Sheila Jackson Lee: “The manager, Mr. Sensenbrenner, is right. These are certainly both cases and legislation that, one, we are appalled at…”

“The manager, Mr. Sensenbrenner, is right. These are certainly both cases and legislation that, one, we are appalled at with the case studies that we have seen and with the legislation that we seek in a bipartisan manner to solve that exploitation. I rise in support of H.R. 159, the Stop Exploitation Through Trafficking Act of 2015. The Stop Exploitation Through Trafficking Act is another weapon in the war against sex trafficking in our country. Madam Speaker, we are truly at war. As we stand here today, some child is being sex-trafficked--some runaway who is away from her family, not able to be found, not finding a place of refuge--falling into the deadly hands, if you will, of someone who will take advantage of her almost for the rest of her life. In Houston, I met women who had engaged in or who had been subjected to that in the early part of their lives, and they will tell you how it follows them for a long, long time, so they subject themselves to drugs and alcohol to eliminate the pain. This bill contains important victim-based initiatives to help combat sex trafficking. One of those initiatives, the national safe harbor law, is essential to making sure that victims of sex trafficking are not criminalized but, instead, are diverted to Child Protective Services. Only 12 States have safe harbor laws for minor victims of sex trafficking. That is far too few. Obviously, we need all 50 States to have this safe harbor.…”