Erik Paulsen: “I want to thank the chairman for his leadership, along with Ranking Member Doggett. More than 100,000 children are at…”

“I want to thank the chairman for his leadership, along with Ranking Member Doggett. More than 100,000 children are at risk of being trafficked for commercial sex in America. That is just according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, so it is probably a pretty conservative number. Those most at risk of victimization are the vulnerable, including children in our foster care system. These are young girls age 12, 13, 14, 15. These youth who have been involved in the foster care system are more likely to become runaways or become homeless at a very early age. In fact, a vast large majority, large percentage of sexual trafficking victims are runaways. Law enforcement has said that. In fact, 60 percent of those runaways being trafficked were in the foster care system at some point. Madam Speaker, in order to help prevent these youth from becoming victims--and that is what they are, victims, victims of sex trafficking--we need better information also as to what is happening, where, and to whom. We need to identify the trends and fill in the gaps. There are provisions in this legislation that address those shortfalls. This bill is crucial for addressing the lack of reliable data and reporting to law enforcement as it relates to runaway youth from the child welfare system. The bottom line is we need to help these victims before they become trafficked.…”