territorial governments,
and local law enforcement, the private sector, and colleges and
universities.
In 2014 then-Governor, Indiana Governor, Mike Pence
appointed Mr. Hill as his deputy chief of staff for public
affairs where he oversaw all of Indiana's Public Safety
agencies. Mr. Hill has more than 40 years of experience in
public service at the Federal and State level, welcome.
Special Agent Steven Cagen, I pronounced that correctly? Is
currently the special agent in charge for Homeland Security
Investigations in ICE under the Department of Homeland
Security, in Denver, Colorado and is responsible for leading
criminal investigations conducted by 18 HSI offices in cities
throughout Colorado, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming. As a temporary
assignment Mr. Cagen held the position of acting director of
the Human Smuggling and Trafficking Center which is an
interagency fusion center and information clearinghouse focused
on advancing and supporting efforts to combat human
trafficking, with a nexus to the United States. Since beginning
his career in 1988, he has worked across the country and abroad
to combat drug and human trafficking, money laundering, and
arms trafficking, just to name a few, welcome.
Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore oversees the
Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division which also
encompasses the Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit. Before
joining the Department of Justice Mr. Gore was a partner in the
Issues and Appeals practice at Jones Day in Washington, DC. His
practice spans all phases of appellate and trial litigation and
a broad range of substantive areas including voting rights,
administrative law, antitrust, and products liability. Prior to
entering private practice Mr. Gore clerked for the Honorable
Bruce Selya on the United States Court of Appeals for the First
Circuit. I appreciate you coming today since DOJ is not under
our jurisdiction but this is a really important conversation to
have cross agencies so thanks for being here.
Finally, the Honorable Judge Demmert, did I say that
correctly? No, tell me? Demmert, OK, Demmert, emphasis on the
first syllable, Demmert is a current elected delegate for the
Central Council Tlingit and Haida Tribes in Alaska. She has
also the National Congress of American Indians Violence Against
Women's Task Force co-chair. Throughout her career Judge
Demmert has worked in various capacities of advancing domestic
violence protections for women and children. She has
significant Tribal court experience, having worked at various
positions in the Northwest Intertribal Court System including
chief judge and administrator, welcome.
The Chair now recognizes Assistant Secretary Hill for 5
minutes to testify.
STATEMENT OF JOHN H. HILL, ASSISTANT SECRETARY, OFFICE OF
PARTNERSHIP AND ENGAGEMENT, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND
SECURITY
Mr. Hill. Chairwoman McSally, Ranking Member Vela, and
distinguished Members of the subcommittee thank you for the
opportunity to appear today to discuss the Department of
Homeland Security's awareness and outreach efforts to combat
human trafficking.
On behalf of Secretary Nielsen and the more than 230,000
men and women of DHS, I thank Chairman McCaul and this
committee for its continued dedication to this bipartisan issue
including the passage of the Department of Homeland Security
Blue Campaign Authorization Act which you folks referenced in
your opening comments.
Human trafficking is a heinous crime, traffickers use
force, fraud, or coercion to compel their victims into labor or
commercial sex. Sadly, during my 29 years of law enforcement
experience I witnessed the devastating effects of people caught
in such circumstances however I was never provided training in
human trafficking and even now such training is desperately
needed for more State and local law enforcement. DHS is working
to provide that needed training.
The Blue Campaign which was created in 2010 and is housed
within the Office of Partnership and Engagement develops
general awareness training and materials to increase detection
of human trafficking and to identify victims for first
responders, law enforcement, Governmental, non-Governmental,
and private-sector entities.
DHS works collaboratively with interagency partners to
ensure that victims are protected and traffickers are brought
to justice. For example, through the President's Interagency
Task Force to monitor and combat trafficking in persons, this
entity was created by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of
2000. DHS works with 15 Federal agencies responsible for
coordinating the Federal Government's effort to combat
trafficking in persons. Also, DHS works jointly with the U.S.
Department of Transportation to provide human trafficking
training and information to aviation personnel through the Blue
Lightning Initiative which creates training tools that allow
airline personnel to identify potential human trafficking
situations and to report their suspicions to law enforcement.
More than 100,000 aviation industry employees have been trained
through this effort.
The Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015 contains
provisions mandating the DHS implement human trafficking
training for relevant department personnel. Of the identified
DHS employees over 133,000 have been trained to date.
In 2018 the Blue Campaign launched a new Human Trafficking
and Native Communities Scenario Video by engaging with Native
American survivors of trafficking. The video depicts what human
trafficking can look like in 80 communities including
recruiting tactics used by traffickers. Additionally, the Blue
Campaign strives to provide culturally relevant information to
Tribal communities. This effort included a visit in August 2017
with our team and they collaborated on a number of training and
education efforts with Alaska Human Trafficking Working Group
as well as the mayor of Anchorage.
Also, this year the Blue Campaign began leveraging Social
Media and has secured more than 46,000 Twitter account
followers. We implemented a digital advertising strategy with
over 830,000 visits to our Blue Campaign website afterwards and
4.5 million social media interactions. The Blue Campaign
recognizes that these and other awareness efforts play a vital
role in ensuring the public is able to recognize the critical
information that is important to law enforcement for
investigation and hopefully the prosecution of traffickers.
Again, thank you for the opportunity to testify and I look
forward to your questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Hill follows:]
Prepared Statement of John H. Hill
September 26, 2018
introduction
Chairwoman McSally, Ranking Member Vela, and distinguished Members
of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to appear today to
discuss the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) efforts to combat
human trafficking, and the risk it poses to victims and the National
security of the United States. I am here today to discuss the
Department's Blue Campaign and the importance of its awareness and
outreach efforts to combat human trafficking. On behalf of the
Secretary and the more than 230,000 men and women of DHS, I thank this
committee for its continued dedication to this issue, including the
passage of the Blue Campaign Authorization Act, which was signed into
law by President Trump on February 14, 2018.
Human trafficking is a heinous crime. Traffickers use force, fraud,
or coercion to compel their victims into labor or commercial sex. Human
trafficking is an exploitation-based crime and movement of the victim
is not required, unlike with migrant smuggling. Individuals may be
considered trafficking victims regardless of whether they were born
into a state of servitude, were transported to the exploitative
situation, previously consented to work for a trafficker, or
participated in a crime as a direct result of being subjected to human
trafficking. Victims of human trafficking have the potential to be
exploited in their own communities within the United States. This is
why combating human trafficking continues to be a priority for the
Department.
Through the Blue Campaign and on-going efforts of many DHS
components, DHS raises public awareness about trafficking in persons,
leveraging partnerships to educate the public to recognize human
trafficking, and report suspected instances. The Blue Campaign works
closely with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services (USCIS), the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC),
and other DHS components, to create general awareness training and
materials for law enforcement and others to increase detection of human
trafficking, and to identify victims. Working in collaboration with
first responders, Governmental, non-Governmental, and private-sector
organizations, the Blue Campaign magnifies this important, National
public outreach.
Combating and preventing trafficking in persons begins with
understanding the threat. This is why the mission of the Blue Campaign
is so vital.
blue campaign
The Blue Campaign was created by DHS in 2010 as a National
awareness campaign to: (1) Educate the public, law enforcement, and
other institutions on human trafficking in the United States; and (2)
to increase understanding of the indicators of human trafficking, and
to appropriately recognize and respond to possible cases of human
trafficking. Housed in the DHS Office of Partnership and Engagement
(OPE), the Blue Campaign works to facilitate information sharing across
the Department in order to support and enhance our on-going work to
fight modern-day slavery.
The Blue Campaign has leveraged existing OPE partnerships with
other Federal entities, the private sector, and State/local/Tribal/
territorial authorities to maximize National public engagement on anti-
human trafficking efforts. The Blue Campaign is well-positioned to
speak to the Department's commitment to anti-human trafficking efforts,
provide consistent, timely, and accurate information to the general
public, and evaluate the impact and effectiveness of its awareness
products.
President Trump signed the Blue Campaign Authorization Act into law
on February 14, 2018, officially codifying the program within the
Department. The authorization allows the program to mature by
solidifying Blue Campaign objectives, including awareness training for
Department personnel and other Federal, State, Tribal, territorial, and
law enforcement officials (as appropriate), and supporting its ability
to leverage partnerships with State and local Governmental, non-
Governmental, and private-sector organizations to raise public
awareness of human trafficking.\1\ The multi-faceted program includes
oversight of the Department's anti-trafficking interagency engagement,
employee and external training course development, public awareness
portfolios, and external outreach.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ H.R. 4708 ``Department of Homeland Security Blue Campaign
Authorization Act''.
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interagency engagement
As part of the President's Interagency Task Force to Monitor and
Combat Trafficking in Persons (PITF), which is a Cabinet-level entity
created by the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of
2000, DHS works collaboratively with its Federal counterparts to ensure
victims are protected and traffickers are brought to justice.
Specifically, the Blue Campaign works closely with 15 agencies across
the Federal Government responsible for coordinating U.S. Government-
wide efforts to combat trafficking in persons. As the Blue Campaign
chair, I represent DHS on the Senior Policy Operating Group (SPOG),
established by the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act
in 2003. The SPOG consists of senior officials designated as
representatives of the PITF agencies \2\ and works to ensure a whole-
of-Government approach to address all aspects of human trafficking.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ The President's Interagency TaskForce to Monitor and Combat
Trafficking in Persons (PITF) is a Cabinet-level entity created by the
Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000, which consists of
some 15 agencies across the Federal Government responsible for
coordinating U.S. Government-wide efforts to combat trafficking in
persons--https://www.state.gov/j/tip/response/usg/index.htm.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
DHS works jointly with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT)
to provide human trafficking training and information to aviation
personnel through the Blue Lightning Initiative (BLI). BLI, led by CBP
and DOT, is an element of the Blue Campaign. The BLI creates training
tools that allow airline personnel to identify potential human
trafficking situations and to report their suspicions to law
enforcement. To date, more than 100,000 airline personnel in the
aviation industry have been trained through BLI, and actionable tips
continue to be reported to law enforcement.\3\
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\3\ The ``FAA Extension, Safety, and Security Act of 2016,'' signed
by the President on July 15, 2016, requires air carriers to provide
initial and annual flight attendant training regarding recognizing and
responding to potential human trafficking victims. https://www.cbp.gov/
border-security/human-trafficking/blue-lightning.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last, the Blue Campaign frequently collaborates with other Federal
agencies for public awareness opportunities, such as the Department of
Labor engaging in a recent social media engagement, and the Department
of Health and Human Services in resource sharing (photographs) and a
Blue Campaign-facilitated panel event.
employee training
The Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015 (JVTA) contains
provisions mandating that DHS implement human trafficking training for
relevant personnel to identify human trafficking. The JVTA requires
that the Department train and periodically retrain relevant
Transportation Security Administration (TSA), CBP, and other Department
personnel that the Secretary considers appropriate, with respect to how
to effectively deter, detect, and disrupt human trafficking, and, where
appropriate, interdict a suspected perpetrator of human trafficking.\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ Section 902(a) of the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of
2015 (JVTA) relates to the training of Department of Homeland Security
personnel to identify human trafficking.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Secretary determined that training of DHS personnel on human
trafficking is critical to the Department's anti-human trafficking
efforts. Therefore, the Secretary has determined that, in addition to
TSA and CBP, certain employees of all operational components,
particularly those employees in law enforcement and with public-facing
roles, should be required to receive human trafficking training and
periodic retraining pursuant to the JVTA. Each component is responsible
for identifying relevant employees who should receive this training, in
consultation with the DHS Blue Campaign. Of the identified DHS
employees, over 100,000 have completed human trafficking training.
Pursuant to the JVTA, training is accomplished through in-class or
virtual learning capabilities, and includes training that is most
appropriate for a particular location or environment in which the
personnel receiving such training perform their official duties.
external training
The Blue Campaign and DHS components, such as FLETC, ICE, and
USCIS, regularly provide training to State, local, territorial, and
Tribal law enforcement communities, and other organizations throughout
the United States and abroad. The Blue Campaign focuses on awareness
training whereas the operational components, such as ICE Homeland
Security Investigations (HSI), provide training specific to
investigations.
The Blue Campaign has worked to enhance awareness and training for
different groups likely to encounter trafficking victims, including law
enforcement, industry, and Government employees. In conjunction with
FLETC, Blue Campaign works to produce educational, scenario videos that
depict indicators of human trafficking. DHS also works closely with
survivors of human trafficking when developing these videos.
In 2018, the Blue Campaign launched a new Human Trafficking and
Native Communities video. This video depicts what human trafficking can
look like in Native communities, including recruiting tactics used by
traffickers. The video ends with a comprehensive overview of how to
recognize and report human trafficking.\5\ Through its efforts to
engage survivors of trafficking, the Blue Campaign has prioritized
working with Native American and Native Alaskan communities to provide
culturally relevant information on the risks of human trafficking.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\5\ Blue Campaign scenario videos are located within the resource
section on the campaign webpage https://www.dhs.gov/blue-campaign/
videos.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Additionally, the Blue Campaign conducted two webinars for law
enforcement in fiscal year 2018, one addressing the unique challenges
to combating human trafficking in Native communities, presented by
FLETC and a human trafficking survivor, and one covering trauma-
informed interview techniques, presented by FLETC and ICE HSI. A
combined 82 law enforcement professionals attended the webinars. This
was a testbed for our new law enforcement virtual engagement and it was
met with positive feedback and determined successful.
public awareness portfolio
Beginning in fiscal year 2018, the Blue Campaign started to
leverage social media as a platform to engage the general public. Since
its launch in January 2018, the Blue Campaign's Twitter account has
secured more than 46,000 followers. Subsequent social media engagements
have resulted in constructive information sharing with corporate
partners, such as Amtrak and Delta Airlines. The Blue Campaign
continues to host National awareness events, such as its annual ``Wear
Blue Day'' on National Human Trafficking Awareness Day (January 11).
``Wear Blue Day'' encourages the American public to wear blue,
signifying awareness and commitment to ending human trafficking.
Moreover, the Blue Campaign implements a robust annual advertising
strategy, to include digital advertising. Results have increased views
to valuable human trafficking information with over 830,000 visits to
the Blue Campaign website, and 4.5 million social media interactions.
Additionally, Blue Campaign secures out-of-home advertising in
geographic locations surrounding large events. This includes ad
placements in Minneapolis, Minnesota during the 2018 Super Bowl,
obtaining 9.2 million impressions. Public Service Announcements (PSA)
are also a part of the Blue Campaign's efforts to call attention to
this issue. PSAs are a useful tool to emphasize key National security
and safety issues, and drive a call to action, directing the public to
appropriate reporting mechanisms. In 2018, the Campaign prioritized
forced labor as a focus area to generate increased responsiveness. The
Campaign created a PSA, ``Neighborhood Watch,'' which in 6 months, was
placed almost 30,000 times and obtained more than 689 million
impressions.
