On the recordMarch 10, 2015
the issues raised in this are serious matters, and the Senator from Iowa, Senator Klobuchar, Senator Cornyn, and others should be concerned about this. I think of a victim I have talked with, Holly Austin Smith. She was 14 years old when she ran away from home and quickly became a victim of human trafficking. She met a man in a shopping mall who told her she was pretty, and promised he would give her a glamorous life in California. Remember, she was 14 years old. Then he sold her for sex. The first man she was sold to commented that she reminded him of his own granddaughter--but then he paid $200 to rape her. Thankfully, Holly escaped and has rebuilt her life. She is now a fierce advocate of ending all forms of human trafficking because she knows what happens to those who are trafficked. But many are not so lucky. The physical and psychological scars of being bought and sold, of being raped multiple times a night by different men, are devastating. This terrible crime destroys lives. As we consider legislation to combat human trafficking, we must remember Holly and the thousands of other vulnerable and victimized children she represents, and we must do everything we can to keep it from happening in the first place. Last Congress, in 2013, I led the effort to reauthorize the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.…
