Political Quotes

“I am pleased to join today with my partner, Senator Cornyn, to reintroduce the Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Deterrence and Victims Support Act. This bi-partisan legislation, which was approved unanimously by the Senate in the 111th Congress, just a few months ago, as S.2925, is the first comprehensive approach to combating the terrible and fast-growing criminal enterprise of trafficking of children for sex right here in the U.S. Many people don't have any idea how many children in the U.S. are forced into sexual slavery. It is truly a moral abomination that an estimated 100,000 minors are trafficked for sex in the U.S. each year. The reason that this crime has reached epidemic proportions is simple: the resources are not in place to help innocent victims escape from trafficking, nor to punish the violent, ruthless pimps who are trafficking them. In talking to law enforcement officials in Oregon, I learned that gang members, pimps, and traffickers have figured out that trafficking a person is a lot less risky, and just as profitable, as trafficking drugs. A pimp can make $200,000 a year on one trafficking victim. And they know they can exploit vulnerable minors and not get caught because law enforcement lacks the training and resources to stop this crime. The Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Deterrence and Victims Support Act aims to turn that around. This bill would, for the first time, provide a comprehensive solution for addressing this problem.…”