Moving forward, the Blue Campaign will continue to provide and grow
its quality public awareness services. The Campaign will assess
advertising and outreach strategies to ensure effectiveness and
innovation remain at the forefront of shedding light on this important
National safety issue.
public awareness campaign efficacy
It is difficult to measure the efficacy of a public awareness
campaign, especially one addressing a historically underreported and
hidden crime. By arming the public and front-line employees across
various industries with information about how to recognize and report
human trafficking, Blue Campaign is creating eyes and ears across the
country on the lookout for signs of human trafficking and giving
individuals the resources to call the appropriate authorities or get
help. By growing Blue Campaign's social media presence in 2018, DHS has
developed communication channels that deliver nearly daily messages
about human trafficking.
The Blue Campaign also actively works to engage survivor voices in
its work. As a result of resources provided by the Department of
Justice's Office for Victims of Crime, when developing new public
awareness resources, the Blue Campaign was able to secure survivor
consultants from the National Survivor Network and U.S. Advisory
Council on Human Trafficking to provide input on the accuracy of
imagery and effectiveness of messages. Survivors have consulted on Blue
Campaign's most recent public service announcement, ``Neighborhood
Watch,'' and public awareness and victim self-identification posters.
Additionally, the Blue Campaign conducted an advertising saturation
exercise in Reno, Nevada from May-July 2018 that resulted in 8 calls to
the National Human Trafficking Hotline.\6\ A digital and out-of-home
(billboards, baggage claim signage, scoreboard signage, and taxi
toppers) strategy was created to maximize public awareness and drive
calls to the National Human Trafficking Hotline in the geographic area.
Digital click-to-call ads were used to track when a direct connection
was made between a Blue Campaign effort and a potentially viable call
that could have helped a victim of human trafficking connect to needed
assistance. These call-only ads appear in search results on mobile
devices, with the goal to get a user to click the phone number
displayed in the ad.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\6\ The Blue Campaign advertising saturation exercise in Reno,
Nevada was conducted in conjunction with State/local stakeholders and
the National Human Trafficking Hotline https://
humantraffickinghotline.org/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
external outreach
Outreach and partnerships are essential parts of the Blue
Campaign's efforts to ensure interested organizations have the
necessary tools to bring awareness to the crime of human trafficking.
Many organizations are interested in bringing awareness to their
stakeholders in an effort to combat human trafficking in their
industry. Partnerships increased in the last year with a wide variety
of organizations, including a State-wide partnership with the State of
Nevada, Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles, Asian American Hotel
Owners Association, and Allied Universal Security.
The Campaign receives many relevant inquiries to the Blue Campaign
inbox, but also conducts proactive outreach to organizations that could
have a substantial impact on raising awareness within its industry or
with the public.
As a Blue Campaign partner, organizations have access to the
Campaign support team, training and resources, speaking and event
opportunities (both hosted by the Blue Campaign, and to have Blue
Campaign personnel present at partner-hosted events), co-branded Blue
Campaign materials, human trafficking awareness materials, and receive
the Blue Campaign e-newsletter.
While formal partnerships assist the Blue Campaign with sharing
critical information in the fight to end human trafficking, they are
not necessary to access valuable resources available on the Blue
Campaign website. The Blue Campaign produces a wide variety of human
trafficking awareness materials including toolkits, posters, indicator
cards, and more. The Blue Campaign's comprehensive portfolio of all
publications and materials is available for download and print from the
Blue Campaign at no cost.
conclusion
The Blue Campaign recognizes that awareness efforts play a vital
role in ensuring the public is able to recognize the crime and provide
valuable information to law enforcement. The Blue Campaign is becoming
a leading voice in socializing the indicators of human trafficking so
that the public can recognize and report suspected incidents of the
crime, ensuring victims know how to connect with the resources they
need to escape their trafficking situation and begin to rebuild their
lives.
Again, thank you for this opportunity to testify today on this
important issue. I look forward to answering your questions.
Ms. McSally. Thank you.
The Chair now recognizes Special Agent Cagen for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF STEVEN W. CAGEN, SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, DENVER
FIELD OFFICE, HOMELAND SECURITY INVESTIGATIONS, U.S. DEPARTMENT
OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Mr. Cagen. Morning Chairwoman McSally, Chairman McCaul, and
Ranking Member Vela and distinguished Members of the committee.
It is an honor to represent HSI, Homeland Security
Investigations.
As one of the 26 special agents in charge I can attest to
the HSI's commitment to identifying and assisting victims and
bringing traffickers to justice.
For decades now HSI has been seeing the same types of cases
involving agriculture, construction, domestic work,
restaurants, massage parlors, essentially jobs with low pay and
few legal protections in an underground economy and in a
service industry. Many of these workers may be visible to us
but what we can't see is the fear, debt bondage, psychological
coercion, threats, and harms that their traffickers inflict.
They are indeed hidden in plain sight.
When I led HSI's human trafficking effort last year I
learned about an investigation out of Jacksonville, Florida
that has truly stuck with me to today. In 2012 Estella Clark
went to her native Mexico where she met a young woman who
agreed to be a pregnancy surrogate, medically supervised, in
exchange for thousands of dollars. Clark had the victim
smuggled across the border and undertook insemination, not with
a doctor, at home with syringes. When there was no pregnancy,
she started to force the victim into unwanted sex with
strangers.
Over a period of 2 years Clark threatened to harm the
victim's family in Mexico, forced her to engage in domestic
work, became physically abusive, and fed her beans while making
her sleep on the cold floor.
I chose this case to illustrate a few things. First some
cases like Clark involves traffickers recruiting and smuggling
victims into the United States and where they are compelled
into labor or sex, commercial sex, however there are many cases
where the victims arrive on visas or are already in the United
States before they are trafficked. There are also cases
involving U.S. citizens.
Second the Clark case demonstrated that traffickers and
victims can be of any age, ethnicity, race, gender identity,
immigration status, socio-economic level. Traffickers can be
relatives, friends, gang members, members of transnational
criminal organizations, they can operate alone or they can
operate in groups. They can actually be the couple next door.
They are all driven by greed.
Third, I am pleased to report the victim received services
along with continued presence allowing her to remain in the
United States with work authorization to facilitate the
investigation and prosecution of her trafficker.
We have seen time and time again the law enforcement
officers who work with victim assistance personnel have more
stable victim witnesses and stronger investigations. Clark was
sentenced this year to 7 years in prison for forced labor.
HSI participates in more than 120 human trafficking task
forces consisting of Federal, State, local, and Tribal law
enforcement as well as victim service providers. On average HSI
conducts 1,000 human trafficking investigations annually,
identifies and assists hundreds of victims, conducts extensive
local outreach and training, and generates leads and trains
foreign law enforcement partners.
Our human trafficking mission is two-fold. No. 1, we
proactively identify cross-border trafficking organizations and
minimize the risk they pose to National security and public
safety.
No. 2 we employ a victim-centered approach which has equal
value on the identification and stabilization of victims and on
investigation and prosecution of their traffickers.
Alongside special agents are victim assistance specialists
in the field who are vital to stabilizing that victim. This
small group but growing program is essential to HSI
investigations. A provision for its expansion to be truly
commensurate with our investigations is included in the
reauthorization of the TVPA.
In conclusion let me bring you back to our trafficker Ms.
Clark. A neighbor called police after seeing the victim outside
Clark's house washing a car and wearing clothing inappropriate
for the freezing weather. This shows that collectively we have
come a long way because when the TVPA was enacted 18 years ago,
few people knew what trafficking was let alone how to respond
to it. It takes public awareness like the Blue Campaigns'
efforts, dedicated prosecutors like my friends at Department of
Justice, and investigators like HSI, trained and ready to
employ a victim-centered approach while bringing the
traffickers to justice.
Thank you for shining a light on human trafficking and for
the opportunity to appear here today.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Cagen follows:]
Prepared Statement of Steven W. Cagen
September 26, 2018
introduction
Chairwoman McSally, Ranking Member Vela, and distinguished Members
of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you
today to discuss the role of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) in investigating human traffickers and protecting victims.
Fighting all forms of modern-day slavery is one of ICE's top
operational goals, specifically to ``disrupt and dismantle organized
human smuggling and trafficking.'' As one of 26 Special Agents in
Charge, I can attest to the pervasiveness of the crime, as well as the
vital role ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) plays in
investigating human trafficking crimes, assisting victims, and bringing
perpetrators to justice. I am also honored to have our partners in the
fight against human trafficking on the panel with me today, including
DHS Office of Partnership and Engagement, Assistant Secretary John
Hill, who oversees the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Blue
Campaign, and Assistant Attorney General John Gore from the Department
of Justice (DOJ).
ICE HSI is the leader in combatting transnational criminal
organizations engaged in human trafficking. ICE HSI conducts more than
1,000 human trafficking investigations annually, identifies and assists
hundreds of victims, conducts extensive local outreach and training to
generate leads, and trains foreign law enforcement partners on human
trafficking through International Law Enforcement Academies (ILEA). As
a lead Federal law enforcement agency responsible for investigating
human trafficking, we leverage our global operational apparatus of more
than 200 domestic offices and 67 international offices in 50 countries.
This global footprint allows HSI to be strategically situated to work
with law enforcement partners, as well as non-governmental
organizations, which bring human trafficking tips and leads to HSI
Special Agents world-wide.
The mission of our human trafficking investigations is two-fold:
(1) To proactively identify cross-border criminal trafficking
organizations and prioritize investigations according to the degree of
risk posed by each to National security and public safety--HSI targets
human trafficking organizations with the goal of disrupting and
dismantling the organization and seizing their illegally obtained
assets to remove the profit incentive; and (2) to employ a victim-
centered approach, where equal value is placed on the identification
and stabilization of victims, as well as the investigation and
prosecution of traffickers. ICE HSI as an agency is first and foremost
concerned with protecting the victim and, therefore, identifying and
assisting them is paramount.
To accomplish its anti-trafficking mission, ICE HSI works in close
coordination with other components of DHS, law enforcement agencies at
the local, Tribal, State, and Federal levels, as well as foreign law
enforcement, non-governmental organizations (NGO's), victim service
providers, and private industry to protect victims, investigate and
prosecute offenders, and prevent trafficking from occurring. ICE HSI
Special Agents and Victim Assistance Personnel are directly supported
by key ICE headquarters programs, including the Human Trafficking Unit
(HTU), the Victim Assistance Program (VAP), the Parole and Law
Enforcement Programs Unit (PLEPU), the Forced Labor Program, the Child
Exploitation Investigations Unit, and the interagency Human Smuggling
and Trafficking Center (HSTC).
We also have a robust portfolio to counter human smuggling.
However, human trafficking is a distinctly different crime from human
smuggling. Human trafficking is exploitation-based, with or without a
border crossing, and requires force, fraud, and coercion compelling
someone into labor or commercial sex, or a minor engaged in commercial
sex. Conversely, human smuggling is transportation-based, and requires
the crossing of a border, these individuals voluntarily seek to gain
illegal entry into the United States. Human smuggling can transition
and develop into trafficking once force, fraud, or coercion are
introduced into the scheme to induce participation in forced labor or
commercial sex.
Strategic Approach to Combating Human Trafficking
The counter-trafficking strategy ICE HSI employs is rooted in
prevention, protection, prosecution, and partnership. Our victim-
centered approach relies on close coordination with the Victim
Assistance Program to connect survivors with service providers. We seek
to aggressively target human traffickers using a comprehensive
approach. Our emphasis on partnerships involves significant
coordination, outreach, and coalition-building efforts. This strategy
is a force multiplier and has paid a lot of dividends in successful
prosecutions, as well as in identifying and assisting victims.
ICE HSI has dedicated human trafficking investigative groups in
each of the Special Agent in Charge field offices with subject-matter
experts in outlying offices as well. These specialized agents
participate in more than 120 human trafficking task forces Nation-wide
consisting of Federal, State, and local law enforcement, as well as
victim service providers. Moreover, HSI has participated extensively in
the interagency Anti-Trafficking Coordination Team (ACTeam) Initiative,
along with the DOJ's Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit, the U.S.
Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of State (DOS), and the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, convening Anti-Trafficking
Coordination Teams in 12 competitively selected cities to proactively
develop and advance significant, high-impact Federal human trafficking
investigations and prosecutions. In addition, local law enforcement
agencies detail officers to ICE HSI human trafficking groups to work
full-time with ICE HSI Special Agents on trafficking investigations.
As part of HSI's Trafficking in Persons Strategy, we also conduct a
significant amount of outreach in order to generate leads from the
organizations to which victims are likely to trust, confide, and report
the crime. Annually, this strategy results in several thousand contacts
with other law enforcement, NGO's, and community organizations
concerning human trafficking within the United States. This routinely
involves hundreds of training/engagement events with NGO's and law
enforcement.
ICE HSI is a key partner of the Blue Campaign along with U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), U.S. Customs and Border
Protection (CBP), the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC),
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the United States
Coast Guard (USCG). The Blue Campaign is a National awareness campaign
to: (1) Educate the public, law enforcement, and other institutions on
human trafficking in the United States; and (2) to increase
understanding of the indicators of human trafficking, and to
appropriately recognize and respond to possible cases of human
trafficking. Working in collaboration with first responders,
governmental, non-governmental and private-sector organizations, the
Blue Campaign magnifies this important, National public outreach.
In addition to providing basic and advanced training to
investigators in the United States, we also provide a substantial
amount of international human trafficking training, which is delivered
to foreign law enforcement, prosecutors, and victim service providers
in collaboration with ICE attache offices typically from more than 70
countries annually. Working with DOS, we also coordinate and train at
numerous events at ILEAs and U.S. embassies world-wide. The training
includes our efforts to combat human trafficking, investigative
techniques, bilateral investigations, indicators of human trafficking,
victim identification, and victim assistance with a focus on building
the capacity to conduct human trafficking investigations with host
country authorities.
The Global Scope of Human Trafficking
The United States is a source, transit, and destination country for
men, women, transgender individuals, and children--both U.S. citizens
and foreign nationals--subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor.
