MRS > Services and Programs > Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005
Testimony
before
the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights, and International Operations
March 9, 2005
presented by Julianne Duncan, Ph.D.
Director, Office of Children’s Services
Migration and Refugee Services/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
I am Julianne Duncan, director of children’s services of Migration and Refugee Services of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (MRS/USCCB). I am pleased to be here today before the subcommittee to testify on trafficking in human persons and the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005.
I would like to thank you, Mr. Chairman, for inviting us to testify today and for your leadership on this important and vital humanitarian issue. You have been tireless in your advocacy on behalf of victims of human trafficking. In part because of your leadership, Mr. Chairman, general awareness of this issue has grown, as has the response of our government to end it.
Our purpose in testifying today is to provide the perspective of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on the U.S. government response to human trafficking and to relay our support for the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005, which will be the subject of a markup tomorrow in this Subcommittee.
In my testimony, I will focus mainly on child trafficking victims, who are particularly vulnerable to traffickers. I also will address advances in the treatment of trafficking victims that have been made as a result of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 and its 2003 reauthorization; set forth a number of changes in law and practice that the Bishops recommend be made in order to more fully protect such victims; and assess H.R. 972, the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005, which you recently introduced in the House of Representatives.
At this point in my testimony, I will briefly summarize a number of recommendations on actions that need to be taken in order to more fully protect the victims of trafficking. I explore each of them more fully later in my testimony.
We recommend that the U.S. government undertake the following actions, which we believe would more fully protect trafficking victims encountered in the United States:
- More avenues should be created for the referral of trafficking victims for certification and services, including referrals from appropriate nonprofit, child welfare, and social service providers.
- Services to trafficking victims should be made available from the point they are rescued to the point they are self-sufficient and in good health.
- There should be established within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) a contingency fund for use when sudden, large-scale emergency cases threaten to overwhelm the capacity of nonprofit agencies that partner with HHS.
- Federal agencies should better coordinate efforts, especially in the certification, protection, and care of victims.
- The federal government should provide more education and guidance to state and local law enforcement agencies on their authority to recommend that trafficking victims be referred for services.
- Special procedures should be developed for assisting child trafficking victims, including provisions for their referral, addressing their need for immediate safe haven, expediting determinations relating to their eligibility, providing long-term care in the least restrictive setting, and ensuring that they have access to child welfare specialists.
- Congress should enact into law H.R. 972, the “Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005,” including its important reforms relating to access to information about services that are available to trafficking victims, guardians ad litem for child trafficking victims, access to counsel, and residential rehabilitative facilities.
- Congress should enact into law S. 119, the Unaccompanied Alien Child Protection Act of 2005, which would establish a comprehensive framework for the protection of unaccompanied alien children, including those caught up in human trafficking.
The movement of people across boundaries around the world is part of the collective human experience, but towards the end of the 20th century a new and disturbing issue related to the international migration of humans began to emerge: the trafficking of humans through the use of fraud, force, or coercion.
Now, in the twenty-first century, this practice reaches every corner of the globe, from Asia and Africa to Europe and the Americas. The purveyors of this new international scourge—international traffickers and their accomplices—gain power and reap profits from their abuse and exploitation of those they traffic.
This is not a problem which exists merely on far away shores and in less developed lands. It exists right here in the United States, where thousands of persons are trafficked each year for purposes of forced prostitution or forced labor. Trafficking in persons is a modern-day form of slavery, and it is the largest manifestation of slavery today.
The Catholic bishops of the United States and the church community throughout the nation have placed combating human trafficking as a top priority in their public advocacy, educational outreach, and in providing service to trafficking victims. From the Catholic perspective, human trafficking represents a scourge on the earth which must be eradicated. It is indeed troubling that in the twenty-first century human beings are being sold into bondage as prostitutes, domestic workers, child laborers, and child soldiers.
His Holiness Pope John Paul II, in a letter on the occasion of the International Conference on “21st Century Slavery—the Human Rights Dimension to Trafficking in Human Beings,” stated that human trafficking “constitutes a shocking offense against human dignity and a grave violation of fundamental human rights. In particular, the sexual exploitation of women and children is a particularly repugnant aspect of this trade, and must be recognized as an intrinsic violation of human dignity and human rights.”
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The Catholic bishops of the United States and Mexico have also spoken out on the issue, calling upon the governments of the United States and Mexico to work together to apprehend traffickers and destroy trafficking networks: “Both governments must vigilantly seek to end trafficking in human persons. Together, both governments should more effectively share information on trafficking operations and should engage in joint action to apprehend and prosecute traffickers.”
