Bill seeks human trafficking prevention efforts expansion

U.S. Reps. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Darrell Issa (R-CA), Karen Bass (D-CA), and Nancy Mace (R-SC) recently introduced legislation that seeks to expand human trafficking prevention efforts.

The Human Trafficking Prevention Act requires posting National Human Trafficking Hotline contact information in restrooms of all domestic airplanes, airports, trains, train stations, busses, and bus stations, providing any victim or anyone who notices a potential victim of human trafficking information with the needed help resource.

“A phone call can save a life and stop an individual from being trafficked at their most vulnerable moment,” Jeffries said. “But, to make that call, you need to know who to call. The National Human Trafficking Hotline does lifesaving work to stop human trafficking and provide support to victims, and we must spread their information as far and wide as possible.”

Human trafficking denies freedom to 24.9 million people globally and is a multi-billion-dollar criminal industry. Two years ago, 10,583 situations of human trafficking were reported to the National Human Trafficking Hotline involving 16,658 individual victims.

Human traffickers often use transportation systems to perpetrate their crimes.

“Human trafficking is a crisis in every corner of our country, and the victims of this scourge need our support and deserve our commitment to fight back every way we can,” Issa said. “The Human Trafficking Prevention Act of 2022 is a step in the right direction, which I hope is only the beginning of a new and lasting commitment to comprehensive enforcement and education measures from a unified Congress.”

The National Human Trafficking Hotline is toll-free, connecting victims and survivors of trafficking to support and resources via English, Spanish, or over 200 additional languages through an on-call interpreter.