Human traffickers and victims can be of any age, race/ethnicity, sex,
gender identity, nationality, immigration status, cultural background,
socio-economic class, and education attainment level. Traffickers can
be relatives, family friends, gang members, or associated with
transnational criminal organizations, and they can operate alone or in
groups. Traffickers use various forms of force, fraud, and coercion to
control and exploit victims, including debt bondage, fraudulent
employment opportunities, false promises, violence, and threats of
violence. Human trafficking occurs in both legal and illegal
industries, and may intersect with other criminal activity, such as
drug trafficking, human smuggling, or money laundering. Though
clandestine by nature, it is an extremely lucrative illicit activity
with estimated annual global profits of $150 billion, according to the
International Labour Organization.
Challenges to Combatting Human Trafficking
To minimize risk and maximize profitability, traffickers work to
preserve the clandestine nature of the crime by creating agile
networks, adapting to profit and risk environments and adopting
advanced technologies. These characteristics make it difficult to
detect and, as a result, difficult to gather quality information. We
are constantly working to improve detection of human trafficking cases
to make the crime less clandestine and to ensure we are equipped to
identify potential victims, traffickers, hot spots, and transportation
routes. For example, we've enhanced our training at FLETC to include
mandated human trafficking training for new agents.
Immigration status is often perceived to be a barrier to reporting
suspected human trafficking. Some victims and/or their service
provider/attorney do not call police, file a case, etc. because of fear
of deportation/immigration enforcement. A wide range of crimes are
unreported/underreported and have become harder to investigate when the
victims are immigrants or have limited English proficiency. Foreign
national victims are not always aware of their eligibility for certain
legal benefits and services. A victim-centered approach requires we
have policies and practices in place to protect trafficking victims
from being susceptible to removal.
Statistically, there are fewer labor trafficking investigations
because of the difficulty in detecting labor trafficking and separating
it from other forms of labor exploitation and workplace violations. It
can be especially difficult to detect, investigate, and prosecute for a
number of reasons, including isolation of the victims, limited sources
of corroborating evidence, and challenges in earning the trust of
victims in order to elicit their statements. Not all law enforcement is
sensitive to a trauma-informed, victim-centered approach and
appreciative of the full spectrum of human trafficking (not just sex
trafficking, but labor and domestic servitude as well). Also, many
victims do not see themselves as victims. Consistent, survivor-informed
training across law enforcement should be standardized (including
terminology, typology, etc.) and continually updated, drawing on the
expertise offered by survivors themselves.
Law enforcement should also be cognizant that the justice law
enforcement seeks for a victim is not always the justice a victim seeks
for themselves. It is not just about prosecuting the traffickers.
Sometimes victims want to be removed from the situation and stabilized
and move on with their life. Not every trafficking victim wants to play
a role in holding the trafficker accountable.
We continue to engage with foreign counterparts to develop anti-
trafficking strategies in their respective regions.
The Victim Assistance Program
Our Victim Assistance Program (VAP) provides overall guidance on
victim assistance and is a resource to all ICE programs for training,
technical assistance, and monitoring compliance with Federal crime
victim assistance statutes and the Attorney General Guidelines for
Victims and Witness Assistance. VAP is also a critical resource to ICE
HSI investigations and the ensuing criminal prosecutions by
safeguarding victims' rights and ensuring access to the services to
which they are entitled by law, as well as providing the assistance
they need so that they can participate actively and fully in the
criminal justice system process. VAP personnel respond to victims'
issues in a wide range of Federal crimes, including human trafficking,
child pornography, child sex tourism, child sex trafficking, white
collar crime, and human rights abuse.
HSI Victim Assistance Specialists support our approximately 6,100
Special Agents and train them on victims' rights, immigration relief
for foreign national victims, human trafficking, child exploitation,
forensic interviewing, and other victim issues. Victim Assistance
Specialists also assist victims with resources and service referrals
for Federal, State, and local crime victim services, as well as
referrals to non-governmental and community-based victim service
providers. In addition to assistance for victims, another service
provided by the VAP is the Victim Notification Program and hotline,
which provides, for those prior victims who register, notifications of
the release from incarceration or removal of criminal alien offenders.
Along with the Victim Assistance Specialists, VAP includes Forensic
Interview Specialists to conduct legally defensible, victim-sensitive,
fact-finding, forensic interviews, which are developmentally
appropriate and take into account the victim's age, language skills,
mental health, and learning capacity.
We are pleased that the proposed Trafficking Victims Protection
Reauthorization Act establishes an HSI Office of Victim Assistance,
taking to scale the current HSI Victim Assistance Program by increasing
the number of Victim Assistance Specialists from 27 to more than 100,
and increasing the number of Forensic Interview Specialists from 6 to a
minimum of 26. Practically, this means that instead of having a Victim
Assistance Specialist cover regions that sometimes include multiple
States, one VAS would be located in every HSI office that is
participating in a human trafficking task force. Establishing this
office would be a force multiplier for victims, investigations, and
public safety. This key legislation will further enhance HSI's capacity
to support victims and investigate human traffickers.
Making an Impact
Working closely with its partners, to include prosecutors at the
local, State, and Federal levels, ICE HSI has been able to make a
significant difference and move forward U.S. counter-trafficking
efforts. In the last 2 years, we have initiated nearly 2,000 human
trafficking cases, resulting in the identification and assistance of
almost 1,000 victims and over 3,000 criminal arrests, and 1,200
convictions. In fiscal year 2018 (as of August 31, 2018) 778 human
trafficking cases have been initiated, resulting in 1,410 criminal
arrests, 759 indictments and 425 convictions.
One example of our efforts with Mexico is the cross-border
initiatives, to target transnational criminal organizations (TCOs)
responsible for sex trafficking Mexican women in the United States.
Mexico is the country of origin of the largest number of foreign-born
human trafficking victims identified in the United States. In response
to numerous Federal investigations and prosecutions of trafficking
networks operating across the U.S.-Mexico border, DOJ and DHS launched
the U.S.-Mexico Bilateral Human Trafficking Enforcement Initiative to
enhance collaboration with Mexican law enforcement counterparts in
order to more effectively combat trans-border trafficking threats.
Through this initiative, U.S. and Mexican authorities exchange leads
and intelligence to dismantle transnational trafficking networks
through high-impact prosecutions in both the United States and Mexico.
In addition to coordinating the development of bilateral
investigations and prosecutions, DOJ, DHS, and their Mexican law
enforcement counterparts engage in extensive exchanges of expertise and
case-based mentoring to advance best practices in victim-centered
enforcement strategies. The initiative has achieved significant
results: U.S. Federal prosecutions of over 170 defendants; Mexican
State and Federal prosecution of over 30 associated defendants;
extradition of 8 defendants from Mexico to the United States to face
charges; identification of and assistance to more than 200 victims; and
recovery of over 20 victims' children from the trafficking networks'
control. We have coordinated bilateral enforcement actions to apprehend
co-conspirators on both sides of the border.
Immigration Options for Foreign Victims of Human Trafficking
Short- and long-term immigration options assist law enforcement in
stabilizing victims, which can lead to improved cooperation with law
enforcement and humanitarian relief to victims. ICE HSI can provide
``Continued Presence'' (CP) to victims, an important law enforcement
tool that allows a ``victim of a severe form of trafficking,'' who may
be potential witnesses to such trafficking, to remain in the United
States to facilitate an investigation or prosecution of human
trafficking-related crimes. CP provides for the temporary deferral of
removal actions, along with temporary work authorization and potential
access to public benefits and services. It also allows victims to
remain in the United States while pursuing a civil action against their
traffickers.
Continued Presence is vital to law enforcement efforts to combat
human trafficking. It is a necessary means of stabilizing victims so
they can cooperate as witnesses in bringing traffickers to justice. CP
may be granted for an initial period of 2 years and may be renewed for
up to 2 years to facilitate an investigation or prosecution against
traffickers. The appropriate application of Continued Presence can lead
to more successful prosecutions of traffickers and can increase the
odds of identifying and rescuing more victims. USCIS can also provide
longer-term immigration relief to certain qualifying victims of severe
forms of trafficking through the T visa and victims of other qualifying
crimes through the U visa.
conclusion
ICE remains committed to utilizing its authorities and resources to
arrest human traffickers and identify and assist the victims of this
horrific crime. We will build upon the successes of our outreach and
victim-centered approach, and share our lessons learned and expertise
to expand the global fight against this horrific crime. We will
continue to dismantle and disrupt the criminal organizations engaged in
human trafficking until we end the threat that human trafficking poses.
Thank you again for the opportunity to appear before you today and
for your continued support of ICE and its law enforcement mission. I
would be pleased to answer any questions.
Ms. McSally. Thank Special Agent Cagen.
The Chair now recognizes Assistant Attorney General Gore
for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF JOHN GORE, ACTING ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL,
CIVIL RIGHTS DIVISION, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Mr. Gore. Chairwoman McSally, Ranking Member Vela, and
distinguished Members of the subcommittee, I thank you for this
important opportunity to discuss the Department of Justice's
extensive efforts to combat human trafficking.
The Department is resolutely committed to eradicating the
scourge of human trafficking from our communities in our
country to holding perpetrators accountable and to bringing
justice to the victims and survivors of this destructive crime.
Make no mistake about it, human trafficking is a civil
rights and public health crisis in this country. Human
trafficking is often referred to as modern-day slavery. Its
victims are denied their freedom, they suffer horrific
psychological and physical abuse including violence, sexual
abuse, substance abuse, mental manipulation, malnutrition, and
neglect. It is hard to understand this kind of cruelty and
shocking to contemplate its scope. Sadly, human trafficking is
everywhere, in hospitals where we receive care, in the hotels
where we stay, in the restaurants where we eat, in the
airports, bus stations, and train stations where we travel, in
the cities large and small, poor and prosperous where we live,
and of course on-line.
Human trafficking not only devastates lives, it also
undermines the security of our communities, the integrity of
our borders, and the rule of law. For these reasons the
attorney general has declared that combating human trafficking
is one of the Department's top priorities. The Department's
Crime Reduction and Public Safety strategy calls for aggressive
and coordinated efforts to eliminate human trafficking from the
country.
The Department is currently prosecuting unprecedented
numbers of human traffickers: 2017 was a record-setting year
for our enforcement efforts. Last year alone we obtained
convictions of 499 human traffickers, a record and a 14 percent
increase over the prior year. We also secured indictments in a
record 282 cases involving 553 defendants.
We could not achieve these record-setting results without
strong partnerships across the Executive branch with the
Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Labor, the
Department of State, and the Department of Health and Human
Services.
For example, the Civil Rights Division's Human Trafficking
Prosecution Unit is leading a groundbreaking anti-trafficking
initiative across the Executive branch; that initiative called
the Anti-trafficking Coordination Team or ACTeam Initiative
convenes and coordinates interagency teams of Federal agents
and prosecutors in select districts and so far, the results of
this initiative have been tangible.
In Phase 1, human trafficking prosecutions more than
doubled in the ACTeam districts compared to more modest gains
in other districts. Phase 2 is still under way but so far it
has produced promising results including a significant
prosecution of 38 individuals for operating a transnational
trafficking enterprise that exploited Thai women, hundreds of
Thai women, all across the United States.
We also rely on strong partnerships with State, local, and
Tribal law enforcement agencies. The Department invests heavily
in training and funding programs to help build the capacity of
those agencies to combat human trafficking within their
jurisdictions. Moreover, in consultation with State, local, and
Tribal law enforcement leaders every United States Attorney's
Office in the country has devised and implemented a district-
specific strategy to combat human trafficking with specific
details on the coordination of investigations, enforcement
actions, and victim and survivor support.
Human trafficking is a crime that knows no boundaries so
neither can our enforcement efforts. The U.S.-Mexico Bilateral
Enforcement Initiative which the Department leads in
partnership with Homeland Security and Mexican authorities has
enabled us to bring high-impact prosecutions against
transnational trafficking enterprises operating along the U.S.-
Mexico border. Through the initiative U.S. and Mexican
authorities share intelligence, leads, evidence, and tactical
analysis. This international collaboration has allowed us to
increase and enhance our ability to identify, interdict, and
dismantle brutal trafficking enterprises.
The initiative has led to many prosecutions in Mexico and
the United States including Federal prosecutions of over 170
defendants in this country. Last year we secured convictions of
all 8 members of a notorious sex-trafficking enterprise that
lured vulnerable young women and girls on false promises,
smuggled them into the United States, coerce them into
prostitution for over a decade, and laundered the criminal
proceeds back to Mexico.
With the assistance of our outstanding Mexican
counterparts, we executed a simultaneous take-down on both
sides of the border and secured the extradition of five
defendants to the United States.
The Department's enforcement efforts have taught us an
important lesson: Our work is most effective when it remains
survivor-centered and trauma-informed. Our work is not complete
until victims and survivors of human trafficking have been able
to put their lives back together. Victim and witness
coordinators from the Civil Rights Division, the Criminal
Division, the FBI, and United States Attorneys' Offices, work
tirelessly to provide support and stability to victims in areas
such as housing, medical care, and counseling.
The Department's Office of Justice programs also
administers the largest amount of Federal funds dedicated to
helping human trafficking survivors in the United States.
Thanks to the Congress that amount totals $77 million for
fiscal year 2018. That money funds victim service providers,
training programs, public awareness, and 29 anti-trafficking
task forces, all across the country, comprised of Federal,
State, local, and Tribal law enforcement, and community and
faith-based organizations, dedicated to providing services to
survivors.
In fiscal year 2017 Department of Justice grantees reported
assisting a total of 8,003 clients and training more than
56,000 people on how to identify and assist human trafficking
survivors. The Department's commitment to the robust and
victim-centered enforcement of the Human Trafficking laws that
the Congress has enacted will never falter, our commitment is
robust, together we can eliminate this scourge of human
trafficking and make our communities and our country more free,
more fair, more open, and more safe.
I thank you for this invitation and look forward to
answering your questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Gore follows:]
Prepared Statement of John Gore
September 26, 2018
Chairwoman McSally, Ranking Member Vela, and Members of the
committee, I thank you for this opportunity to discuss the
Department of Justice's (Department) extensive efforts to
combat human trafficking in all its forms. The Department is
deeply committed to seeking justice on behalf of victims and
survivors of this destructive crime and holding perpetrators
accountable. We appreciate the opportunity to highlight the
significant momentum of our counter-trafficking efforts and the
strategies that we are implementing to make them even more
effective. We work to prosecute human traffickers, build
interagency alliances to combat human trafficking and to assist
survivors.
Human trafficking is often referred to as modern-day
slavery in which victims are denied their freedom. Victims of
human trafficking can endure horrific psychological and
physical abuse, including violence, sexual abuse, substance
abuse, mental manipulation, malnutrition, and neglect.
