In the field. This is live coverage on cspan2. For being here. I also thank you, we have the administration here today, especially our ambassador at large, cindy dire, thank you for being here as well. You know, more than 20 years ago, Congress Approved and president signed historic legislation that i authored known as Trafficking Victims protection act of 2000. This bipartisan landmark law created a comprehensive whole of Government Initiative that combat sex and labor trafficking in the United States and around the world. It also established dozens and dozens of new programs to protect victims, prosecute traffickers and prevent Human Trafficking in the first place, the three ps. Looking at the progress made over the years, its hard to believe the Trafficking Victims protection act was met with a serious opposition, a wall of opposition, for those in such of a problem including the media, many exaggerating, that we were talking about the prevalence of this crime not only around the world, but right here in the United States. Most people at the Time Associated trafficking with drugs and weapons. Not human beings. Reports of vulnerable persons, especially women and children being reduced to commodities for sail are often met with surprise, incredulity or indifference. Top Administration Officials testified against major provisions including right here in this room, including sanctions and the need to create the trafficking and arguing that exposing them with poor records on Human Trafficking would be, quote, counterproductive. The point was just put some more enhanced reporting into the country, for the human rights practices and call it a day. They did, support, however, increasing the penalties for traffickers and that was a good thing so we had solidarity on that and liked the interagency coordination and they already had one and our law expanded it and statutory. And i think its, you know, there was talk, and we found this when we did the International Freedom act, that how we would be creating hierarchy of human rights rather than value added. All human rights abuses need to be confronted and fought and this is so egregious and pervasive we werent doing enough at the time and we would not be a tier one country back then, we would have been a tier three country and thankfully all of that has changed. As a matter of fact, when our bill was stalled and languishes, presumed dead and how many times i was told it wasnt going anywhere, especially in the senate. I invited victims of trafficking and they sat at hearings just like this and made their case, often through tears. They made clear that delay was denial and that we cant do this fast enough. We have to do it right, but it has to be done as quickly as possible. Took over two years to muster the votes for passage and the bill was finally signed into law in november 28th, the year 2000. Within a year after enactment, no one was arguing anymore that the protection act integrated prevention, protection for victims and prosecution of the traffickers was flawed or unworkable, unnecessary or counterproductive. Remember, the push back with administration was bipartisan, too. Ill never forget after the bill passed we went now to the Bush Administration and said please implement. One month went by, another month and another month went by and they werent doing it. I asked the head of the Foreign Affairs committee, asked if we could do a hearing demanding that they get this up and running. They said, he said okay. And we set a date and the administration got back to us in that case and said, give us a month. So we gave them a month and still didnt do much. They even said you could come over and cut the ribbon. I dont want to cut the ribbon, and i want this up and running. And so theres been bipartisan footdragging with administrations and needs to be underscored, its just not acceptable. The bill included, as i think all of you know, a number of sea change criminal codes treating as a victim of trafficking and not a perpetrator of a crime. Anybody who has recruited, harbored, for commercial for sex act or Labor Services we were just talking to ms. Vandenburg, right from the beginning there was that twin no diminution of how enforced labor is, or slave labor, if you will, both trafficking offenses need to be confronted and aggressively so and always made that point so eloquently. The Trafficking Victims act looked at the way they responded to Human Trafficking and we had an admonishment to states with justice to say, pass your own laws. We need more prosecutors, more eyes and ears to take this, and everything cant be done at the federal level at the u. S. Attorneys and we need and thankfully every state, including my own, has a tremendous statute in hand, and you know, as long as weve got good prosecutorial discretion, this is a difference and making a difference. And the human traffickers have been prosecuted and jailed. And Jeffrey Epstein was being prosecuted pursuant, and he never obviously got to the point where the trial took place, but the indicting process. And most countries have responded to the gross violation of human rights and antitrafficking legislation. There must be more to strengthen u. S. s responses to this time and 27 Million People the estimates vary are still being trafficked today. And the reauthorization in 2003, 2005, when we first did the bill we could not get by and for an ambassador at large. We got that in the 03 reauthorization and you know, that not only raises the statues, the stature of gravitas now. Ambassador dyer, but the previous leaders, not just in the building, but the state department and everywhere they go, the ambassador at large is