Joaquin Castro: “I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I yield myself such time as I…”

“I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, in 2002, I formed the Internet Crimes Against Children unit in the attorney general's office in the State of Texas to stop internet trafficking and stop the exploitation of children online. Since that day, we have put thousands behind bars. This is a worldwide scourge. It happens on an international level. But what is, again, most disturbing, is it is happening now in our backyards. It is happening in suburbia America. A case like Courtney's is so compelling because you never thought it would be possible in a town like Katy, Texas, but it happens, and it is happening all over this Nation. The numbers from the FBI are revealing and it is an industry. It is a sick industry that is run by businessmen; that is run by lawyers, an industry that exploits our children. I have talked to many veterans with PTSD, but I can't imagine the post-traumatic stress of a victim of human trafficking who has been violated over and over and over again, offending the deepest ounce of human dignity where there is no dignity left, where they had to put their mind in such a place--almost like Stockholm syndrome--where they can survive the horrors that they are living in day in and day out. Madam Speaker, this has to stop.…”