Peters Cosponsors Legislation to Support Services for Victims of Human Trafficking

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Gary Peters (MI) today announced he has cosponsored bipartisan legislation that would extend and improve existing programs for victims of human trafficking. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act takes a variety of steps to reauthorize and expand programs devoted to combatting human trafficking including improving treatment options for victims, providing better training to help identify victims, and streamlining agency collaboration.

“Human trafficking is one of the fastest growing criminal enterprises in the world, and too often, traffickers target and take advantage of our most vulnerable populations,” said Senator Peters. “It is vital that law enforcement, health care providers and other service providers have the resources and support needed to identify the signs of human trafficking and help end this form of modern slavery.”

A 2017 National Human Trafficking Hotline report found that trafficking is a serious and growing problem in the United States. The report highlighted the continued increase of cases of reported human trafficking, estimating a 47 percent increase across the nation over the last year, with over 200 reported cases in Michigan.

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act would both extend grant programs last authorized in 2013, and modernize existing practices to better address human trafficking. Among other actions, the legislation:

• Clarifies that existing grants for hiring school resource officers also can be used to train these officers to better identify and respond to signs of human trafficking;

• Reauthorizes through 2023 a Violence Against Women Act grant program for training school personnel to recognize and respond to signs of child sex trafficking;

• Authorizing the U.S. Secret Service to assist other law enforcement agencies in investigating human trafficking offenses;

• Requires the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to compile and disseminate information to program grantees about reliable, effective tools for trafficking victims’ screening and identification;

• Requires FBI to coordinate with federal departments and agencies that must report crime-related data to the FBI, to improve reporting of human trafficking data;

• Requires an annual report to Congress on Department of Homeland Security (DHS) human trafficking investigations; and

• Requires DOJ, DHS, and the Department of Labor (DOL) to upgrade their human trafficking training programs every two years and provide advanced training for investigators.

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act has the support of groups across the country, including the National Children’s Alliance, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking (ATEST), Rights4Girls, Shared Hope International, Polaris, Freedom Network, ECPAT International, Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking, Fraternal Order of Police, National Association of Police Organizations, National District Attorneys Association and National Criminal Justice Association.

Peters, a member of the Senate Caucus to End Human Trafficking, strongly supports efforts to prevent human trafficking in Michigan and around the world. In 2015, President Obama signed into law bipartisan legislation Peters introduced to help train medical professionals to recognize the signs of human trafficking in victims seeking medical care.