very, very high position and we couldnt get that until 2003. We also put in in 2003 a language that said when supply chain this went to a labor trafficking issue, that the ceos, cfos have to sign and say clearly that they understand theyre complicit in trafficking and they lose the contract and hopefully criminally prosecuted as well and they lose the contract. Nothing is perfect, but its been a difference. In 2016 after eight years, three times passed in the house, International Meghans law became law. Why is that important . We know that child sex tourism is rampant and men go all over the world to bangkok, to south america, brazil, mexico, and they rent a child, which is disgusting beyond words and abuse at that child and we know its happening. And International Meghan law. And meghan, the little girl lived in my district in my hometown and i got to know meghans parents, she was killed in 1994 by a cruel pedophile who lived across the street. Nobody knew of his background and he lured her in and killed her horribly and had the audacity to hand out pamphlets, do you know where meghan is, hes the one that killed her, hes in prison today. And in our states, district of columbia, port puerto rico. The pedophiles when theyre out they get passports and travel with impunity and secrecy. Passed three times in the house, couldnt get any movement in the senate and finally did. And angel watch is doing a tremendous job noticing countries of destination of that pedophile who is travelling, or pedophiles, often travel in groups. And notifications and have has led to the country saying, youre not coming in and you know where the idea came from . I was meeting like ambassador dyer does with all the delegations when they come in, you know, talk about what theyre doing to try to combat Human Trafficking, and so i met with the thai delegation and i said, it pops in my head. If you knew the convicted pedophile was coming to bangkok or some other places, what would you do . We wouldnt let them in. And started drafting the bill and eight years later its made a difference. Karen bass and i wrote the prevention and protection act and worked with the greatgreatgreat grandson of Frederick Douglas, and put a big emphasis on prevention pieces making sure our children are situationally aware, k through 12. What it looks like, what to be on the guard for, if you see a friend enticed with drugs or something, that you immediately get to that principal, to your teacher, and to train them as well. To the hhs and others have very good curriculum how to. And i would hope that anyone hearing this hearing in a school would look to say, lets have an antiHuman Trafficking couple of days and really bring in someone who is a survivor who can sensetize these young people and the u. S. Faces a crisis at the southern border that resulted in countless victims, especially women and children being exploited and traffickers take advantage of the chaos with the expiration of title 42 las night, its now more important than ever, examine what can and must be done to stop this crime and rescue these victims. I talked to one president of guatemala, he suggested to me, about 80 of these young women making their way up to the border into the United States are sexually assaulted somewhere along the line. And we dont know how many then, particularly the unaccompanied minors, the New York Times put that number at about 85,000, we dont know where they are. And that they are just easy prey for these predators. So weve got to do so much more. Let me just say briefly and conclude on this, in 2015 i chaired a congressional hearing to demand accuracy in designating tier rankings with the tip report. And reuters broke the story and then reuters interviewed a number of people who made strong recommendationses china, cuba, asia, and others be tier three. Went up to the state department for other reasons disconnected from trafficking, all of a sudden got passing grades and i did three hearings in the space of two years, one of them is called get it right. And it was trafficking and persons report and you know, the point is that the credibility of the report itself is, you know, thats one of the mainstays of the t t. P. A. And all of the efforts and the other programs are important as well and it rests on accuracy. So the report gets it accurate, but then in countries, look it, i remember even thailand being upset and malaysia with as getting a passing grade. Even on enforced labor, they had horrible things happening and even the European Union gave them a red card as they called it, it so, so bad. No fudging, no favors. And nations in other agendas. Friend dont let friends on human rights abuses. I believe that really demoralizes the victims and antiHuman Trafficking advocates as well as countries trying to improve their records. In the coming days i plan on reintroducing the Frederick Douglass prevention act significantly informed by survivor input and includes a survivor empowerment approach to victim services. The bill was strengthened antiTrafficking Programs including ramping up prevention and trafficking of children and i look forward to working with my colleagues on that and again, thank you for being here and id like to yield to my good friend and colleague, ms. Wild, for any opening comments. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you all for being here, i appreciate your willingness, mr. Chair, to call this really important hearing today. Let me begin by addressing extraordinary witnesses who are here today. Thank you all for your steadfast dedication for taking on the horrific scourge of Human Trafficking and several of the witnesses here are themselves survivors of trafficking. By dedicating your lives to ensuring that others do not experience the inhumanity that you did, you exemplify the forces solidarity for the human spirit at its best and most courageous. As members of this committee and subcommittee, democrats and republicans alike, were very united on this issue and while weve made substantial progress. Much of it outlined by the chairman in his remarks, all of us know that an enormous amount of work remains to be done. Every aspect of this crisis demands every more interconnected efforts in lock step with governments across the International Community and through International Organizations which is also part of this subcommittees work. We are the subcommittee on global health. Human rights and International Organization, so this is a topic thats squarely in front of our subcommittee. But the trafficking of children, sex trafficking, men, women, children, denied their most basic human rights and forced into systems of modern slavery, which almost seems like an oxymoron to me, but thats what were here to address and we must continue to address and its all too easy for so many of us to forget that this exists throughout the world and for many, its something that if we are we think about it, its too easy to compartmentalize its a difficult subject to think about. Thats what were here today. Were called upon to do it. Im honored to be part of this subcommittee and work on this issue with the chairman and other members of the subcommittee. Our objective is clear, we have to build a future of dignity for all. A future where no human being is ever confronted with these practices, which are an affront to our common humanity. And this transcends not only party lines, but religious boundaries, philosophical boundaries, cultural differences, whatever, this is an issue thats unacceptable to know persons who consider themselves to be a moral and humane being. And so weve got to work on this. I really look forward to hearing the powerful testimony of all of you and look forward to working with each of you with chairman smith and our colleagues to bring about the process for those urgently need. I truly hope that in a matter of years there wont be a need for this kind of hearing. And im going to try to be my eternally optimistic self and believe that we will actually get something done on this. Thank you very much. Thank you so very much, Ranking Member wild for your excellent opening statement. Id like to ask thank you, mr. Chairman and Ranking Member. Okay. Thank you. Id like to now yield. Theres different kinds of courage, been around a lot of marines, a lot of guys, a lot of sailors and Army Soldiers and they have a certain kind, unveils the courage of those people who come out of something so horrible and actually appear before a very Public Committee and become vulnerable to save others. I applaud you, i thank you from the bottom of my heart. The youth minister for 20 years, you see some great things and you see some horrible things, and i really cannot say how bought into im to solving this to the best of our ability. It is a bipartisan issue. Its something that all americans should be bought into. Hopefully we try to stay away from the politics of it and just the human nature, embrace the human nature aspect of this because its something purely evil. We could call agree theres nothing other than to defeat this is our only point so thank you, thank you very much for being here, thank you for participating, thank you for being brave, courageous. Standing up not only for yourself, but everybody else going into these for now and in the future. This might will never be done. It will never be done and making it better and we have a long road ahead of us. Weve seen in georgia, some of the worst places for child trafficking. Weve made some good strides, i think. The governor has addressed in big ways and i think it has huge support of aspect from the political spectrum as well as the private industry. Frankly, the government is not going to solve this by itself. And they dont understand what a massive problem this is. This is a heart problem. This is a spiritual problem. Its a humanity problem. And people have turned away from whats good and embraced whats evil to a large extent. So we have to be equally courageous on what is good and courageous and spiritual to defeat this. So, i continue to pray on this and i continue to work on this and after this hearing, dont think that theres ever a day that will go by where you cant reach out to any of us and continue this fight aside from a hearing because this is just the beginning. Thank you. Its now my honor to introduce our first panel and i will begin with ms. Bella, had a subject Matter Expert on Human Trafficking with lived experience. Appointed member of the council on Human Trafficking. Bella currently works in Program Management for the administration of children and families, and refugee resettlement, and migration and Mental Health. She has worked with unaccompanied children from central and south america, as well as unaccompanied refugees, minors in foster care operations for over seven years. Prior to orr, an asylum officer for Immigration Services under the department of Homeland Security and monitoring at u. S. Catholic bishops. Social work, and again, i thank you for your help as we were writing the tvpra, the Frederick Douglas act last time and accepting us again in crafting that bill for this year. A subject Matter Expert as well on Human Trafficking and she, too, is an amazing survivor. From the survivor led nonprofit, we rise new jersey which provides resources and Emergency Assistance to survivors and serves as a board m