It is hard to contemplate this kind of cruelty--and
shocking to contemplate its scope. Sadly, human trafficking is
widespread: In the hospitals where we receive care; in the
hotels where we stay; in the restaurants where we eat; in the
airports, bus stations, and train stations where we travel; in
the truck stops we drive past; in the cities, large and small,
poor and prosperous, that we live in; and, of course, on-line.
Unfortunately, there is no indication that the problem is
abating. From 2010 to 2014, the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children reported a 846 percent increase in reports
of suspected child sex trafficking to the CyberTipline. The
increase in reports is likely fueled, in part, by the wide-
spread use of the internet to recruit and advertise vulnerable
and at-risk victims. As we continue to raise awareness about
human trafficking, we expect to see an increase in the rate of
detection and reporting.
Human trafficking not only devastates lives, it also
undermines the safety of our communities, the integrity of our
borders, the vitality of our economy, and the rule of law. For
this reason, the attorney general has declared the fight
against human trafficking to be one of the Department's highest
priorities. The Department's Crime Reduction and Public Safety
Strategy has called for ``aggressive and coordinated'' efforts
``to deter those who violate our borders and subject others to
forced labor, involuntary servitude, sex trafficking, and other
forms of modern-day slavery.''
The Department of Justice is intensely focused on holding
traffickers criminally accountable for their actions. In doing
so, the Department hopes to deter and prevent future crimes by
declaring their conduct intolerable in a Nation founded on
ideals of individual rights and the rule of law. We are certain
that to succeed in this mission we must continue to advance
survivor-centered strategies that enable victims and witnesses,
who are often silenced by fear, to come forward and aid
authorities in bringing perpetrators to justice.
The Department of Justice continues to prosecute
unprecedented numbers of human traffickers. Last year alone, we
secured a record 499 trafficking convictions--a 14 percent
increase over the previous year--and we filed a record 282
cases against 553 defendants. The Department is continuing to
use the array of powerful statutes Congress has given us to
pursue human traffickers. Our efforts include investigating and
prosecuting all perpetrators to the fullest extent of the law:
Not only the traffickers who recruit victims and then cruelly
exert control over their lives, but also the customers who
patronize those victims, the hotel owners who profit by
participating in trafficking ventures--and the facilitators of
on-line trafficking who profit from advertising commercial sex.
Through our strong partnerships within the Department of
Justices' components, we have successfully prosecuted human
trafficking cases. Our success is attributed to collaboration
between: The United States Attorney's Offices, the Civil Rights
Division's Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit, the Criminal
Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, the FBI,
and our Office of Justice Programs, which supports anti-
trafficking task forces, victim assistance grant programs,
research studies, community policing efforts, and resource
publications. Each of these partners within the Department
brings highly specialized expertise in distinct aspects of the
wide array of threats we encounter. The specialized expertise
involves varying combinations of sex trafficking and labor
trafficking domestically and internationally, exploiting both
adults and minors, and perpetrated by a range of isolated
individuals, loosely affiliated networks, domestic gangs, and
transnational criminal organizations. In addition, we are
increasingly leveraging the specialized expertise of the
Department's organized crime, financial crime, and cyber crime
units to further enhance the impact of these trafficking
prosecutions.
We have also achieved these results through our
partnerships with other Federal agencies, including the
Department of Homeland Security's Homeland Security
Investigations, the Department of Labor's Office of Inspector
General and Wage and Hour Division, the Department of State's
Diplomatic Security Service, and the Department of Health and
Human Services. In addition to our Federal enforcement
partnerships, we rely extensively on our mission-critical
alliances with State, local, and Tribal law enforcement. We
also depend on faith-based organizations, and non-governmental
victim service providers who earn the trust of those at risk,
supporting them in finding the courage to come forward and
cooperate with law enforcement to investigate and prosecute the
human traffickers.
The Department of Justice is continuing to lead
groundbreaking enforcement initiatives that have significantly
expanded our ability to bring high-impact trafficking
prosecutions that dismantle transnational criminal
organizations. The Anti-Trafficking Coordination Team (ACTeam)
Initiative, organizes interagency teams composed of Federal
agents and prosecutors in select Districts to develop high-
impact trafficking cases in coordination with National subject-
matter experts. The results of the ACTeam Initiative have been
successful. In Phase I of the ACTeam Initiative, prosecutions
more than doubled in ACTeam Districts, compared to far more
modest gains elsewhere. Phase II, which is still on-going, is
producing promising results--including a significant
prosecution charging 38 defendants with operating an extensive
transnational sex trafficking enterprise that exploited
hundreds of Thai women across the United States.
The U.S.-Mexico Bilateral Human Trafficking Enforcement
Initiative enables us to bring high-impact prosecutions against
transnational trafficking enterprises that operate across the
U.S.-Mexico border. Through the U.S.-Mexico Bilateral Human
Trafficking Enforcement Initiative, U.S. and Mexican anti-
trafficking authorities exchange leads, evidence, strategic
intelligence, tactical analytics, and advanced expertise in
survivor-centered enforcement strategies through direct
operational coordination channels. This work has enhanced the
capacity of both U.S. and Mexican law enforcement to initiate
high-impact prosecutions aimed at dismantling human trafficking
networks operating across the U.S.-Mexico border. By employing
the capabilities of our international law enforcement
counterparts and streamlining coordination of interrelated
investigations--ones with victims, witnesses, evidence,
continuing criminal conduct, associated targets, and fugitive
defendants in common--this Initiative has significantly
expanded our ability to identify, interdict, and dismantle
brutal trafficking enterprises. Because of this Initiative, we
are bringing traffickers to justice, removing victims' children
from the traffickers' control, and helping survivors rebuild
their lives.
The Department has successfully prosecuted human
trafficking-related cases in both Mexico and the United States,
including U.S. Federal prosecutions of over 170 defendants in
multiple cases in Georgia, New York, Florida, and Texas, in
addition to numerous Mexican Federal and State prosecutions of
associated sex traffickers. Just last year, we convicted all 8
members of a notorious sex trafficking organization that lured
dozens of vulnerable young women and girls on false promises,
smuggled them into the United States, compelled them into
prostitution in New York, Georgia, and Alabama for over a
decade, and laundered the criminal proceeds back to Mexico. We
conducted a coordinated, simultaneous takedown on both sides of
the border, then secured the extradition of 5 defendants to the
United States, with the assistance of the Criminal Division's
Office of International Affairs, to face multiple human
trafficking, organized crime, alien smuggling, money
laundering, and related charges. A few months ago, the United
States secured the extradition of 4 human trafficking
defendants apprehended in Mexico as a result of another
bilateral investigation and prosecution that culminated in a
23-count indictment charging 8 defendants with operating an
extensive transnational sex-trafficking enterprise that lured
young women and girls on false promises then compelled them
into prostitution for the traffickers' profit using physical
and sexual violence, threats, and psychological coercion.
We are continuing to break new ground by building
interagency alliances to combat human trafficking from all
angles. We are working with partners to detect forced labor in
the importation of goods and leveraging drug enforcement
partners to disrupt opioid-based trafficking schemes that
manipulate victims' fears of opiate withdrawal to compel them
into prostitution, perpetuating both the opioid crisis and the
scourge of sex trafficking. As our anti-trafficking efforts
continue to gain momentum, we remain keenly aware of the many
challenges that lie ahead. We are committed to strengthening
strategic partnerships and advancing innovative approaches that
will enable us to make our fight against human trafficking more
effective than ever before.
Our anti-trafficking efforts extend beyond prosecutions.
The Department's Office of Justice Programs (OJP) administers
the largest amount of Federal funding dedicated to assisting
survivors of human trafficking in the United States, receiving
$77 million in fiscal year 2018 funding to do so. In addition
to funding victim service providers across the country, the
Department funds 29 anti-trafficking task forces comprised of
local, State, Tribal, and Federal criminal justice components,
victim service providers, and community- and faith-based
organizations that together ensure that trafficking victims are
proactively identified and referred for appropriate services
and offenders' cases are investigated and prosecuted. The
Department's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services
(COPS Office) also funds the development of guidebooks and
publications on human trafficking, including recent
publications on trafficking at the U.S. Southwest Border and on
combating child sex trafficking.\1\ DOJ-funded organizations
have provided direct services, ranging from housing to legal
services to case management, to a record number of trafficking
victims. Between July 2016 and June 2017, DOJ trafficking
grantees reported assisting a total of 8,003 clients, greatly
exceeding the total number of clients served during the entire
first 10 years of our anti-trafficking program, as well as
training more than 56,000 individuals on how to identify and
assist trafficking survivors. The Department provides extensive
training in survivor-centered, trauma-informed anti-trafficking
strategies, often drawing on the expertise of survivors
themselves, because stabilizing survivors and restoring their
rights is not only our statutory duty under the Trafficking
Victims Protection Act; it is also the key to our success in
bringing traffickers to justice for heinous crimes that go
unpunished when victims are too terrified to come forward. We
are actively training partners Nation-wide to utilize the
additional statutory tools enacted in April in the Allow States
and Victims to Fight On-line Sex Trafficking Act.
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\1\ See, e.g., Below Ten: Combating Drugs, Guns, and Human
Trafficking at the U.S. Southwest Border (https://ric-zai-inc.com/
Publications/cops-p369-pub.pdf). We also have publications available on
child sex trafficking (https://ric-zai-inc.com/
ric.php?page=detail&id=COPS-P342 and https://ric-zai-inc.com/
ric.php?page=detail&id=COPS-P318).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you for this opportunity to speak before you today, I
look forward to further discussions on these issues.
Ms. McSally. Thank you.
The Chair now recognizes the Honorable Judge Demmert for 5
minutes to testify.
STATEMENT OF MICHELLE DEMMERT, CHIEF JUSTICE, CENTRAL COUNCIL,
TLINGIT AND HAIDA INDIAN TRIBES OF ALASKA
Ms. Demmert. Thank you Chairwoman McSally, Ranking Member
Vela, and distinguished Members.
I am pleased to be here today to address trafficking and
its impact on Native American communities.
Thank you so much for recognizing the impact trafficking
has on our communities and your interest in involving our
Tribes in the solutions. This will be key.
Trafficking in multiple forms has been utilized as a tool
of genocide and colonization of American Indians and Alaskan
Natives within the United States since first contact with
Europeans. This practice continues today in different forms.
In the United States there is no tracking method that
provides a complete picture of sexual exploitation or human
trafficking. The data that is available supports the conclusion
that our women, our Tribal women are trafficked at
disproportionately high rates yet a recent GAO report found
that from 2013 to 2016 there were only 14 Federal
investigations and two Federal prosecutions of human
trafficking offenses in Indian country.
Traffickers prey on persons perceived to be vulnerable. Our
women and girls have many of the indicators that increase
vulnerability, including being a relatively young, high-poverty
population, high rates of homelessness and substance abuse,
high rates of past violent victimization, and a lack of
resources and support services.
In Alaska our women and girls represent a disproportionate
number of trafficked girls in relation to the population. It is
reported that 28 percent of the youth at the Covenant House
Alaska were survivors of human trafficking and that these cases
were some of the worst in the Nation.
Current Federal law limits the authority of Indian nations
to fully protect victims of crime and respond to crimes of
trafficking that occur on our lands because criminal
jurisdiction is divided among Federal, Tribal, and State
governments. Depending on the location of the crime, the type
of crime, the race of the perpetrator, and the race of the
victim, the confusing jurisdictional scheme often leads to a
failure to act.
In 1978 the Supreme Court ruled in Oliphant v. Suquamish
that absent specific direction from Congress, Tribal nations do
not have jurisdiction over crimes committed by non-Indians in
Indian country. According to a Senate Committee on Indian
Affairs report, ``Criminals tend to see Indian reservations and
Alaska Native villages, as places they have free rein where
they can hide behind the current ineffectiveness of the
judicial system. Without the authority to prosecute crimes of
violence against women, a cycle of violence is perpetuated that
allows and even encourages criminals to act with impunity in
Tribal communities and denies Native women equality under the
law, by treating them differently than other women in the
United States.''
Again, Alaska has a uniquely, complex jurisdictional
arrangement and no solution has yet been legislated.
Unfortunately, the amendments included in Bauer 2013 creating a
framework for some Tribes to exercise jurisdiction over
domestic violence crimes are limited in scope and do not reach
sex trafficking crimes. What can be done?
There are several bills currently pending before Congress
that would help achieve these goals. H.R. 6545, the Violence
Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2018 would make clear that
Tribal courts can hold anyone who traffics American Indians or
Alaska Natives in Indian country accountable for their crimes,
however this act wouldn't help Alaska Natives because of their
jurisdictional issues. H.R. 4608 the Survive Act, it would
amend the Victims of Crime Act to provide services and
compensation to trafficking and other crime victims in Tribal
communities. S. 3280, the End Trafficking of Native Americans
Act would improve coordination among Federal agencies.
Taken together these three bills would significantly
improve access to justice and services for American Indian and
Alaskan Native trafficking victims. I urge you to support these
bills and I would be happy to answer any questions that you may
have.
Gunalcheesh haat. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Demmert follows:]
Prepared Statement of Michelle Demmert
September 26, 2018
Good morning, I am pleased to present testimony to the subcommittee
today on how human trafficking is impacting Native communities. My name
is Michelle Demmert, and I am an enrolled citizen of the Central
Council Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, and I am the elected
Chief Justice of our Supreme Court. I am also the co-chair of the
National Congress of American Indians' Task Force on Violence Against
Women and the Alaska Native Women's Resource Center Law and Policy
Consultant.
Trafficking, in multiple forms, has been utilized as a tool of
genocide and colonization of American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/
AN) within the United States since first contact with Europeans.
Leading sex trafficking researcher and Native scholar, Dr. Sandi Pierce
notes that it is no secret that ``the selling of North America's
indigenous women and children for sexual purposes has been an on-going
practice since the colonial era. There is evidence that early British
surveyors and settlers viewed Native women's sexual and reproductive
freedom as proof of their `innate' impurity, and that many assumed the
right to kidnap, rape, and prostitute Native women and girls without
consequence.''\1\ The intentional use of force, in both sexual and
labor contexts, against AI/AN people is an act that seeks to degrade
Tribal sovereignty through an actual stealing away of our people or a
utilization of them in unnatural ways.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Sandi Pierce and Suzanne Koepplinger, New language, old
problem: Sex trafficking of American Indian women and children,
National Resource Center on Domestic Violence (2011), https://
vawnet.org/material/new-language-old-problem-sex-trafficking-american-
indian-women-and-children.