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In a recent statement, the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration reaffirmed the commitment of the U.S. Catholic Bishops to end this humanitarian crisis: “The Catholic Church…in the United States stands ready to work with our government to end this scourge. We cannot rest until trafficking in human persons is eliminated from the globe.”
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At least 700,000 persons annually are trafficked within or across international boundaries. They are forced mainly from less-developed countries and regions, such as India, the former Soviet Union, Central and South America, and throughout Africa. They traverse the globe, ending in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Israel, Australia, Japan, Canada, and the United States.
It is estimated that as many as 17,500 human beings each year are trafficked into the United States to work in the sex trade or as slave labor. Women and children have been forced to work in prostitution and child pornography rings, while men, women, and children have been forced into different types of manual labor, without pay or protection.
Victims of human trafficking are commonly linked by poverty and lack of opportunity. They are also connected by their desperation and urge to escape the double trap of privation and their perception of migration as an accessible escape route. Often they seek to escape life in a dreary village or oppressive slum, with the hope of finding opportunity and a brighter future in a more developed land.
It is in these environments that human traffickers flourish, promising unsuspecting victims an opportunity to travel to a foreign land, at no immediate expense, for employment and housing. At the end of the journey, they find coercion, abuse, entrapment, and exploitation in a brothel, a massage parlor, an illicit factory, or an agricultural outpost. By the time they are rescued, if ever, they are shattered by physical, mental, and psychological abuse in the roles of prostitutes, domestic servants, or manual laborers. Many become ill with disease or become infected with HIV. Some lose their lives.
As I mentioned, Mr. Chairman, the Catholic Church has placed the elimination of trafficking as an important priority in the areas of public advocacy, public education, and services to trafficking victims. We are working to raise awareness within the Catholic community about the problem, including trainings to help diocesan staff identify and assist victims of trafficking. We have sponsored roundtables and conferences on the subject and held public meetings on several occasions to educate the Catholic faithful and others on human trafficking. It is important to note, Mr. Chairman, that all of our training and education is directed toward one end: the best interest of the victims. Our education and training are intended to help people to identify victims when they see them, and to empower them to act on what they see.
Part of this effort is driven by the Catholic Coalition Against Human Trafficking, which consists of about twenty Catholic organizations which convene quarterly and work together on advocacy and public outreach. The coalition was instrumental in influencing provisions of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 and its successor, the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003.
The Church and its service organizations, particularly Catholic Charities, also provide support services to both adult and child victims of trafficking, including health and mental health services, employment assistance, English-language training, counseling, housing and other material assistance needs. Through our networks, we also provide case management services, social service assistance, and legal assistance, where appropriate. We have served 135 adult trafficking victims in the past two years and 36 child trafficking victims. We also have consulted on over 45 potential child trafficking cases, possibly representing as many as 140 victims. In our experience, Mr. Chairman, victims of trafficking need access to a continuum of services in order to attain self-sufficiency and restored mental and physical health.
Trafficking victims also need, first and foremost, safety and security. Many are terrified of the traffickers who brought them to the United States and show signs of post traumatic stress disorder syndrome, among other mental health problems. Providing them with a secure, safe, and nurturing environment is crucial to ensuring their return to society as contributing members. In this vein, MRS/USCCB has developed a system for short-term emergency housing where victims can be safe until they are assigned to a non-governmental organization to provide them with the services they are entitled to as victims of trafficking. Our system of safe houses involves the commitment of individuals and communities, including religious communities, who open their doors when there is an emergency in their area or who network to ensure that victims receive housing and are protected.
Mr. Chairman, let me add that faith-based organizations are uniquely positioned to identify and provide assistance to victims of human trafficking. First, faith-based organizations act from a theological and philosophical perspective. For example, the themes of Catholic social teaching—the protection of human dignity and human rights; the option for the poor; the call to family and community; the rights of workers; solidarity and care for creation—all address evils inherent in human trafficking. These principles of justice are not unique to Catholicism but are manifest in most religions. Commitment to these principles gives the issue of human trafficking a sense of urgency to many faiths and religious communities.
