Political Quotes

“I rise to introduce a resolution in observance of National Trafficking and Modern Slavery Prevention Month, to bring awareness to the terrible scourge of modern slavery and human trafficking around the world. In 2016 alone, the National Human Trafficking Hotline received 26,727 calls to report incidents of human trafficking in the United States. From those calls, 7,793 victims were identified. These individuals were trafficked across various sectors, economies, and geographical regions under conditions of force, fraud, or coercion. The United States must not turn a blind eye to this scourge. The State Department estimates that 14,500 to 17,500 people are trafficked into the U.S. each year. Amongst federally identified trafficking victims in 2016, the top three countries of origin include the United States. Importantly, more than a quarter of the trafficking cases identified by the National Human Trafficking Hotline involved U.S. citizen victims. According to a recent study by Polaris, modern slavery and trafficking operates throughout a range of U.S. industries including our factories, our agricultural centers, as well as our hospitality and domestic work businesses. We must all, as Americans, raise our awareness of this pernicious crime that often goes unnoticed and undetected in our communities.…”