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Recently, there has been an increase in interest from Congress
regarding human trafficking in Tribal communities. The Government
Accountability Office (GAO) released two reports on this topic in
2017.\2\ On September 27 of last year, the Senate Committee on Indian
Affairs held a hearing on ``the GAO Reports on Human Trafficking of
Native Americans in the United States.''\3\ Witnesses at that hearing
included the GAO, the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Office of Justice
Services (BIA OJS), the Department of Justice's Office of Tribal
Justice, and the Executive Director of the Minnesota Indian Women's
Sexual Assault Coalition. I encourage you to review the testimony from
that hearing to get a greater understanding of how the Federal
Government attempts to address trafficking in Tribal communities and
statistics from a Tribal perspective in an urban area.\4\
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\2\ U.S. Gov't Accountability Office, GAO-17-325, Human
Trafficking: Action Needed to Identify the Number of Native American
Victims Receiving Federally-funded Services (2017); U.S. Gov't
Accountability Office, GAO-17-624, Human Trafficking: Information on
Cases in Indian Country or That Involved Native Americans (2017).
\3\ Oversight Hearing on ``The GAO Reports on Human Trafficking of
Native Americans in the United States'': Before the S. Comm. on Indian
Affairs, 115th Cong. (2017).
\4\ Melissa Farley, Nicole Matthews, Sarah Deer, Guadalupe Lopez,
Christine Stark & Eileen Hudon, Garden of Truth: The Prostitution and
Trafficking of Native Women in Minnesota, available at http://
www.niwrc.org/resources/garden-truth-prostitution-and-trafficking-
native-women-minnesota.
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prevalence of trafficking on tribal lands
In the United States, as well as in Canada, ``there is no data
collection/tracking method that provides a complete picture of sexual
exploitation or human trafficking.''\5\ The data that is available
supports the conclusion that AI/AN women are trafficked at
disproportionately high rates. Across four sites surveyed in the United
States and Canada as part of a 2015 report, an average of 40 percent of
the women who had been trafficked identified as AI/AN or First Nations:
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\5\ Victoria Sweet, Rising Waters, Rising Threats: The Human
Trafficking of Indigenous Women in the Circumpolar Region of the United
States and Canada (2014), available at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/
papers.cfm?abstract_id=2399074.
``In Hennepin County, Minnesota, roughly 25 percent of the women
arrested for prostitution identified as American Indian . . . In
Anchorage, Alaska, 33 percent of the women arrested for prostitution
were Alaska Native . . . In Winnipeg, Manitoba, 50 percent of adult sex
workers were defined as Aboriginal . . . and 52 percent of the women
involved in the commercial sex trade in Vancouver, British Columbia
were identified as First Nations.''\6\
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\6\ Trafficking in Native Communities, Indian Country Today, May
24, 2015, https://newsmaven.io/indiancountrytoday/archive/trafficking-
in-native-communities-JGKqWdmCQ0-6BCi-rN-X9w/.
It is important to note that in not one of these cities and
counties do Native women represent more than 10 percent of the general
population.
And while these data are only snapshots of sex trafficking in major
cities, similar trends are emerging in more remote reservation
communities. In 2015 alone, the White Earth DOVE Program (Down On
Violence Everyday), which serves the White Earth, Red Lake, and Leech
Lake Reservations in northwestern Minnesota, identified 17 adult
victims of sex trafficking.\7\ In northeastern Montana, the Montana
Native Women's Coalition reported that they have observed a 12 to 15
percent increase over the previous year's program base (between 2014-
2015) regarding the number of Native women who have been trafficked.\8\
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\7\ Amy Dalrymple and Katherine Lymn, Native American populations
`hugely at risk' to sex trafficking, Bismarck Tribune, Jan. 5, 2015,
https://bismarcktribune.com/bakken/native-american-populations-hugely-
at-risk-to-sex-trafficking/article_46511e48-92c5-11e4-b040-
c7db843de94f.html.
\8\ Human Trafficking Will Become One of the Top Three Crimes
Against Native Women, Indian Country Today, July 15, 2015, http://
indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2015/07/15/human-trafficking-will-
become-one-top-three-crimes-against-native-women-161083.
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In my home State of Alaska, the FBI and the BIA have warned Tribal
leaders that traffickers were preying on Native women and would be
targeting young women who traveled to Anchorage for the Alaska
Federation of Natives conference.\9\ There has also been a great deal
of discussion about the dangerous situation created for Native women by
the oil boom in the Bakken region of North Dakota.\10\ ``Specifically,
the influx of well-paid male oil and gas workers, living in temporary
housing often referred to as `man camps,' has coincided with a
disturbing increase in sex trafficking of Native women.''\11\
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\9\ ``I can't get my sister back'': Investigators warn of sex
traffickers targeting Natives, Anchorage Daily News, April 28, 2016,
https://www.adn.com/rural-alaska/article/i-can-t-get-my-sister-back-
investigators-warn-sex-traffickers-targeting-natives/2010/12/03/.
\10\ Kathleen Finn ET. AL., Responsible Resource Development and
Prevention of Sex Trafficking: Safeguarding Native Women and Children
on the Fort Berthold Reservation, 40 Harvard Journal of Law & Gender 1,
(2017) http://harvardjlg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/jlg-winter-
3.pdf.
\11\ Id.
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Human trafficking is a highly underreported crime for a variety of
reasons, including the fact that ``many trafficking victims do not
identify themselves as victims. Some may suffer from fear, shame, and
distrust of law enforcement. It is also not unusual for trafficking
victims to develop traumatic bonds with their traffickers because of
the manipulative nature of this crime.''\12\
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\12\ National Congress of American Indians, Policy Research Center,
Human & Sex Trafficking: Trends and Responses across Indian Country
(2016), available at http://www.ncai.org/policy-research-center/
research-data/prc-publications/TraffickingBrief.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Human trafficking also intersects with intimate partner violence in
a way that can obscure the scope of the problem. According to the
National Network to End Domestic Violence, ``there is a marked overlap
in the pattern of behaviors that both abusers and traffickers use to
exert power and control over a victim. Intimate partner trafficking
occurs when an abuser `[compels] their partner to engage in commercial
sex, forced labor, or involuntary servitude.' Alternatively, trafficked
individuals sometimes live with their trafficker and are subjected to
the physical violence, emotional manipulation, and overbearing control
that are hallmarks of domestic violence.''\13\ Domestic and sexual
violence are crimes that also disproportionately impact AI/AN women.
The National Institute for Justice has found that 84 percent of AI/AN
women will experience intimate partner violence, sexual violence, or
stalking in their lifetime, and 1 in 3 have experienced it in the past
year.\14\
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\13\ The National Network to End Domestic Violence, The
Intersections of Domestic Violence and Human Trafficking, November 10,
2017, https://nnedv.org/latest_update/intersections-domestic-violence-
human-trafficking/.
\14\ Department of Justice, Nat'l Inst. of Justice, Violence
Against American Indian and Alaska Native Women and Men: 2010 Findings
from the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey 26 (May
2016), https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/249736.pdf.
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heightened risk for american indians and alaska natives
Traffickers prey on persons perceived to be vulnerable.\15\ AI/AN
women and girls have many of the indicators that increase
vulnerability, including being relatively young, from a high-poverty
population, high rates of homelessness and substance abuse,
exceptionally high rates of past violent victimization, and a lack of
resources and support services.\16\ An FBI agent involved with
prosecuting trafficking cases in Anchorage has said that Native women
are also particularly vulnerable because ``[t]here have been
traffickers and pimps who specifically target Native girls because they
feel that they're versatile and they can post them (online) as
Hawaiian, as Native, as Asian, as you name it.''\17\
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\15\ U.S. Department of Justice, Attorney General's Annual Report
to Congress and Assessment of U.S. Government Activities to Combat
Trafficking in Persons, Fiscal Year 2015, https://www.justice.gov/
archives/page/file/870826/download.
\16\ Statement of Tracey Toulou Director of Tribal Justice, U.S.
Department of Justice, Before the S. Comm. on Indian Affairs, Sept. 27,
2017, https://www.indian.senate.gov/sites/default/files/upload/
Tracy%20Toulou%20Testimony_0.pdf.
\17\ ``I can't get my sister back'': Investigators warn of sex
traffickers targeting Natives, Anchorage Daily News, April 28, 2016,
https://www.adn.com/rural-alaska/article/i-can-t-get-my-sister-back-
investigators-warn-sex-traffickers-targeting-natives/2010/12/03/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Compounding these demographic vulnerabilities is the lack of an
effective law enforcement and criminal justice system in many places.
Current Federal law limits the authority of Indian nations to fully
protect victims of crime and respond to crimes of trafficking that
occur on their lands. Criminal jurisdiction in Indian country is
divided among Federal, Tribal, and State governments, depending on the
location of the crime, the type of crime, the race of the perpetrator,
and the race of the victim. The rules of Tribal jurisdiction were
created over 200 years of Congressional legislation and Supreme Court
decisions--and are often referred to as a ``jurisdictional maze.''\18\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\18\ See Robert N. Clinton, Criminal Jurisdiction Over Indian
Lands: A Journey Through a Jurisdictional Maze, 18 ARIZ. L. REV. 503,
508-13 (1976).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The complexity of the jurisdictional rules creates significant
impediments to effective law enforcement in Indian country. Each
criminal investigation involves a cumbersome procedure to establish who
has jurisdiction over the case according to the nature of the offense
committed, the identity of the offender, the identity of the victim,
and the exact legal status of the land where the crime took place. The
first law enforcement officials called to the scene are often Tribal
police or BIA officers, and these officers may initiate investigations
and/or detain a suspect. Then a decision has to be made--based on the
race of the individuals involved in the crime, the type of crime
committed, and the legal status of the land where the crime occurred--
whether the crime is of the type warranting involvement by the FBI or
State law enforcement.
Oftentimes answering these questions can be very difficult. Each of
the three sovereigns has less than full jurisdiction, and the
consequent need for multiple rounds of investigation often leads to a
failure to act. Overall, law enforcement in Indian country requires a
degree of cooperation and mutual reliance between Federal, Tribal, and
State law enforcement that--while theoretically possible--has proven
difficult to sustain. As described by Theresa Pouley, former Chief
Judge at the Tulalip Tribes of Washington, ``The combination of the
silence that comes from victims who live in fear and a lack of
accountability by outside jurisdictions to prosecute that crime, you've
created if you will, the perfect storm . . . which is exactly what all
of the statistics would bear out.''\19\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\19\ Tribal Justice: Prosecuting non-Natives for sexual assault on
reservations, PBS NEWS HOUR (Sept. 5, 2015), https://www.pbs.org/
newshour/show/tribal-justice-prosecuting-non-natives-sexual-assault-
indian-reservations.
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For over 3 decades before amendments included in the
reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act in 2013 (VAWA 2013),
Tribes did not have jurisdiction over any crimes committed by non-
Indians on their reservations.\20\ In 1978, the Supreme Court ruled in
Oliphant v. Suquamish that, absent specific direction from Congress,
Tribal nations do not have jurisdiction over crimes committed by non-
Indians in Indian country.\21\ Congress recognized the impacts of this
ruling. According to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs' Report on
this issue, ``Criminals tend to see Indian reservations and Alaska
Native villages as places they have free reign, where they can hide
behind the current ineffectiveness of the judicial system. Without the
authority to prosecute crimes of violence against women, a cycle of
violence is perpetuated that allows, and even encourages, criminals to
act with impunity in Tribal communities and denies Native women
equality under the law by treating them differently than other women in
the United States.''\22\ Numerous researchers and policy commissions
have concluded for decades that jurisdictional complexities in Indian
country were a part of the problem. And again, Alaska has a uniquely
complex jurisdictional arrangement and no solution has yet been
legislated.\23\ As the Ninth Circuit summarized in a 1994 report,
``Jurisdictional complexities, geographic isolation, and institutional
resistance impede effective protection of women subjected to violence
within Indian country.''\24\ Unfortunately, the amendments included in
VAWA 2013 that created a framework for some tribes to exercise
jurisdiction over domestic violence crimes are limited in scope and do
not reach sex trafficking crimes. In the trafficking cases that involve
a non-Native trafficker--likely the majority of them--all the Tribal
court can do is banish the trafficker from the reservation or issue a
civil protection order.
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\20\ See, e.g., Angela R. Riley, Crime and Governance in Indian
country, 63 UCLA L. REV. 1564, 1567 (2016) (discussing the history of
criminal justice in Indian country, the resulting ``jurisdictional
maze,'' and the impacts of this maze on Native women).
\21\ Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe, 435 U.S. 191 (1978).
\22\ S. Rep. No. 112-265, at 7 (2012).
\23\ INDIAN LAW & ORDER COMM'N, A ROADMAP FOR MAKING NATIVE AMERICA
SAFER, (2013).
\24\ John C. Coughenour et al., The Effects of Gender in the
Federal Courts: The Final Report of the Ninth Circuit Gender Bias Task
Force, 67 S. CAL. L. REV. 745, 906 (1994).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The United States Department of Justice has testified to Congress
that jurisdictional complexity has made the investigation and
prosecution of criminal conduct in Indian country very difficult and
that some violent crimes convictions are thrown into doubt,
recommending that the energy and resources spent on the jurisdictional
questions would be better spent on providing tangible public safety
benefits.\25\ The Indian Law and Order Commission, a bi-partisan
commission created by the Tribal Law & Order Act of 2010, concluded
that ``criminal jurisdiction in Indian country is an indefensible
morass of complex, conflicting, and illogical commands.''\26\ These
challenges are not unique to trafficking cases, but they undoubtedly
complicate the justice response and make reservations an attractive
target for traffickers. Native women as a population are often viewed
as unprotected prey and the pleas of victims and their families for
help go unheard. One mother in Alaska, reported:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\25\ Testimony of The Honorable Thomas B. Heffelfinger, U.S.
Attorney, Minneapolis, Minneapolis, Oversight Hearing before the Senate
Committee on Indian Affairs on Contemporary Tribal Governments:
Challenges in Law Enforcement Related to the Rulings of the United
States Supreme Court, July 11 2002.
\26\ INDIAN LAW & ORDER COMM'N, A ROADMAP FOR MAKING NATIVE AMERICA
SAFER, (2013).
``[m]y daughter was and still is a victim of sex trafficked women. I
reported it to the authorities and received no help. I told them the
address, location, and names of her traffickers. The Anchorage Police
Department would not listen to me until I got my two white friends to
make a call for me. I contacted Priceless Alaska but they would not
help me unless a State Trooper investigates and makes a referral to
their organization. No one would help me. I also called the FBI, three
times, and they did not respond. Through, my two white friends, I
reported her missing. My daughter was held, by traffickers, at Eagle
River, Alaska, for 4 months.''--Martina Post, Testimony of the Native
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Village of Alakanuk, USDOJ Tribal Consultation, December 6, 2016.