Second, most faith-based organizations have national and international networks that enhance their capacity to give voice and volume to the cry for justice. They have access to a cross-section of agencies, both domestic and international, which offer expertise and geography that expand the possibilities for outreach and service, an asset not to be underestimated. For example, the Catholic Church is present overseas, in the form of Catholic Relief Services and the universal Church, as well as domestically, in the form of Catholic Charities, local dioceses, and parishes. We also have access to other networks, such as religious congregations around the world.
Finally, faith-based organizations have resources, in the form of human resources, in-kind donations, and other assets, which provide an important infrastructure which can assist in the fight against human trafficking. While we see the effort as a partnership with the U.S. government and other governments around the world, we would be performing this work regardless, particularly because of the moral gravity of the issue and the ongoing suffering of its victims.
Mr. Chairman, in 2000 the U.S. Congress passed landmark legislation which you sponsored, entitled the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, which provided the U.S. government the framework to respond to the plague of human trafficking in the United States. In 2003, Congress reauthorized funding for original legislation and made major improvements to it, giving law enforcement authorities more tools to apprehend traffickers and giving trafficking victims, especially children, easier access to immigration benefits and services.
Specifically, TVPA revamped U.S. law by making trafficking a crime against an individual, allowing the U.S. government to focus on victims of trafficking. The government now provides funding to assist victims and issues a T-visa, created under the law, to provide protection and permanence to victims. Reauthorization of TVPA allowed for minors to access the T-visa without being forced to testify in open court against their persecutors and allowed for siblings of victims to come with their parents to the United States. We believe the T-visa and its protection is a major feature of U.S. law which permits victims to remain in the United States and not be sent back to traffickers in their home country.
Since the enactment of TVPA in 2000, the State Department, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Health and Human Services have made great strides in implementing the law. Because of their joint and individual efforts, general awareness about the reality of human trafficking has increased, more victims have been identified and referred for services, and more traffickers have been brought to justice. Your leadership, Mr. Chairman, and that of Congress will help improve these efforts even further in the years ahead.
Despite the advancements made in the past several years, Mr. Chairman, improvements can continue to be made in providing a continuum of services to victims and in identifying and referring victims for care.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to take this opportunity to comment on the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005, which you have introduced in this Congress. We applaud you for the introduction of the legislation and support its enactment. While we generally support the legislation, we would like to highlight several provisions in the legislation which will help fill the gaps in the continuum of care for victims.
Appointment of Guardian Ad Litem for Potential Child Trafficking Victims. Mr. Chairman, we are in strong support of Section 102 of HR 972. Section 102 (a) requires, to the extent practicable, that victims of severe forms of trafficking have access to information regarding federally-funded programs which provide services to victims. It is vital that these victims, who are traumatized and require special attention, at a minimum receive information regarding the services available to them. Without such information, some are unable to access care, leaving them vulnerable and without support.
Section 102 (b) of the legislation creates a guardian ad litem program in the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) which gives the director of ORR the authority, if the director has a reason to believe that a child is a victim of trafficking, to appoint a guardian ad litem to investigate whether a child is a child trafficking victim in need of services. It also allows the guardian to guide the child during legal proceedings.
Mr. Chairman, we believe strongly that Section 102 (b) is necessary to ensure that unaccompanied alien children who may be victims of trafficking but have not been referred to ORR by federal or state law enforcement authorities can receive appropriate care and services. In our experience, we have seen cases where children (and adults) who may be victims of trafficking languish in detention or some other setting for months because federal or local prosecutors and law enforcement have not decided whether to pursue their case as trafficking and have not made referrals for services.
In some cases, the child is not able to articulate their circumstances adequately so that federal prosecutors can proceed to make a case. Nevertheless, they are trafficking victims, as their social workers or others can testify. HHS has not been able to determine that these children should receive formal services, thus leaving children in unsuitable care. Even worse, they are left to return to the hands of their traffickers when ORR/HHS is not able to intervene to provide services.
Section 102 (b) allows for a guardian to investigate the circumstances of a potential child trafficking victim and report his or her findings to ORR. ORR can then use the report as a basis for a declaration of eligibility. Implementation of this provision would plug a gap in the continuum of care for child trafficking victims, making such a continuum less dependent on the discretion of prosecutors, who may or may not decide to refer a child for services.
Mr. Chairman, Section 102 (b) is designed to assist a child who may be a trafficking victim but who has not been declared eligible for services because of limitations in the system. The guardian shall carry out the duties under the section until one of five events occur: 1). Such duties are completed; 2).The child departs the United States; 3). The child is granted permanent resident status; 4). The child attains age 18; or 5). The child is placed in the legal custody of a parent, legal guardian, or licensed child welfare agency. It is our experience and the current practice of ORR to place the child in legal custody with a child welfare agency upon declaration of eligibility for services. At that point, the child welfare agency, or the parent or legal guardian, acts as guardian for the child.
