Ted Poe: “Recently the Harris County, Texas, Precinct 4 Constable's Office received a phone call from Alaska. The Anchorage Police…”

“Recently the Harris County, Texas, Precinct 4 Constable's Office received a phone call from Alaska. The Anchorage Police Department was looking for a missing teenage girl. They knew that she had met some bad people on social media and believed she was in Houston. They were correct. Human sex traffickers targeted her on social media because slave traders are on the prowl for young, impressionable girls at the mall and online. They act like a friend or a boyfriend until they trap the victim. Then they enslave and force these young girls to sell their bodies over and over again. Mr. Speaker, our kids are sold at the marketplace of sex slavery. Why was this teenager trafficked from Alaska to Texas? Because of demand. People, sex deviants are willing to buy and force other humans into bondage. We cannot end human trafficking without ending demand. As we recognize Human Trafficking Awareness Month, Americans must fight for our kids and combat this modern-day slavery. That includes sending the sellers and the buyers of kidnapped young girls to prison and rescuing the victims. And that is just the way it is. ____________________”