Help Pass Critical Bill to Combat Child Sex Trafficking in America

This week the Senate Judiciary Committee passed legislation that would fund new services for children trafficked for sex in America and crack down on the pimps who profit from selling them. The bill will make six block grants available to innovative new programs for American children who have been victimized in the commercial sex industry. And you can help make sure this critical legislation becomes law.

The Trafficking Deterrence and Victims Support Act (TDVSA), which was introduced by U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) aims to address the significant issue of American children being trafficked for sex in the U.S. While existing legislation has provided tools and resources for children trafficked into the U.S. from other countries, American kids have traditionally been overlooked. The TDVSA would help fill that gap by providing much needed resources for victim services and law enforcement investigations in the form of block grants.

Specifically, each block grant would be funded at $ 2 - 2.5 million per year for up to three years. The grants would include money for a shelter for trafficking victims; clothing and other basic needs to keep victims from returning to the street; counseling and legal services; and education or job training classes. On the deterrence and prosecution side, the cash would cover specialized training for law enforcement and social service providers; police officer salaries; prosecutor salaries and trial expenses; investigation expenses, like wire taps or travel; and outreach, education, and prevention efforts, including programs to deter offenders. If the bill passes, the six locations for these grants will be chosen based on who has a significant child sex trafficking problem and has developed a system of cooperation and plan to address that problem.

Trafficked children need intensive resources from education and skill-building to therapy and medical care to help them rebuild their lives after surviving slavery. And pimps and traffickers need to learn that if they sell children for sex, they will be caught and they will suffer the consequences. The TDVSA is poised to help victims, punish traffickers, and deter men from buying sex with young girls. And you're poised to make this proposed legislation the law.

Photo credit: Pink Sherbert Photography