Peters Bipartisan Bill to Fight Human Trafficking Signed Into Law
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Bipartisan legislation authored by U.S. Senator Gary Peters (MI), Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, to enhance our nation’s ability to combat human trafficking has been signed into law. The new law will make permanent and strengthen the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Center for Countering Human Trafficking (CCHT).
“Human trafficking continues to leave deep traumatic scars on victims and families in Michigan and across the country,” said Senator Peters. “This new law will help enhance our ability to stop these crimes by ensuring the Center for Countering Human Trafficking has what it needs to disrupt human trafficking organizations and protect victims of these horrific crimes.”
Millions of men, women, and children are trafficked worldwide – including thousands in the United States. According to DHS, traffickers might use violence, manipulation, false promises of jobs that pay well, or romantic relationships to lure victims into trafficking situations. Based on calls to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, the Polaris Project found that in 2020 there were at least 16,658 human trafficking victims and survivors in the United States. However, the actual number of these crimes is likely much larger because these crimes often go unreported. In addition, the Michigan Human Trafficking Commission says that an extremely high number of human trafficking cases involve the sexual exploitation of a child. Eradicating these heinous crimes will require stronger anti-trafficking policies and ensuring that law enforcement professionals and the public are able to recognize indicators of human trafficking.
The Countering Human Trafficking Act makes permanent the CCHT, which oversees DHS’s efforts to combat human trafficking and the importation of products that are made with forced labor. The Center also ensures the Department is leveraging and coordinating its capabilities and resources to fight back against traffickers. The law allows the CCHT to build out their permanent staff with Special Agents, criminal analysts, and others. It also allows the Center to modernize their systems and operations to support worldwide investigations on human trafficking and forced labor in supply chains, and bolster efforts to protect human trafficking victims. Finally, the law expands and improves national public awareness and law enforcement training initiatives to boost efforts to counter trafficking.
Peters’ legislation to increase coordination between Department of Homeland Security components and the Blue Campaign, a national public awareness effort designed to educate law enforcement and the public to recognize human trafficking, was signed into law as a part of last year’s National Defense Authorization Act.
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