Access to Counsel for Victims of Trafficking. MRS/USCCB also strongly supports Section 102 (c) of the legislation, which ensures that victims of severe forms of trafficking “shall not be denied access to counsel in any proceeding or matter relating to the investigation and prosecution of the act of trafficking involved.” The provision also requires that victims be informed of their right to have counsel and that information about available counsel in the community be made available. Mr. Chairman, given the lack of counsel available to trafficking victims, Section 102 (c) is the minimum we can do to ensure that trafficking victims are adequately represented in the legal process. The provision does not require that the victim be represented by counsel or that government-funded counsel is provided, but merely ensures that victims are not denied the right to be represented by counsel. Victims of trafficking benefit from counsel because they are involved in legal proceedings to prosecute traffickers, need assistance to obtain a legal visa, and may or may not be involved in deportation proceedings.
Protection of Victims of Domestic Trafficking in Persons. We support Section 203 of the bill regarding the establishment of a pilot program to establish residential treatment facilities for minor victims of domestic trafficking in the United States. Often overlooked in the debate around human trafficking is that trafficking does not have to cross international boundaries. Human trafficking can, and does, occur wholly within the jurisdiction of the United States. We would suggest that the program not be focused solely on the development of residential treatment facilities, which can be costly and restrictive in setting, but begin with a needs assessment which would identify and provide specialized treatment available in the community.
We also support Section 205 of the legislation, which would establish a grant program for states and local law enforcement to work with victim service providers to investigate and prosecute acts of domestic trafficking in persons. It is vital that relationships between local law enforcement and local nongovernmental organizations be strengthened in the effort to combat human trafficking. Local community organizations who work with victims of trafficking can be indispensable in identifying trafficking victims and assisting local law enforcement in identifying and prosecuting perpetrators. We encourage that such a program be extended to all forms of trafficking, not just domestic trafficking.
Prevention of Trafficking in Persons. The USCCB also supports the provision in Section 101, Prevention of Trafficking in Persons, to instruct the Agency for International Development (AID), the Department of State, and the Department of Defense to incorporate anti-trafficking protections for vulnerable populations in post conflict and humanitarian emergency situations. War exacts a terrible human and material cost on its victims. Too often, in the chaos of war and ensuing refugee situations, women and children in particular are subject to trafficking. As we recently saw in Thailand and Indonesia after tsunami devastation, children can be vulnerable to traffickers after a natural disaster or humanitarian crisis. Improved research and implementation of standards and programs in these agencies are necessary first steps in the prevention and elimination of the abuse arising from trafficking in post-conflict or humanitarian situations.
Enhancing United States Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons. In supporting Section 104, we are all too familiar from our own experience that children are often abducted and enslaved as child soldiers. We must put an end to this horrific practice, which can destroy future generations. We strongly support Section 104(f), to strengthen the capacity of multilateral organizations to address trafficking by peacekeepers. Peacekeepers are essential to helping communities end conflict and restore stability and peace. Abuse and trafficking by peacekeepers is a terrible betrayal of trust and damaging to long-term peace-keeping efforts. Strengthening certification of these organizations to prevent and address trafficking is most welcomed.
In addition to endorsing the enactment of H.R. 972, we also make the following recommendations for your consideration:
- Services to trafficking victims should be made available to victims from the point they are rescued to the point they are self-sufficient and in good health.
While the Congress has appropriated funds for services to trafficking victims through the Office of Refugee Resettlement of the Department of Health and Human Services (ORR/HHS) and the Department of Justice, there exist gaps in funding and services for victims which should be addressed.
First, funding for services should be made more available once a victim is identified but before certification by HHS. This is a critical time in the care of a trafficking victim, who is usually traumatized, physically and mentally abused, and insecure. The funding which is available for pre-certification is inadequate to address the needs of an individual when the period between his or her identification and certification lasts many months. Care and placement should begin immediately upon the rescue of a victim. While both the Department of Justice’s Office of Victims of Crime and HHS recognize this principle, the funding does not match the long-term care that the investigation mandates.
Consideration should also be given for the care of victims post-certification, at least until they have achieved self-sufficiency and good health. Currently, funding provides for initial screening, health-care, employment referral, and other services, but does not follow the victim beyond the initial stages of resettlement. This leaves these victims susceptible to traffickers and to desperation on the streets.
