Political Quotes

“Too often when we think about human trafficking as a tragedy, we think about it as something that goes on in someone else's country, in some other place other than our home. Most people are surprised to find out that thousands of men, women, and children right here in the United States are enslaved by human trafficking every year. In my home State of Hawaii, an estimated 1,500 to 2,500 victims are impacted each year with girls as young as 10 and 11 years old recruited and kidnapped from malls, beaches, and schools. So as we work to confront and stop perpetrators of human trafficking, we also need to change the way that we treat survivors of this heinous crime. Because even after the horrors that these individuals go through of rape, physical abuse, kidnapping, and so much more, these survivors are too often charged as criminals themselves, thrown in jail, and shackled with a criminal record that follows them wherever they go. We need to end this cycle of criminalization and give survivors an opportunity to heal and move on with their lives by passing the Trafficking Survivors Relief Act. Madam Speaker, as Human Trafficking Awareness Month comes to a close, I urge my colleagues to join me, to pass this important legislation and empower change for those who need it the most ____________________”