Summer Lee

When an incident occurs that prompts a response from multiple law enforcement agencies, our communications systems are only as good as their weakest link.

Wake up, America. Clarion call. Whether it is domestic or international--and I do not think we should distinguish.

I think this has been one of the most powerful hearings that any of us as Members of Congress have had the privilege in serving the people of the United States of America to be a part of.

The hearts of Members were exposed today.

We need funding for emergency places for our children that have nowhere else to go.

A warm bed and a meal ain't enough. They got to have trauma therapy.

If love could pour from the table, it would be going to all of you here at this table.

My commitment to you that we may make--this may be the epicenter of human trafficking, but it is going to be the paradise of refuge for children.

These children need to be in a place that is not pushing them or influencing them in any direction.

We need emergency shelters for these runaways where they can not get necessarily put in the juvenile justice system or CPS.

There are no throwaway people. Not in America there is not supposed to be.

I think that comprehensive immigration reform, sensible immigration reform, whatever it may be, is imperative.

I think we can also find collaborative effort on the U visa problem where it gets taken away the minute someone says no, and they might be a child and might not comprehend.

I am not sure if I am between outrage and optimism, outrage because of the horridness of human trafficking.

What can the Feds do to help?

Thank you very much, Chairman McCaul. Certainly I want to thank the Ranking Member, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee for this important panel and this important topic and allowing me the opportunity to represent the Houston Police…

As a large city strategically located near the border, a major port and a critical transportation corridor, Houston is an attractive target for human trafficking organizations.

It is obvious that criminal organizations are trafficking or smuggling large groups of people through our community, putting their victims' welfare at risk.

I am very pleased that he agreed to my request and that we could come together on a bipartisan basis today to convene the hearing.

I am proud to co-sponsor Congressman Ted Poe's End Sex Slavery Act and his Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act.

I could not imagine being silent on this issue and particularly knowing the front lines that Texas and Texas law enforcement and social and civic leaders are involved in this issue.

It is almost like slavery.

So you see that they are interrelated. It is a conglomerate that generates and feeds on each other and it helps promote human trafficking if someone is dealing drugs or weapons, et cetera.

Again, I would like to as well acknowledge this hearing as a very important hearing.

I want to find a solution.