Sex Trafficking Law Expands Federal Authority
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
By Fred Lucas, Staff Writer
President George W. Bush, center, is applauded by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, left, and Attorney General Michael Mukasey, right, and lawmakers after he signed H.R. 7311, the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2008. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
White House (CNSNews.com) – A bill to crack down on sex traffickers in the United States and abroad, and also provide more help to victims was signed into law by President George W. Bush on Tuesday.
About 17,500 people are trafficked into the United States each year, according to the State Department Trafficking in Persons Office. Worldwide it is 800,000 trafficked across international borders, half of whom are minors and 80 percent of whom are women. The Department of Justice says it prosecuted 156 trafficking cases, secured 342 convictions and rescued more than 1,400 victims from 2001 to 2007.
Though the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 passed both chambers of Congress with no debate, the president signed the bill over the objections of his own Justice Department.
The legislation brought together a collection of evangelical Christians, social conservatives, feminist groups and human rights organizations.
“It shows a broad coalition all the way from the left to the right and in between when it comes to significant human rights issues,” Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, told CNSNews.com. “There are arguably more slaves in the world today than at any time in the last 300 years — and most of them are being trafficked for sexual purposes.”
The new law is named for William Wilberforce, an evangelical Christian who led the effort in Britian’s parliament to end the slave trade in Britain in the 19th Century. The bill reauthorizes funds from the initial 2000 act, but also beefs up enforcement and penalties and gives federal law enforcement broader authority to prosecute crimes.
“It will alleviate a great deal of human suffering and will have a tremendous impact in terms of providing very effective tools for government prosecutors to prosecute those who traffic in human flesh,” said Land, who attended the bill signing. “This is bad news for a lot of really bad people.”
The law expands the purview of the Department of Justice into sex crimes that had previously been prosecuted at the state or local level. It also sets new policies for how the State Department addresses the matter. It also puts in guidelines for state and local law enforcement to prosecute trafficking cases.
“This has been a priority issue for the administration in preventing the trafficking of persons around the world,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto said. “So this is a piece of legislation we’re very proud to sign and to see that it’s authorizing funding for fiscal years 2008 through 2011. And this program has been very effective around the world in trying to stop trafficking in persons in Africa and Asia.”
The bill includes provisions to impose 10-to-20 year sentences on “brothel landlords” who use minors as victims of human trafficking, and harsher sentences for those convicted of “alien harboring” for the purpose of prostitution. It also limits U.S. funding to countries that use “child soldiers.” Further, it affirms that nothing in the existing trafficking law should be interpreted to say prostitution is “a valid form of employment.”
The law makes federal crimes out of obstructing the investigation of human trafficking, conspiring to traffic humans, and receiving financial benefit from trafficking. Further, funds seized from traffickers will not go to the federal treasury, but to help the victims.
“It gives government more authority to go after the pimps and the johns, not just the women,” Land said. “That will have a significant effect. Johns were seldom prosecuted at all. Now we’re looking at federal beef. That’s going to have a chilling effect.”
The bill passed in the House overwhelmingly on Dec. 12 and by unanimous consent in the Senate on the same day. The criticism came primarily from within the Bush administration, as the Department of Justice questioned how “workable” the law would be.
Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), co-chair of the House Human Trafficking Caucus, said in a statement, “The House and Senate have again shown our commitment to ending this form of modern-day slavery by passing this important legislation.”
The final legislation closely resembles the House bill, which was supported by a coalition of groups, including Stop Violence Against Women, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Polaris Project. Some of these groups considered the Senate version to be too weak.
However, the Justice Department argued in favor of the Senate version, thinking the House measure put too many limitations on state and local prosecutors. The Justice Department cited concerns about the House version by the National Association of District Attorneys, National Association of Attorneys General and Fraternal Order of Police.
“Because prostitution-related crimes are of a substantially local nature, states and localities have historically and effectively prosecuted these types of crimes,” said James P. Fox, district attorney for San Mateo County, Calif., and president in the National Association of District Attorneys, in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this year.
“Federalization of these types of crimes is ill-advised as these crimes have minimal federal contact,” he said, and “would divert federal resources from human trafficking cases involving fraud, coercion or force, and unnecessarily involve all levels of government.”
Nonetheless, Attorney General Michael Mukasey attended the White House bill signing along with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte.
Because of opposition in the Cabinet, Land became more uncertain of the bill’s chances as time passed and said Tuesday he was surprised to be at the bill signing.