In Alaska, 28 percent of the youth at Covenant House Alaska were
survivors of human trafficking and Alaska experiences the most heinous
cases of sex trafficking in the Nation. Dr. Laura Murphy of Loyola
University's Modern Slavery Research Project, researched and reported
that among all the Covenant House sites across the country, Alaska had
the most brutal cases of sex trafficking--worse than the big, crime-
filled cities of Los Angeles, Detroit, New Orleans and even New
York.\27\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\27\ Murphy, L.T., (2017) Labor and Sex Trafficking Among Homeless
Youth, 12.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
federal response
Investigating and prosecuting trafficking crimes in Tribal
communities is largely the responsibility of the Federal Government,
although in some cases the Tribal or State government will have
concurrent jurisdiction. According to the GAO, there are four Federal
agencies that investigate or prosecute human trafficking in Indian
country--the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Bureau of
Indian Affairs (BIA), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),
and the U.S. Attorneys' Offices (USAOs).\28\ GAO reports that the BIA,
FBI, and USAOs record whether a trafficking case occurred in Indian
country in their case systems, but ICE does not. None of the Federal
agencies track whether the victim is Native American or not.\29\ In its
recent report, the GAO found that from 2013-2016, there were only 14
Federal investigations, and two Federal prosecutions of human
trafficking offenses in Indian country.\30\ Given what we know about
the prevalence of trafficking in Tribal communities and the
responsibility of the Federal Government to investigate and prosecute
these crimes, this is extremely concerning.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\28\ Government Accountability Office. (2017). Human Trafficking
Investigations in Indian Country or Involving Native Americans and
Actions Needed to Better Report on Victims Served. (GAO Publication No.
17-762T). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
\29\ Id. at 14.
\30\ Id. at 6.
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The GAO released a second report in July 2017 examining the extent
to which local law enforcement agencies or Tribal governments were
filling the void left by Federal law enforcement agencies investigating
and prosecuting trafficking cases. The GAO surveyed 203 Tribal law
enforcement agencies and 86 major city law enforcement agencies. Of the
132 Tribal law enforcement agencies who responded, 27 of them reported
that they initiated human trafficking investigations between 2014-2016,
for a total of 70 investigations involving 58 victims. The GAO asked
Tribal law enforcement agencies about the number of human trafficking
investigations they conducted in Indian country. The question posed to
major city law enforcement agencies differed, however. They were asked
about the number of human trafficking investigations that involved at
least one Native American victim. Only 6 of the major city law
enforcement agencies reported human trafficking cases with at least one
Native American victim. Those 6 reported a total of 60 investigations
involving 81 Native American victims from 2014-2016. The Minneapolis
Police Department reported 49 of the 60 total investigations. GAO
reported that the Minneapolis Police ``made a concerted effort,
starting in 2012, to meet with Tribal elders and service providers who
worked with the Native American population to demonstrate their
willingness to investigate human trafficking crimes. The officials
stated that, following those meetings, the number of human trafficking
crimes involving Native American victims that were reported to the
department increased.''\31\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\31\ Id. at 10.
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GAO reported that Tribal law enforcement agencies believe that
human trafficking is occurring at a higher rate than is being reported.
Unsurprisingly, when Tribal law enforcement were asked to identify
factors that hampered their ability to hold traffickers accountable,
several themes emerged: (1) Victims are unwilling to cooperate; (2)
lack of resources, such as necessary training, equipment, and funding
for sex crime investigations; (3) inter-agency cooperation is absent or
deficient; and (4) a lack of appropriate laws in place.
conclusion
While human trafficking impacts every community, there is a growing
awareness and concern that Native women and girls are particularly
vulnerable and are victims of sex trafficking at an alarming rate.
There is a particular concern about the relationship between both
intimate partner violence and the extractive industries and sex
trafficking. It is important that Congress take action to hold Federal
officials accountable for their failure to adequately investigate and
prosecute trafficking crimes in Tribal communities, while also ensuring
that Tribal governments have the resources and authority that they need
to address these issues. There are several bills currently pending
before Congress that would help achieve these goals.
H.R. 6545, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of
2018, would amend 25 U.S.C. 1304 to make clear that Tribal
courts can hold anyone who traffics American Indians or Alaska
Natives in Indian Country accountable for their crimes.
H.R. 4608, the SURVIVE Act, would amend the Victims of Crime
Act to ensure that Tribal governments receive a portion of the
annual disbursements from the Crime Victims Fund in order to
provide services and compensation to trafficking and other
crime victims in Tribal communities.
S. 3280, The End Trafficking of Native Americans Act, would
establish a joint Department of Justice and Interior Advisory
Committee to improve coordination in efforts to address
trafficking of Indians and on Indian lands.
Taken together, these three bills would significantly improve
access to justice and services for American Indian and Alaska Native
trafficking victims. I urge you to support these bills. Thank you for
the opportunity to testify today. Gunalcheesh.
Ms. McSally. Thank you.
I now recognize myself for 5 minutes for questions.
I really appreciate all the verbal and written testimony.
One thing that was in some of your written testimony that I
want to highlight and ask a question on, is this deeply
troubling dynamic of traffickers taking advantage of people who
are perhaps recovering or suffering from opioid addiction,
where in some cases I think one of your testimony said is they
are almost leaving rehab facilities, that they are in a
vulnerable place to be captured and that their traffickers then
keep them addicted and then you know, continue to keep them in
slavery by continuing to provide them the opioids while they
are trafficking and forcing them into slavery.
This is deeply disturbing. There is a lot of attention
lately on the opioid epidemic; this nexus between those that
are struggling with addiction and those who are now potentially
vulnerable to being trafficked is deeply disturbing to me.
So Special Agent Cagen can you share any trends or dynamics
going on with that or any and any others on the panel? I think
it is really important for our listeners to understand that.
Mr. Cagen. Definitely and thank you for bringing that up
because it is extremely important to us right now. One of the
things for HSI that is why we are uniquely positioned to target
trafficking because we also work in the narcotics arena,
whether it is coming from the transnational criminal
organizations through the routes into the United States, which
also brings humans and trafficking victims, we are seeing that
and that is one of the two things that we are focused on right
now.
It is very interesting to talk about it here because we
also discuss it at a local level with chiefs and sheriffs in
things like Haida meetings when we are talking about narcotics,
that we are also talking about how traffickers are you know,
focused on people that are coming down. What they are doing is
they are identifying people that are really vulnerable coming
down off you know, an opioid high, coming out of the facility.
Ms. McSally. Yes.
Mr. Cagen. We are also seeing them use opioids with
vulnerable victims who have never used drugs before----
Ms. McSally. OK.
Mr. Cagen [continuing]. Because once they get them hooked.
It is sad to say but that renewable resource, whether it is
cartels, mostly criminal gangs within the United States, or
small lower-level and they just continue to keep them hooked on
opioids, well they are renewable resource to whatever
organization or whatever person is trafficking them in these
horrible situations.
Ms. McSally. That is disgusting.
Mr. Gore, do you have anything to add?
Mr. Gore. Yes. I would like to add something and thank you
Chairwoman McSally for raising an important question on this
crucial issue. You are talking about the intersection of the
civil rights and public health crisis that is human trafficking
and the opioid epidemic sweeping all across the Nation and
leaving a wake of destruction behind it.
We recently had a case, we secured a guilty plea back in
July involving a man who had used opioid addiction to coerce
two young women into commercial sex trafficking. He was giving
them just enough heroin to maintain their addiction and prevent
withdrawal and then threatening to take their heroin away so
they would suffer the enormous physical pain of withdrawal if
they refused to engage in commercial sex trafficking.
He was from Massachusetts and was taking these women
throughout New England to engage in coerced commercial sex. He
was driving down I-95 with the victims and was physically
abusing one of them in a car when a good samaritan passing by
noticed this and called the authorities and he was apprehended
and has now pleaded guilty to these heinous and outrageous
crimes.
I think it goes to a point you raised earlier Chairwoman,
that increasing public awareness on all of these fronts is
extraordinarily important. Back when the TVPA was enacted there
wasn't wide-spread public awareness about it, now we have more
and more wide-spread public awareness and hopefully there will
be increased public awareness about opioid withdrawal and the
opioid crisis as well and more people like that good samaritan,
passerby will speak out when they see indicators of human
trafficking and other criminal activity.
Ms. McSally. Great. Thank you.
Another line, I want to go into maybe more in the second
round as well is any trends that you all are seeing related to
traffickers using on-line tools or on-line recruitment or on-
line manipulation to facilitate trafficking. Just in April this
year the President signed the Allow States and Victims to Fight
On-line Sex Trafficking Act of 2017 making it a Federal crime
for websites and bad actors like Backpage.com to facilitate
illegal prostitution and other things. Are you seeing a trend
in on-line activity and is this law going to give you
additional tools, and anything else you can share Mr. Gore?
Mr. Gore. Yes. Thank you. FOSTA is an extraordinarily
important tool for law enforcement at the Federal, State,
local, and Tribal levels. As you laid out it creates liability
for website operators that knowingly advertise sex trafficking
or intentionally facilitate prostitution.
Of course the advent of the internet has led to an
explosion in human trafficking activity, it has created a new
market where human trafficking can take place, where supply and
demand can come together in ways that were not possible before
and we are seeing that all across the country and really all
throughout the world so FOSTA is an important tool that
supplements departments' already existing enforcement authority
as was shown by the prosecution of Backpage.com in your home
State of Arizona and it also creates important right-of-action
for State Attorneys' General to combat human trafficking on-
line and we are actively engaged with State authorities to help
build their capacity to do so.
Ms. McSally. OK. Great. I am over my time. I wanted to come
back to it in a second round.
But the Chair now recognizes Mr. Vela, the Ranking Member
for 5 minutes.
Mr. Vela. Thank all of you again.
Mr. Cagen, did I get that right? Mr. Gore, this question I
think is for the two of you and I was wondering if you could
elaborate on a point you touched on with respect to our levels
of law enforcement cooperation with Mexican authorities because
it is something we don't often focus on and you know, in light
of the indictments and extraditions of ``El Chapo'' Guzman and
the former Governor of Tamaulipas, Tomas Yarrington which I
think are success stories that the public doesn't often get to
hear about and I was wondering if you could elaborate more on
you know, how those efforts, going forward are important to
focus on and how they help Mexican authorities help us with
respect to not only prosecutions of criminals like ``El Chapo''
and Tomas Yarrington but in the context of human trafficking?
Mr. Cagen. Thank you for the question. I won't get into the
particulars of the bilateral agreement because that is with
Department of Justice but what I can tell you is I was in
Mexico, working in Mexico in 2009 when the bilateral agreement
was signed around and it continues. The continued work between
our governments is something that is not talked about all that
often I will agree but we are down there continually. We
actually have a group, Human Trafficking Unit, in Department of
Justice's Human Trafficking Unit down there in Mexico City
meeting with the Mexican government next week in order to talk
about some cases, some on-going cases, also capacity building.
We continually, Blue Campaign and ourselves continually
work, capacity building with the Mexican government but also
within the Northern Triangle region. It is something that is
extremely important to us because what we need them to help us
with is identifying any trafficking that they might see before
it comes to the United States so by bolstering their capacity
within the entire region it helps us try to combat this
problem.
Mr. Gore. Mr. Cagen's absolutely right. The Bilateral
Enforcement Initiative has been extraordinarily important both
to Mexican authorities and to the United States. Mexico remains
the largest source-country for foreign trafficking victims
entering the United States. It is a huge problem here, it is
also a huge problem in Mexico and one of the great innovations
of the Bilateral Enforcement Initiative is it has allowed us to
bring high-impact prosecutions that dismantle entire
trafficking enterprises that operate on both sides of the
border.
Frequently what happens in these cases is individuals
operating in Mexico, lure young women and girls or other
trafficking victims and then smuggle them into the United
States where they are coerced into sex trafficking or labor
trafficking and criminal proceeds are then laundered back to
Mexico.
We don't always have the tools or the opportunity or the
enforcement resources to go after the individuals operating in
Mexico but the Mexican authorities do and so when we work
together with them we can dismantle an entire enterprise, take
it apart, save hundreds of victims, save hundreds more would-be
victims who never get caught up in that particular enterprise
so it allows us to leverage our enforcement tools and resources
for the most effective combating of human trafficking that we
can do.
Mr. Vela. I have two quick questions on the same point, the
first one is for you Mr. Gore, the second one for Mr. Cagen and
that is, what is your sense given the change of administrations
in Mexico and how that will affect our cooperative efforts to
date, will it be enhanced, disrupted, or do you see that it
will continue the way it has been?
Mr. Cagen when you talk about capacity, you are talking
about capacity I believe on the Mexican side and that is one
thing I have wondered about because I have worked with HSI
officials that are in Mexico and I am curious about our
capacity in terms of personnel needs and things like that on
the HSI side, to keep that process going forward?
Mr. Gore. Thank you, Ranking Member Vela, for that
question. I think it is too early to tell if there is going to
be any change and approach on the Mexican side of this equation
but we are optimistic and very hopeful that our efforts with
the Mexican authorities will continue unabated.
One of the great innovations of the bilateral Enforcement
Initiative is that we have institutionalized the commitment on
both sides of the border, both in the United States among our
law enforcement and also in Mexico among their law enforcement.
Now the Department has a number of rule-of-law and justice-
reform initiatives in Mexico, we have been able to use those to
leverage cooperation and assistance in the human trafficking
sphere and all the teams that we have worked with of career
prosecutors and investigators in Mexico have been thoroughly
vetted and are resolutely committed to this effort and have
been strong partners.
Ms. McSally. The gentleman yields back.
The Chair now recognizes the Representative from Louisiana,
Mr. Higgins, for 5 minutes.
Mr. Higgins. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.
Special Agent Cagen, how high is the confidence that your
agents have on a border regarding actual identification of
people coming across, and I am speaking to ask your response on
what is the quality level of false documents and
identifications that you are encountering as we attempt to
identify people coming into our Nation?
Mr. Cagen. Thank you for the question. That is a difficult
question for me to answer. We are the criminal investigative
arm of the Department and we are not called in until after
United States Border Patrol or United States----
Mr. Higgins. Are you seeing false documents and
identifications and case files that you are investigating----
Mr. Cagen [continuing]. Yes.
Mr. Higgins [continuing]. At the investigative level once
they have been processed in the field?
Mr. Cagen. Yes.
Mr. Higgins. What is your opinion of the quality of those
false documents and identifications?