We recommend that the subcommittee examine the continuum of care given to trafficking victims and work to fill the gaps which undermine the potential success of victims to lead happier and more fulfilling lives.
- More avenues should be created for the referral of victims, especially child victims, for certification and services, including referrals from appropriate nonprofit, child welfare, and social service providers.
Although as many as 17,000 persons are trafficked into the United States each year, approximately 500 have been identified and certified since 2000. This is primarily because of the lack of awareness among the general public, community organizations and groups, and local law enforcement authorities, which should improve in the months and years ahead. It is also because there exist only certain avenues for referral, mainly by federal authorities who apprehend and prosecute traffickers and who rescue victims.
We strongly believe that more avenues for referral should be available. Non-profit organizations in the community, such as child welfare agencies or social service providers, possess experience in identifying potential trafficking victims and should be allowed to refer victims to ORR for appropriate services, where possible.
- There should be established within the Department of Health and Human Services a contingency fund for use when sudden, large-scale emergency cases threaten to overwhelm the capacity of nonprofit agencies that partner with HHS.
While HHS funding for victims has been adequate, given the low numbers of victims identified it will not accommodate numbers that will surface if the HHS Rescue and Restore program is effective. When large numbers of victims are uncovered, no funded agency can respond without depleting their funding on one single case. We recommend a contingency fund that is both large enough and flexible enough to provide for large-scale emergency cases.
Recent events on Long Island demonstrate the need for such a fund. Last year 69 Peruvians were rescued from captivity in Suffolk County, Long Island, by law enforcement authorities. They had been held in captivity for four years, forced to work 18 hour days and pay traffickers. Catholic Charities of Rockville Centre diocese is now attempting to provide counseling, medical care, job placement, housing, and immigration assistance to the victims
- Federal agencies should better coordinate efforts, especially in the certification, protection, and care of victims.
The creation of a State Department office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons in the TVPA has helped focus the efforts of the U.S. government in the last several years. Among the initiatives undertaken by the office include an interagency task force to coordinate efforts and initiatives to combat trafficking and the sponsorship of conferences to educate the public and others about the issue. The office also issues an annual Trafficking in Persons report, which identifies sending countries and holds them accountable for not addressing the issue in their countries. The office also speaks for the U.S. government on trafficking issues, raising awareness domestically and abroad.
Despite significant progress in this area since 2000, coordination between federal agencies, such as the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services, could be improved. For example, information on victims and prosecutions should be more readily shared between the agencies, and questions about implementation of the law should be jointly considered and addressed.
- The federal government should provide more education and guidance to state and local law enforcement agencies on their authority to recommend that trafficking victims be referred for services.
The reauthorization of the TVPA in 2003 includes a provision which allows ORR/HHS to consider referrals by state and local law enforcement authorities of trafficking victims for certification. However, federal guidance on this provision has not been forthcoming, resulting in confusion as to how local and state law enforcement are involved in referral/certification decisions. We recommend that the exact authority of local and state law enforcement to refer victims for services be clarified, either by statute or regulation.
In addition, many state and local officials are unaware of this provision and of the certification process and services available to victims. Since state and local authorities often encounter trafficking rings and victims without recognizing them as such, more education should be provided by the federal government to state and local governments for this purpose. We applaud the initiatives of the Department of Justice to provide this education and encourage them to move expeditiously.
- Special procedures should be developed for assisting child trafficking victims, including provisions for their referral, addressing their need for immediate safe haven, expediting determinations relating to their eligibility, providing long-term care in the least restrictive setting, and ensuring that they have access to child welfare specialists.
Mr. Chairman, MRS/USCCB have a special interest in the situation of children who are trafficking victims. As you know, children are particularly vulnerable to traffickers and are susceptible to their abuses. We must pay particular attention to child trafficking victims and ensure that they are protected and provided special care.
Mr. Chairman, children are perhaps the most vulnerable group of victims of trafficking. While efforts to find and assist victims of trafficking have been pursued with commendable commitment over the last several years, I fear that children, as a group, have fallen through the cracks of these enforcement efforts. Since the enactment of TVPA, only 63 child victims have been identified within the United States and referred for services. However, knowledge of the nature of trafficking, the sexual exploitation of children, and statistics gathered by the State Department on worldwide numbers of trafficked kids leads one to conclude that many more children are being held involuntarily in trafficking situations in the United States than we have so far identified. Special attention needs to be given to identifying child victims of trafficking crimes.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to share with you and the subcommittee members a success story of trafficked children who were referred to our agency for services.
