Obama Nominates Lou de Baca as Trafficking Office Head

by Amanda Kloer · 2009-03-26 09:02:00 UTC
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This week President Obama nominated long-time, tenacious human trafficking prosecutor Lou de Baca to lead the State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, a position sometimes called "America's Anti-Slavery Czar".  The Ambassador-at-Large position is arguably the most powerful anti-trafficking post in the country.  Peronally, I've been rooting so hard for de Baca I even have him beating UConn in the Final Four.

Abolitionst author Ben Skinner wrote a great story about the nomination in the Huffington Post yesterday, from which my favorite quote is:

Saying that de Baca has a vigorous attitude about slave traders is like saying Killer Whales have an affinity for seals.

As Skinner also points out, de Baca's background is heavily focused on labor trafficking.  My hope is that his background will lead the TIP Office into developing new programs to address all forms of modern day slavery.  And as much as I disagree with a number of the Bush policies, I hope de Baca will look for ways to build off of the work that has been done during the past eight years while expnading it.

As someone who's been gossiping about and floating names for this gig for months now, I am thrilled that President Obama chose de Baca, demonstrating a strong commitment to making that office serious about fighting trafficking.  He is an amazing prosecutor, a dedicated anti-trafficking professional, and just a plain old good human being.  On a personal note, I first met de Baca when I was a doe-eyed 22-year-old organizing my first major anti-trafficking conference, and he suprised and impressed me with his polite, down-to-earth attitude and genuine love of his work.  I've been a fan since.

Good luck to you in the confirmation process, Mr. de Baca.  I hope that the next time I see you I get to call you "Ambassador de Baca".

Amanda Kloer is a Change.org Editor and has been a full-time abolitionist in several capacities for seven years. Follow her on Twitter @endhumantraffic
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