Mr. Cagen. That they continue to get better. I have been
doing it for 18 years, they definitely continue to----
Mr. Higgins. Roger that. I asked this question because of
my background in law enforcement. You know, we run across false
IDs and many years ago, almost a decade ago, we interviewed a
gentleman with full investigative authority at the felony level
and he had in his possession over 150 stolen identity files,
complete files, and he had a connection to make driver's
licenses that were so close to the real thing, it required
incredible scrutiny to discern the difference between the
driver's licenses that this gentlemen who is from Eastern
Europe was able to create and after hours of interrogation with
this gentleman we were still not sure who he was. He was
ultimately deported so this was almost a decade ago.
You are familiar I am quite sure Mr. Gore with the Equal
Protection under the law Clause in Section 1 of the 14th
Amendment to any person on our soil, correct?
Mr. Gore. Yes. I am.
Mr. Higgins. Does that right extend to children that enter
our Nation illegally, accompanied by an adult?
Mr. Gore. I do believe it does, yes.
Mr. Higgins. Of course, so as a compassionate nation of law
and order, in order for a young man or woman that has been
brought into our Nation for the purpose of human trafficking,
in order for them to get inserted into the criminal network
domestically, they have to make it through border security, am
I correct?
Whether they are smuggled in or whether they are brought
in, in plain view, is the nature of this hearing and is it not
our responsibility to determine who these people are?
Mr. Gore. Yes.
Mr. Higgins. Special Agent, yes?
Mr. Cagen. Yes. It is. I believe that the Customs and
Border Protection and the U.S. Border Patrol at any ports of
entry, do everything that they can to identify who these people
are, whether it is through interviews, using their background
and knowledge on how to interview people and get people to talk
to them, I think they do a great job at it.
Mr. Higgins. I concur. I bring up this subject because Mr.
Gore, as representatives of the civil rights enforcement,
essentially for the endeavors that we are discussing today, are
we not as a nation committed to the unwavering protection of
the civil rights, of including of illegal aliens that come into
our Nation illegally because of the clearly stated verbiage of
our Constitution and the amendments therein, as when they are
on American soil, they deserve protections under the law, do
they not?
Mr. Gore. Absolutely.
Mr. Higgins. So our very initial objective is quite
challenging. I think America needs to know this because there
has been a great deal of discussion about the rights of
children and we are discussing human trafficking today which by
its very nature means children so as a young man or woman is
brought into our Nation perhaps with the criminal intent of
being inserted into a domestic criminal network of human
trafficking, it is our absolute duty, Madam Chairwoman, my
colleagues, to determine exactly who these adults are that are
accompanying the children.
I will leave with you, Mr. Hill, tell us what, to close,
what a challenge that is for us as a nation?
Mr. Hill. Well, I would just say we have recognized in
doing the outreach since the Blue Campaign was stood up in
2010, that this is a huge challenge for us. We appreciate the
efforts of the Authorization Act that was passed this past year
because I think it gives us institutional tools to help build
up the staff that we need.
Before we had the reauthorization, we were pulling people
from different departments on details to try to fill this need
to inform people and so having the act is really going to
institutionalize this process and get the word out but in
fiscal year 2017, I believe there were 31,000 unaccompanied
children that came to this country and so 98 percent of them
are still here and we need to make sure that those people are
identified during that process so that the trafficking symptoms
are not evident with those children.
Ms. McSally. The gentleman yields back.
The Chair now recognizes Mr. Correa from California for 5
minutes.
Mr. Correa. Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to thank you and
the Ranking Member for this most important hearing.
I want to thank our witnesses here today for your service
to our country.
You know, human trafficking is a very ugly issue but it is
one we have to look at head-on. I represent Central Orange
County, Orange County, California and Mr. Cagen you talked
about human trafficking, sex slaves, and U.S. citizens. The No.
1 reason or I should say in our Juvenile Hall in Orange County,
young ladies, the No. 1 reason the majority of them are there
for prostitution, under-age young ladies, American citizens.
Representing Central Orange County, it is a very blue-
collar area, very heavily immigrant, heavily Latino, and also
very heavily Asian. We have the biggest population
concentration of Vietnamese outside of Vietnam so I have gone
out with public safety and I have seen a lot of the human
trafficking circumstances and situations in my county.
Central Orange County, we have a lot of workers with and
without documents and many, many live in my district and then
they work in Newport Beach, as nannies, and doing other manual
work.
I had an employee in Newport Beach called me the other day
and say, ``I need your help.'' I said, ``What can I do for you
ma'am? You are out of my district but I will help you.''
She says, ``A 20-year nanny just got arrested by ICE. Can
you help me?'' My children are you know, very concerned because
this is a lady that is bottom up.
These are the stories I hear over and over again and yet
today you know, over the last 2 years the administration has
tightened up immigration policy, granting fewer visas,
admitting fewer refugees, and really removing thousands of
legal residents.
I would ask Mr. Hill, and Ms. Demmert, this is--this is
going to create a situation of supply and demand. The jobs are
still there, my Central Valley farmers in California still need
workers yet less of them are able to come so this is going to
put a lot of pressure and really going to create more business
for these smugglers to bring folks into the United States. Am I
reading this wrong or thoughts on that point?
Mr. Hill. Well, Representative Correa, thank you for that
question. I think there is definitely an attempt by the
administration and specifically the USCIS to evaluate the visa
process and to make sure that the right number of visas are
being granted according to the caps that have been instituted
by Congress.
So we are fully supportive of immigration reform. We would
love to see Congress move in some of these areas and we believe
that that is an important initiative to address but I will say
to you that we are still getting lots of immigrants into this
country. Since 2008 we have brought in 11 million immigrants
into this country and so that is a huge number. I don't know if
it addresses the labor issue as much but it----
Mr. Correa. I think that is what I am getting at because we
can talk the actual numbers, we can talk actual supplying the
men again when I have folks, farmers in Georgia or in my State,
the State of California saying, ``We need more workers,'' it
tells me that there is either a mismatch on the immigrants or
the right kind of immigrants aren't coming to the United States
or there is not enough of them.
Mr. Hill. I think that is one of the reasons why we need to
move toward requiring things like E-Verify that allows us to
find out who should be here and make it easier for people that
want to be getting jobs in America, that are legally here, as
opposed to these traffickers.
Mr. Correa. Let me just follow your logic so you want E-
Verify----
Mr. Hill. Yes.
Mr. Correa. Then what does that do for the supply----
Mr. Hill. But it----
Mr. Correa [continuing]. Of workers because I have talked
to some of my local you know, farmers in California and they
have said, ``You do E-Verify and I am out of business.''
Mr. Hill. Well, either----
Mr. Correa. And you come to the rescue within 6 months. I
am going----
Mr. Hill. OK.
Mr. Correa [continuing]. Hold that thought and we will talk
later on because I also wanted to follow Mr. Vela's
conversation about Mexico and the coordination on the asylum,
the refugee seekers.
It is my understanding that Mexican government is doing a
lot of work in the southern border of Mexico in checking asylum
refugees and holding back a lot of them in the southern border.
Do you have any information on that or is there any
coordination?
I asked also Ms. Demmert also if you can answer that
because I believe your part of the world, Alaska, is also an
area that we do have undocumented coming in, is this an area of
future challenges for the country in terms of immigration with
or without documents?
Ms. Demmert. Well, I think that you always have a problem
with undocumented individuals coming into areas that lack law
enforcement, which Alaska really does. You know, 40 percent of
our communities do not have law enforcement available and so it
is a prime area for people to come in and not fear the
consequences.
In terms of your questions about the labor issue, any time
you have those vulnerable communities who have a need and need
to get work they are at risk, they are at most risk for
trafficking because they are trusting, they are easily sold a
line and they trust people that they are going to be fair to
them and then they get trapped into some sort of labor or sex
trafficking that they cannot get out of.
I just wanted to quickly add that in terms of Chairwoman
McSally's point on the opioid issue you know, we also had to
come from it from a victim-centered point of view in that women
who are opioid-dependent who use, maybe distribute or possess
aren't thinking clearly and they fear the consequences of the
repercussions of being caught with that and being part of that
and so don't seek help for being trafficked under severe
conditions of opioid use.
So figuring out how to provide treatment and also to
provide some sort of safe haven for them to not be arrested for
them is also very important.
Thank you for the question.
Ms. McSally. Your time----
Mr. Correa. Madam Chair, I think my time is up.
Ms. McSally. Has expired.
Mr. Correa. Thank you very much for your indulgence, thank
you.
Ms. McSally. The Chair now recognizes Ms. Demings from
Florida for 5 minutes.
Mrs. Demings. Thank you so much Madam Chair.
Thank you all as well for being here with us today.
Mr. Gore and Justice Demmert I want to thank you for really
focusing on the victim and how we can better assist the victim.
Mr. Gore you talked about the intersection between human
trafficking, public health, and addiction and I think we all
can do our jobs better if we approach these issues from a
holistic standpoint.
We have also heard about a victim-centered approach and
victims have to rebuild their lives and often need support to
do just that so I would like to ask both of you how often do
you rely on victims because many of them come from very
challenging environments, how often you rely on victims to
provide testimony against their trafficker, and how critical
are victim assistance services in helping victims so that they
can be effective witnesses that result in prosecution of the
traffickers?
Mr. Gore, we will start with you. Thank you.
Mr. Gore. Thank you for that important question
Congresswoman Demings because you have hit on an
extraordinarily important issue which is the survivor-centered
and trauma-informed approach we try to take in our enforcement
efforts at the Department of Justice. We use victims as
witnesses in many, many cases. They are eyewitnesses to what
they suffered. They are eyewitnesses to the trafficking
enterprise and its operations. They are eyewitnesses to the
criminal activity.
Our first and most important goal is to stabilize and
support those victims with the services that they need and so
we do that and then we help them prepare to be witnesses in
cases that are appropriate.
We also use victims and survivors to help us improve our
training. Once they become stabilized and after their cases are
over, we have had many survivors review our training materials
and videos to make sure that they are accurately representing
what goes on in a human trafficking scenario and we have even
had victims and survivors participate in our trainings both
internally to the Department of Justice, and of State, local,
and Tribal law enforcement agencies because they bring a unique
expertise and experience that we don't have as law-enforcement
agents and that unique experience and expertise is very vital.
We could not do our work to answer the last part of your
question without victim service providers. They are absolutely
essential and they exist all across the country. They do
training, they provide support and services to victims. We help
fund those providers but they go out and they do the very vital
and important work of actually providing that service where its
most needed.
Mrs. Demings. Thank you.
Justice Demmert.
Ms. Demmert. Thank you for the question. This is an
important point that needs to be talked about for sure. Tribal
governments have been largely left out of the Victims of Crime
Act of 1984 and as a result of that our victims really have a
challenge in accessing services in this area.
We thank the House for what you have all did in the
Appropriations Act of this year and for the first time we are
accessing Victims of Crime funding which will just really help
us with this point.
However, it is not a permanent fix yet and we really need
that so we really need the Survive Act to have a consistent,
reliable, steady stream of funding that we can build programs
and provide these services.
The State of Alaska has not been very helpful at all in
helping victims of crime. Many Tribal communities don't even
know that there is Crime Victim Compensation available so these
trafficked individuals they are just you know, they are being
helped by aunties, uncles, family members, they are not getting
any real meaningful compensation or assistance and so thank you
very much, we really hope that the Survive Act or something
similar will become a permanent fix so we can build these
programs.
Mrs. Demings. I know that the Minneapolis Police Department
have experienced an increase in the number of victims that have
been referred to them and I believe that it is a result of the
outreach efforts that have increased or been enhanced, could
you talk a little bit about those and what you believe could be
done to further enhance our outreach efforts to reach potential
victims?
Ms. Demmert. Well, outreach is really you know, I can't
speak to Minneapolis obviously but in terms of outreach, the
problem that we are having in Alaska in particular is that we
are so under-resourced in terms of law enforcement and judicial
services because of Public Law 280 we have not had the same
sort of resources directed to Alaska Tribal communities or
urban areas and so we have had to rely on State resources and
the State has not been a friend to Alaskan Native women and
children who are victims of trafficking.
We you know, we had a heinous case out of Anchorage this
last week in which a man who--and forgive me for being so
candid but who kidnapped a woman, a young Native woman,
strangled her because that was the only way he could seek
sexual pleasure, masturbated on her, and then left her in the
woods.
He got probation for this act of crimes and so you know,
that just shows--demonstrates the lack of trust that our
communities have in a meaningful interaction with law
enforcement in Alaska and with other State and Federal agencies
and so the trust in the relationship building really needs to
be built up in order for that to be effective.
Thank you for the question.
Mrs. Demings. Madam Chair, may I ask one additional
question?
Ms. McSally. We are going----
Mrs. Demings. I know I am----
Ms. McSally. To do----
Mrs. Demings. Out of time.
Ms. McSally. A second round if you don't mind.
Mrs. Demings. OK. Thank you.
Ms. McSally. If you will yield back.
Mrs. Demings. I yield back.
Ms. McSally. OK. Great.
The gentlelady yields back.
I appreciate the answers so far. There is just so much to
talk about related to this issue.
Special Agent Cagen, the work that you have described as
HSI. HSI is part of ICE and some of our colleagues and others
have been calling to abolish that agency completely. I think
that is a dangerous agenda, can you speak specifically when it
comes to human trafficking what would happen if you were
abolished, related to the efforts that are stopping,
preventing, investigating, and holding people accountable in
the human trafficking realm?
Mr. Cagen. I can. Thank you for asking the question. We
don't agree, special agents in charge in the field and our ERO
counterparts on the other side from Immigration, we don't
believe that the abolishment of ICE is something that should
happen.
We are a large breadth of authority. We investigate over
400 laws and a lot of those fall on the Immigration side which
already inform the criminal side and we believe that we need
all of those authorities in order to attack a problem like
this.
We need the ability to investigate cartel-level
perpetrators overseas, fall down into a sub-cartel level, and
then also come down into the local gangs and/or just your local
neighbor who's involved in trafficking so for us it is
imperative that we hang on to all of our authorities in order
to enforce and go after the full scope of the criminal
network--because we all know that it is not just human
trafficking or just narcotics trafficking, that we need to be
able to attack every piece of that network and able to
dismantle the transnational criminal organization.
Ms. McSally. Great. Thank you. I agree.
One of the themes through much of the testimony today is
the challenge that victims don't understand that they are a
victim so we can train over a hundred thousand law enforcement
personnel and those in health care industries and other
elements, but if a victim doesn't identify themselves as a
victim for a variety of different reasons that are complex,
then that still is a pretty significant challenge for us.