“The odds were stacked against this law, and the longer we went the less likely it was of passing,” Land said. “Then things just providentially fell into place in the last couple of weeks and the president ignored the opposition of his own Justice and State Department.”
About 17,500 people are trafficked into the United States each year, according to the State Department Trafficking in Persons Office. Worldwide it is 800,000 trafficked across international borders, half of whom are minors and 80 percent of whom are women. The Department of Justice says it prosecuted 156 trafficking cases, secured 342 convictions and rescued more than 1,400 victims from 2001 to 2007.
Though the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 passed both chambers of Congress with no debate, the president signed the bill over the objections of his own Justice Department.
The legislation brought together a collection of evangelical Christians, social conservatives, feminist groups and human rights organizations.
“It shows a broad coalition all the way from the left to the right and in between when it comes to significant human rights issues,” Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, told CNSNews.com. “There are arguably more slaves in the world today than at any time in the last 300 years — and most of them are being trafficked for sexual purposes.”
The new law is named for William Wilberforce, an evangelical Christian who led the effort in Britian’s parliament to end the slave trade in Britain in the 19th Century. The bill reauthorizes funds from the initial 2000 act, but also beefs up enforcement and penalties and gives federal law enforcement broader authority to prosecute crimes.
“It will alleviate a great deal of human suffering and will have a tremendous impact in terms of providing very effective tools for government prosecutors to prosecute those who traffic in human flesh,” said Land, who attended the bill signing. “This is bad news for a lot of really bad people.”
The law expands the purview of the Department of Justice into sex crimes that had previously been prosecuted at the state or local level. It also sets new policies for how the State Department addresses the matter. It also puts in guidelines for state and local law enforcement to prosecute trafficking cases.
“This has been a priority issue for the administration in preventing the trafficking of persons around the world,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto said. “So this is a piece of legislation we’re very proud to sign and to see that it’s authorizing funding for fiscal years 2008 through 2011. And this program has been very effective around the world in trying to stop trafficking in persons in Africa and Asia.”
The bill includes provisions to impose 10-to-20 year sentences on “brothel landlords” who use minors as victims of human trafficking, and harsher sentences for those convicted of “alien harboring” for the purpose of prostitution. It also limits U.S. funding to countries that use “child soldiers.” Further, it affirms that nothing in the existing trafficking law should be interpreted to say prostitution is “a valid form of employment.”
The law makes federal crimes out of obstructing the investigation of human trafficking, conspiring to traffic humans, and receiving financial benefit from trafficking. Further, funds seized from traffickers will not go to the federal treasury, but to help the victims.
“It gives government more authority to go after the pimps and the johns, not just the women,” Land said. “That will have a significant effect. Johns were seldom prosecuted at all. Now we’re looking at federal beef. That’s going to have a chilling effect.”
The bill passed in the House overwhelmingly on Dec. 12 and by unanimous consent in the Senate on the same day. The criticism came primarily from within the Bush administration, as the Department of Justice questioned how “workable” the law would be.
Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), co-chair of the House Human Trafficking Caucus, said in a statement, “The House and Senate have again shown our commitment to ending this form of modern-day slavery by passing this important legislation.”
The final legislation closely resembles the House bill, which was supported by a coalition of groups, including Stop Violence Against Women, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Polaris Project. Some of these groups considered the Senate version to be too weak.
However, the Justice Department argued in favor of the Senate version, thinking the House measure put too many limitations on state and local prosecutors. The Justice Department cited concerns about the House version by the National Association of District Attorneys, National Association of Attorneys General and Fraternal Order of Police.
“Because prostitution-related crimes are of a substantially local nature, states and localities have historically and effectively prosecuted these types of crimes,” said James P. Fox, district attorney for San Mateo County, Calif., and president in the National Association of District Attorneys, in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this year.
“Federalization of these types of crimes is ill-advised as these crimes have minimal federal contact,” he said, and “would divert federal resources from human trafficking cases involving fraud, coercion or force, and unnecessarily involve all levels of government.”
Nonetheless, Attorney General Michael Mukasey attended the White House bill signing along with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte.
Because of opposition in the Cabinet, Land became more uncertain of the bill’s chances as time passed and said Tuesday he was surprised to be at the bill signing.
“The odds were stacked against this law, and the longer we went the less likely it was of passing,” Land said. “Then things just providentially fell into place in the last couple of weeks and the president ignored the opposition of his own Justice and State Department.”
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