Anti-Human Trafficking Bills Announced with Bi-Partisan Support

Two U-S senators, including Minnesota’s Amy Klobuchar, are working across the aisle to combat human trafficking.

Senator Klobuchar, a democrat, has co-sponsored three bills with Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn, a republican.

They held a virtual press conference today to announce their newest bill called “The Combating Trafficking and Transportation Act.”

This act aims to provide federal funding toward a public awareness campaign with a mission to help victims of sex trafficking.

“This bill, the Combating Trafficking and Transportation Act, helps states get funding to put up signs on the highway rest stops to inform people about the risks and signs of human trafficking and about the resources available to victims. These kinds of public information campaigns, I think people have seen them in airports and the like. But we know that not everyone’s traffic through airports” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, U.S. Senator (D) Minnesota.

The two Senators also announced similar bills in January.

The first bill is the “National Human Trafficking Database Act.”

It’s aimed at establishing a nationwide informational trafficking database with the Department of Justice.

The second bill is the ‘SAVE Girls Act’ giving state, local, and nonprofits resources to help put an end to the trafficking of young women and girls.

St. Louis County Sheriff Gordan Ramsay talked to us about the overall problem of human trafficking.

He says victims often come from vulnerable populations including people with addiction, mental health, abuse, and homelessness.

65-percent of runaway girls end up affected by human trafficking.

Sheriff Ramsay says investigating human trafficking is labor intensive because trafficking rings often span multiple cities and cross state boundaries.

“It’s not like it’s just one person that’s being trafficked. Usually, it’s more of a scheme or a team, and in many cases, they travel across the country, often trafficked via internet websites, and are moved out of the area for obvious reasons. It takes federal, state and local resources to do it. It’s not a one person, one investigator, type of crime.” said St. Louis County Sheriff Gordon Ramsay, “One of the big things people should remember is that a lot of our information, how we solve crime, how we solve human trafficking is based on information from citizens. So, if something doesn’t seem right and they suspect someone’s being trafficked, we would rather take a call and find out that it’s not the case than miss an opportunity to help someone.”

If the three bills eventually pass, they would increase funding, resources, and public awareness about human trafficking.

If you suspect someone is being trafficked the National Human Trafficking Hotline is available 24/7 at 888-373-7888