The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“ABOLISH HUMAN TRAFFICKING ACT AND TRAFFICKING VICTIMS PROTECTION ACT” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Senate section on pages S5210-S5211 on Sept. 12, 2017.
The Department is one of the oldest in the US, focused primarily on law enforcement and the federal prison system. Downsizing the Federal Government, a project aimed at lowering taxes and boosting federal efficiency, detailed wasteful expenses such as $16 muffins at conferences and board meetings.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
ABOLISH HUMAN TRAFFICKING ACT AND TRAFFICKING VICTIMS PROTECTION ACT
Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, today I wish to congratulate this body on its passage of two important antitrafficking bills: the Abolish Human Trafficking Act and the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.
I am proud to have worked with Senators Grassley, Cornyn, and Klobuchar on these comprehensive bills and commend them and their staffs for the thoughtful and bipartisan manner in which they were drafted.
I would also like to thank the numerous law enforcement and antitrafficking organizations and, most importantly, the survivors, who have provided feedback and support throughout this process. It is my hope that the legislation passed last night will assist the tremendous work these groups do in the fight against human trafficking.
Both bills reauthorize a number of important programs that help victims and strengthen efforts to prevent, detect, and respond to human trafficking crimes.
The Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which I authored with Senator Grassley, promotes victim-centered training for school resource officers, judges, prosecutors, and law enforcement. It ensures that trafficking victims are properly screened and that more comprehensive data about trafficking crimes are collected.
The Trafficking Victims Protection Act also includes one of my top priorities, which is to prevent the proliferation of trafficking offenses over the internet. I want to take a moment to discuss why I believe this to be a deeply important step in curtailing the criminal enterprise of trafficking.
The commercial sex industry is evolving. The use of the internet to sell commercial sex has escalated dramatically over the past several years.
Online platforms have provided an easily accessible and seemingly low-risk forum for buyers. In 2014, one website advertised nearly 12,000 advertisements for commercial sex in a single day.
Some of these sites have become hubs of human trafficking. Backpage.com, in particular, has been used to facilitate sex trafficking of minors for years. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has determined that Backpage.com is linked to 73 percent of all suspected child sex trafficking reports that it receives through its ``CyberTipline.''
Indeed, just a few months ago in my home State, a 3-month investigation into Backpage.com led the Stockton Police Department to discover eight victims being trafficked for sex in the area. Some of these girls were as young as 14 years old. San Joaquin District Attorney's Human Trafficking Task Force said that advertisements on Backpage com offered sexual acts with the victims for as little as $20.
Under current law, it is a criminal offense to knowingly advertise commercial sex acts with a minor. Backpage.com has repeatedly asserted that it has no involvement with the advertisements posted on its website. However, after a thorough review of Backpage.com's screening methods and practices regarding their advertisements, the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations concluded that Backpage.com knows that its website facilitates trafficking and knowingly concealed evidence of criminality by systematically editing its adult ads to help them avoid detection by law enforcement.
Shortly after these findings were publicly released, the Washington Post obtained documents that showed that contractors hired by Backpage.com were specifically instructed to solicit and create sex ads aggressively, including the posting of ads suggestive of sex with minors. In fact, these documents revealed that ``invoices and call sheets indicate Backpage.com was pushing [the contractor] to get as many new listings as possible.''
These revelations are deeply concerning, and I hope that they will be thoroughly investigated. Those who knowingly advertise minors for commercial sex must be held accountable.
It is appalling that even as serious questions about Backpage.com's culpability are raised, law enforcement officers do not have all of the tools they need to prevent young children from being exploited on the site.
The language we have included in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act will prevent the continued victimization of children by providing law enforcement with a tool to prevent traffickers from using online tools to further their exploitation.
Specifically, the provision adds civil injunction authority to the criminal statute that prohibits the advertisement of commercial sex acts with a minor. This allows the Department of Justice to file civil enforcement cases to prevent traffickers from using the internet and other tech platforms to sell children for sex.
Civil injunction authority is not new. It exists for the Attorney General to obtain orders against criminal defendants to stop them from committing certain kinds of crimes. For example, such authority has been used by the Department to shut down websites from distributing software for spying on people.
Adding this authority to existing criminal trafficking provisions gives law enforcement a more readily accessible means to deny human traffickers access to platforms like Backpage.com and thereby restrict their ability to traffic children online.
I am similarly proud to have cosponsored the Abolish Human Trafficking Act, which was led by Senators Cornyn and Klobuchar. The bill includes critical provisions to aid victims in restoring their lives. It extends the Domestic Trafficking Victims' Fund, which helps fund victim services and increase law enforcement efforts. It also expands mandatory restitution provisions for sex tourism and other trafficking-related crimes.
The bill further strengthens law enforcement's ability to prevent and prosecute trafficking offenses For example, the Abolish Human Trafficking Act expands the authority of Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies to use wiretaps in sexual exploitation cases. It also enhances statutory maximum penalties for several human trafficking offenses and establishes a human trafficking coordinator at every U.S. Attorney's Office.
As the sex trafficking industry continues to evolve, so must our laws. We must ensure that we are doing all we can to curtail this criminal enterprise and do right by those who have been victimized. The bills we have passed last night aim to do just that. Again, I congratulate my colleagues on the passage of this important, comprehensive legislation. I hope that ending the scourge of human trafficking will continue to be a top priority for this body.
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