Political Quotes

“Then let me offer this point of importance. The victims are not here on this floor, but we must carry their story to this floor, to ensure that we do not see another victim. So I will offer these words from Courtney. Courtney has made it her mission to tell her story and speak out to spread awareness of human trafficking and help shape policy to protect other young people from falling victim to the schemes of human traffickers and to hold traffickers accountable. She became entangled in sex trafficking while still in school. Despite what some believe about victims of human trafficking, she grew up in a loving, church-going family, in a safe neighborhood, and attended an upscale suburban high school in Texas. At the age of 17, she was under the control of her first trafficker. She was being advertised for illicit sex on websites like Backpage. A trafficker with ties to her high school used fellow students to prey upon her and use her vulnerabilities to their advantage, offering her friendship and support when she felt she had none, meanwhile drawing her gradually and deeper into the life. She was actually groomed by two different organized crime networks simultaneously, and each groomer chatted with her through social media and messaging. One network even invested in grooming Courtney for almost an entire year. Her first trafficker picked her up from school.…”