Louise Slaughter: “As he mentioned, on June 1994, I first introduced legislation addressing the growing problem of Burmese women and…”

“As he mentioned, on June 1994, I first introduced legislation addressing the growing problem of Burmese women and children who were being sold to work in a thriving sex industry in Thailand. It is an awful tragedy. These were sometimes young girls as young as 5 years. This legislation responded to credible reports that indicated that thousands of Burmese women and girls were being trafficked into Thailand with false promises of good-paying jobs in restaurants or factories, and then being forced into brothels under slavery-like conditions. Unfortunately, as I learned more and more about the issue, it became abundantly clear that the issue was not limited to one region of the world. In fact, in the wake of the discovery of a prostitution ring of trafficked women in Florida and the Carolinas, as well as a group of Thai garment workers held captive in California, I soon realized this was an issue that must also be dealt with in our own backyard. Six years later, I am pleased to be standing here today to support this important legislation. H.R. 3244 sets forth policies not only to monitor but to eliminate trafficking here in the United States and abroad. More importantly, it does so in a way that punishes the true perpetrators, the traffickers themselves, while at the same time taking the necessary steps to protect the victims of this awful crime.”