Political Quotes

“I rise today to speak on an amendment that I was pleased to include in the human trafficking legislation that was passed earlier today. The amendment was based on the Human Trafficking Survivors Relief and Empowerment Act, which I introduced several weeks ago. It has a simple purpose. It provides an incentive for States to enact laws that allow human trafficking survivors to clear their criminal records of prostitution and other low-level, nonviolent crimes that they can reasonably demonstrate were the result of being trafficked. Many States, including my home State of New Hampshire, have vacatur laws in place. However, we need to ensure that survivors of human trafficking have access to these types of protections no matter where they are rescued, or what State they were forced to commit crimes in. When I first introduced this legislation, I shared the story of a young woman named Katie featured in a recent NPR story on vacatur laws. In the story, she spoke about her heartbreaking experience as a trafficking victim. Katie talked about being raped at age 11, and at age 13 being forced into commercial sex. She talked about having her skull cracked and ribs broken, and about the regular beatings that resulted in bruises and black eyes. She talked about 7 years of the worst kinds of physical and emotional torture, and being transported nearly 1,400 miles from her home.…”