How do we get to that? It is part of the awareness campaign
I agree for the public, for families, for everyone what we are
doing here today so that there is a you know, we are able to
attack the issue of victims thinking that somehow, they are
consenting to what they are involved in or somehow whatever the
complex dynamics are so you know, Mr. Hill can you answer to
that?
Mr. Hill. Well, I will be glad to take a first crack at it
for you. Chairwoman, I had the privilege of visiting with the
Polaris Project recently and they receive some funding from the
Health and Human Services Administration for a hotline that was
instituted several years ago. One of the things that I found
very interesting during that visit is not in addition to the
work that they are doing and the number of calls that they are
seeing increased over the last 4 years, they have seen a 100
percent increase in their calls, they have seen a 130 percent
increase in the number of cases that they are doing, they are
also starting to move into this area that you referenced
earlier in your question about social media----
Ms. McSally. Yes.
Mr. Hill [continuing]. And what they are doing is they are
doing live chat and text messaging because every person who is
a victim is also carrying a phone and because their person who
is trafficking them in many cases has to be able to communicate
with them and so what they are finding is that this new medium
of outreach is helping to reach an area of the community that
they hadn't previously been able to and they have seen
exponential growth in that area.
So I think the more awareness effort that we continue to
publish those kind of access numbers and resources, I think we
are going to continue to see this growth but I think that we
also have to target some of these populations, the Native
American and the Indian country, there is a lot of work that
needs to be done there and so I think we have got to continue
to go into these areas of vulnerable communities.
Ms. McSally. Great.
Special Agent Cagen.
Mr. Cagen. I would love to answer the question because I
think it falls in line with Ms. Deming's question as well which
is, we encounter on the streets through our investigation,
victims all the time----
Ms. McSally. Right.
Mr. Cagen [continuing]. That don't know that they are
victims. Because of that you asked the question, and thank you
for asking about victim assistance specialists, it is
imperative for us as agents for much as I have got a 9-year-old
daughter, for as much as I want to say that I am a you know,
kind, gentle, father, after I go in a house and pull a victim
out I am not then the one that needs to stabilize that victim.
We need the victim assistance specialist, right next to us
in the field in order to stabilize that victim initially. Let
me explain, I have got a 4-State region, Utah, Colorado,
Montana, and Wyoming for HSI. I have one victim assistance
specialist. That is why we are asking in the reauthorization of
the TVPA which I hope you support, to help us bolster, I need
at least 1 per State. I need somebody next to those agents when
they pull a victim out of this horrible situation, somebody who
knows how to do it, somebody who can have that compassion.
They are never going to see me as compassionate after we
just broke down the door and pulled them out. I am never going
to be but my victim assistant specialist for sure is that
compassionate person.
So for me, for us in the field, having that specialist to
let the person know and get them to the point where they know
they are a victim because at that point they probably still
don't know they are a victim.
Ms. McSally. Great. Thanks.
I am over my time.
The Chair now recognizes Mrs. Demings from Florida for 5
minutes.
Mrs. Demings. Thank you so much Madam Chairwoman. I asked
permission to submit for the record a statement from the
American Trucking Association, detailing their work and efforts
to use their 3\1/2\ million truck drivers as eyes and ears to
identify and report suspected human trafficking.
Ms. McSally. Without objection.
[The information follows:]
Statement of Elisabeth Barna, Chief Operating Officer & Executive Vice
President, Industry Affairs, American Trucking Associations
September 26, 2018
Chairwoman McSally, Ranking Member Vela, and Members of the
distinguished subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to provide
testimony on the American Trucking Associations' (ATA) on-going efforts
to combat human trafficking. ATA was founded in 1933 and is the
Nation's preeminent organization representing the interests of the U.S.
trucking industry. Directly and through its affiliated organizations,
ATA encompasses more than 30,000 companies and every type and class of
motor carrier operation.
ATA applauds the efforts of this subcommittee to raise awareness
about the issue of human trafficking, discuss the important steps being
taken at the Federal level to end this horrific crime, and determine
what more should and could be done in that effort.
In the on-going fight to combat human trafficking, ATA's goal is to
raise awareness, train our industry on how to recognize human
trafficking, and intervene when able by safely calling a National
hotline that alerts law enforcement. The trucking industry is the eyes
and ears on our Nation's highways, with over 3.5 million professional
truck drivers. These drivers live in and deliver to every community in
America. And there are over 7 million people in all employed by the
trucking industry.
Whether a travel plaza employee, a pick-up and delivery driver or
an over-the-road driver, the industry has worked to equip its employees
with the tools to spot a possible human trafficking case, know what to
look for and what questions to ask the victim, and how to report it. We
strongly encourage our drivers and industry employees to make the call
to let authorities know of a possible case. No call is a bad call and
that call could save someone's life. To date, our industry has made
nearly 2,500 calls to the National hotline--which resulted in over 600
likely human trafficking cases identified--involving over 1,100
trafficking victims, nearly half of those victims were minors. But,
unquestionably, there is more work to be done.
ATA has also empowered America's Road Team Captains to become
influencers, talking with other drivers through the peer-to-peer
campaign, to the media and to students and young adults addressing the
issue and raising critical awareness. America's Road Team Captains are
a National public outreach program led by a small group of professional
truck drivers who share superior driving skills, remarkable safety
records, and a desire to spread the word about safety on the highway.
Through this continued outreach, our Road Team Captains, drivers, and
members continue to connect with people throughout the country to
discuss the horrific crime of human trafficking, recognizing that it
touches every community and every ethnic and economic background.
ATA and all 50 affiliated State trucking associations are also
active partners with Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT), an
organization established to help empower and mobilize the trucking
industry in its fight against human trafficking. ATA is a member of the
TAT Board of Directors, and through that role has helped lead the
efforts and support the mission of the organization.
TAT has made substantial progress in spreading awareness of areas
where human trafficking and the trucking industry intersect. Efforts
made by TAT and their partners have resulted in increased training of
drivers, as well as reporting of trafficking incidents. Our industry
has an estimated 625,000 professional drivers who have been trained by
TAT to identify and respond safely to possible human trafficking
incidents they may encounter. Our ATA member companies are adding TAT
training to not only new employee orientation but to the on-going
training efforts of their existing employees.
TAT's Freedom Drivers Project is a mobile exhibit educating
audiences about the realities of domestic sex trafficking. ATA member
companies pull the trailer from location to location and help organize
events in local communities to raise awareness of the crime and how to
spot a possible crime or more importantly, how to be saved from
traffickers.
TAT and ATA also work closely with local communities, including law
enforcement State-wide and many of the offices of the Attorney General
or State-wide task forces. TAT has developed law enforcement training,
equipping law enforcement to target human traffickers and recover
victims.
TAT, working in conjunction with ATA and the industry, has many
resources available, including a certified training program, wallet
cards, mobile apps, posters for driver work rooms and shipper
locations, decals letting victims know what they can do, and brochures
for specific parts of the industry and more. ATA promotes and makes
these resources available to all industry members.
ATA is also a partner with the Department of Homeland Security's
Blue Campaign and has been an active participant in many outreach
programs within that campaign. The DHS Blue Campaign reaches all modes
of transportation and helps to leverage partnerships to educate the
public on how to recognize and report a human trafficking situation.
The Blue Campaign also has training materials, including training
videos, which ATA supports and promotes to our membership. ATA has
partnered with the Blue Campaign on a live webinar discussing the
trucking industry efforts, and events raising awareness.
And finally, late last year, ATA convened a roundtable gathering of
many law enforcement agencies and associations, industry stakeholders
and leaders in the anti-human trafficking effort. The focus of the
gathering was an in-depth discussion of how to increase our
partnerships and resources to combat human trafficking through
awareness, education, and enforcement, as well as legislative and
regulatory efforts. The result of the roundtable was a commitment by
all participants to collaboratively join hands in the continued fight
against human trafficking. ATA remains extremely committed to this
endeavor, and will partner or work together with any mode of
transportation or community to help save lives.
Thank you for the opportunity to submit comments for the record and
for your work on ending the practice of human trafficking. I would be
pleased to answer any questions you may have.
Mrs. Demings. Thank you.
I yield back.
Ms. McSally. All right. You didn't have another question?
Mrs. Demings. Actually, yes.
Special Agent Cagen----
Ms. McSally. OK.
Mrs. Demings [continuing]. Answered it.
Ms. McSally. OK. Got it.
Mrs. Demings. Thank you so much for that.
Ms. McSally. All right.
Mr. Cagen. You are welcome.
Ms. McSally. Well, I appreciate it.
I just have a few more questions. One is just a question on
the law, Mr. Gore just to make sure I understand it, 22 U.S.C.
7102 defines sex trafficking and at the end of it, it says,
well, sex trial--I will just read the whole thing, ``is the
recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, obtaining,
patronizing or soliciting, of a person for the purpose of
commercial sex act in which the commercial sex act is induced
by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to
perform such act has not attained the age of 18 years old.''
We also have some Federal grants we are trying to
incentivize States that have laws that basically say if you are
a child and you are involved in you know, commercial sex
therefore you are being trafficked, by definition.
Can you clarify it, does the Federal law say that, if your
child you know, whether they think they are doing it willingly
or not they are a child, that equals sex trafficking and how
does that actually get applied?
Mr. Gore. Yes. That is absolutely correct Chairwoman. The
way that human trafficking has been defined under Federal law,
any minor that goes into commercial sex trafficking is being
trafficked by definition and that is an important piece of our
enforcement efforts. We have in the Criminal Division; the
Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section is responsible for
enforcing that particular aspect of the Human Trafficking laws.
It has substantial expertise in child exploitation crimes and
so it handles those crimes for us as well. But yes, to answer
your question on the law, that is correct.
Ms. McSally. So how do you use that tool, is it just the
traffickers, is it the Johns, I mean, so therefore if you are
under age you therefore are committing sex trafficking, not
just illegal you know, these are awful crimes anyway but in
addition there is another tool, right for a Federal crime?
Mr. Gore. Absolutely. In all of our human trafficking
enforcement efforts, we try to go after everybody who is
involved in the human trafficking, whether it is the
trafficker, the customer, a hotel owner that is knowingly
making money off of the trafficking going on in the hotel,
somebody who is facilitating the trafficking, now as the
Backpage.com case illustrates and with the tools of FOSTA, we
can go after websites that are intentionally facilitating
prostitution or knowingly advertising sex trafficking.
So we are taking a comprehensive approach and going after
everybody that we can because we don't want to do this
piecemeal. We are not going after a one-off criminal here or
there because that person can be replaced, we want to dismantle
entire enterprises and take down everybody who is involved in
this heinous and egregious crime.
Ms. McSally. Great. Thanks.
I know it is difficult to quantify the magnitude of the
trafficking that we don't know about, right that is happening
under our noses but we have not identified the victims yet or
the perpetrators but this issue of--again in your written
testimony the clarity was there, of there is difference between
smuggling and trafficking, right? People are being smuggled
across the Southern Border often but people are being
trafficked from start to finish across the Southern Border.
People are being trafficked from where they are without
having to move anywhere but do we have a sense, Special Agent
Cagen of the magnitude of people who start thinking they are
being smuggled so they are willing they are willing to and
trying to move and maybe paying somebody for that, paying their
cartel for that but they end up being trafficked, if that makes
sense so that you know, because they either can't pay or then
they are finding themselves in servitude and you know, forced
labor or forced sex trafficked--whatever that is so it starts
off as a smuggling but it ends up in--does that make sense? Do
we have any sense of the magnitude of that?
Mr. Cagen. Thank you, Chairwoman. I believe you just
explained it better than I could. You did explain it extremely
well. We don't have a number you know, in trafficking we have
tried for probably the last 18 years to identify the number. We
don't. We see as HSI, we see it all. That is what makes it
difficult at the border which is somebody who believes they are
being smuggled, when we are talking to them either at the
border for investigative purposes, they believe there being
smuggled.
Ms. McSally. Right.
Mr. Cagen. There is also times that we know they are being
trafficked because----
Ms. McSally. Yes.
Mr. Cagen. Because of an investigation that we have with
the Mexican government overseas but they still believe that
they are being smuggled. This creates an extremely difficult
situation for whether it is CBP at the border----
Ms. McSally. Yes.
Mr. Cagen [continuing]. Or our agent so I unfortunately
don't have a number for you.
Ms. McSally. But of the cases that you know, say you worked
on last fiscal year like what is the percentage of cases that
are like that?
Mr. Cagen. I don't have that breakdown.
Ms. McSally. OK.
Mr. Cagen. I can--I----
Ms. McSally. OK.
Mr. Cagen. Definitely can look into that and get back to
you.
Ms. McSally. Those are the ones we know about obviously but
I think this is just an----
Mr. Cagen. Correct.
Ms. McSally [continuing]. Important you know, distinction
for us to understand. Some people are being trafficked from
start to finish----
Mr. Cagen. Yes.
Ms. McSally [continuing]. Others think they are being
smuggled or start being smuggled and finished being trafficked,
right? Then they are stuck for a decade, right, either the case
that you talked about, I mean, some of these are just heinous
situations.
Mr. Cagen. Let's also not forget that there are some people
that pay and are smuggled into the United States and then they
are here and that is when they are vulnerable----
Ms. McSally. Right.
Mr. Cagen [continuing]. And that is when they are
trafficked so there was zero intent of trafficking the entire
process----
Ms. McSally. Right.
Mr. Cagen [continuing]. Until they were here for some
time----
Ms. McSally. And now they are vulnerable.
Mr. Cagen [continuing]. Now they are vulnerable, they
utilize you know, ICE and the threat of that in order to keep
these people down and so they don't talk.
Ms. McSally. Great. Thank you. OK.
I really appreciate all the testimony from our experts
here, the opportunity for us to raise awareness on these
issues, there is some legislative areas there that we still
have some more work to do on our part but this is really not
just a whole-of-Government but a whole-of-society challenge,
all across law enforcement, all across civil society, faith-
based, private sector, every single community member, family
member, neighbor, I mean, this is all on us to raise our gaze
to look at people, each person, each person who serves us, each
person we come across at a rest stop as we are stopping on a
family trip, like each person, to do our part, right that if we
see something we have to say something. So, I appreciate all
the work that everybody is doing here in order to address this
scourge.
We still have more work to do and so thanks for your
testimony today. I probably have something official to say
here.
So yes, the Members of the committee may have some
additional questions for you and we would ask that you respond
to those in writing.
Pursuant to Committee Rule VII(D), the hearing record will
be held open for 10 days. So without objection, the hearing is
adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 12:25 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
[all]