Senate Passes Grassley-Feinstein Bill to Combat Human Trafficking

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate this week unanimously passed a bipartisan bill to aid in the fight against human trafficking. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2017, authored by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa and cosponsored by Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein of California, would renew existing programs that make federal resources available to human trafficking survivors and establish new prevention, prosecution and collaboration initiatives to help bring the perpetrators to justice. The bill was unanimously passed in the House of Representatives earlier this year and now must be signed by President Trump before becoming law.

“We need a united approach to taking down human traffickers and bringing victims the justice they deserve. This bill takes meaningful steps to shed light on this terrible abuse of human rights by improving awareness and streamlining federal law enforcement’s response. I’m grateful for the Senate’s sweeping support of this bill to assist victims, and look forward to House action so we can get it to the President’s desk and on the books,” Grassley said.

“Sex trafficking is one of the most reprehensible crimes, and the Trafficking Victims Protection Act builds on our bipartisan efforts to combat trafficking and help victims. The key to reducing demand is addressing the exploitation of young girls on the Internet. The bill provides the Justice Department with civil injunction authority to get court orders forcing traffickers to remove their ads for underage girls,” Feinstein said.

Education and public information is a critical first line of defense against human trafficking. This bill promotes the screening of human trafficking victims by ensuring that school resource officers and other school personnel receive training on how to identify and respond to victims. It also calls for advanced training of federal investigators who pursue human traffickers.

The legislation also allows prosecutors to enjoin conduct that violates human trafficking statutes, and allows the U.S. Secret Service to offer investigative and forensic assistance to other law enforcement agencies to combat human trafficking.

The legislation improves coordination among federal agencies through consolidation of federal agency data reporting at the FBI and by requiring the Homeland Security Department to submit annual assessments of the human trafficking investigations.

Along with Grassley and Feinstein, the bill is cosponsored by John Cornyn of Texas Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Bob Corker of Tennessee, Marco Rubio of Florida, Orrin Hatch of Utah, Mike Crapo of Idaho, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Christopher Coons of Delaware, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Todd Young of Indiana, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, John Kennedy of Louisiana, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Gary Peters of Michigan, Ted Cruz of Texas, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Roger Wicker of Mississippi, Susan Collins of Maine and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.

A fact sheet on the legislation can be found here.

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