In early April, 2002, a local law enforcement agency conducted a raid on an organized crime syndicate involving illegal aliens engaged in prostitution in the United States. Among those apprehended were four young girls from Mexico who had been lured to the United States with promises of marriage, but who instead were forced into prostitution and kept in virtual slavery. At the time of their apprehension by law enforcement personnel, the girls, ranging in ages from 14 to 16, had been in the U.S. and kept in slave-like conditions for two years. They were not allowed to leave the houses in which they were forced into prostitution, were often beaten, and were forbidden to even speak with each other.
Shortly after the raid, a call was made to ORR/HHS and to Migration and Refugee Services of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, requesting assistance in locating an appropriate child welfare environment in which to place the girls. Within a week, the girls were transferred to a state-licensed, residential program for unaccompanied minors which specializes in assisting children suffering from sexual abuse and is experienced in caring for children around the world.
Since placement of the girls, reports are that their fears and trauma-induced nightmares are abating. The girls have since received T-visas and helped prosecute the men who trafficked them. The court convicted the traffickers and ordered them to give restitution of $135, 000 to the girls. They are receiving an education and two are living with family.
Mr. Chairman, this is an example of how the system should work. Unfortunately, it does not always work in this manner because not enough child victims are able to access the system.
Of the close to 17,500 persons trafficked into the United States each year, an estimated one-third are children. Unfortunately, there have been few referrals of children for services since 2000. Through January of this year, only 63 children nationwide have been certified and referred for care. Since 2000, we and our partner agency, the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, have received only 36 referrals of children for services.
The children identified and “determined eligible” for services in the United States to date are largely being served in specialized foster care programs which have long experience caring for refugee, asylee, and other unaccompanied foreign-born children. Immediate safety and long-term stability are the overwhelming needs of child trafficking victims, regardless of age, background, type of enslavement or any other characteristic. For some of the children to date, the referral and service system has worked well. However, a continuum of care in which the child experiences the most stability should become the norm for child referral victims.
The care of children, particularly extremely vulnerable children such as child trafficking victims, should be governed by a set of principles to ensure positive outcomes. These principles include use of the “best interest of the child’ standard in all cases; the provision of immediate safe haven with a systematic plan for assessing a child’s needs; the exploration of family reunification as a priority; the placement of children in the least restrictive setting; the provision of legal assistance to children; and the development of a long-term plan for self-sufficiency for children.
Despite best efforts, there exist gaps in the continuum of care for child trafficking victims, including initial identification by law enforcement of trafficked persons as children and victims, referral to ORR/HHS to be determined eligible for services, and assessments of “family reunification” placements to ensure children are not given back to traffickers.
These gaps can have major consequences for child trafficking victims. For example, when children are not identified as trafficking victims, they may be mistakenly identified as adults, detained and deported through the Department of Homeland Security detention system, placed in overburdened local child welfare systems with little security and planning, or released back to traffickers or their associates. When children are identified as trafficking victims but not referred to ORR/HHS for care, they can be placed in short-term shelters where they experience frequent moves, receive no orderly system of assessment and treatment, and have no long-term safety and security.
In order to avoid these devastating consequences for children, we offer the following recommendations:
- Procedures should be developed for all federal, state, and local law enforcement personnel to refer immediately children in trafficking-like situations for assessment and age determination with benefit of the doubt going to the child;
- A system of immediate safe haven should be developed where a child is safe while being determined eligible, which includes immediate care and assessment of needs and a strategy to assess family for possible safe reunification;
- Determination of eligibility for child victims should be expedited, with the assistance of a guardian ad litem, if necessary; and
- Long-term care in a least restrictive setting should be arranged, with capacity for therapeutic intervention; assistance with legal obligations; plan for family reunification; or eventual self-sufficiency.
- A child welfare specialist should be appointed to oversee the child from rescue to self-sufficiency. Such an expert can act as a decision-maker for a traumatized child in a complex legal and child welfare system.
The Catholic Church recognizes the special vulnerability of trafficked victims who are children and are ready to work with the federal government to develop and implement programs which address their needs.
Finally, Mr. Chairman, we would ask the subcommittee’s support for legislation which addresses the plight of unaccompanied alien children. Senator Dianne Feinstein has introduced S. 119, the Unaccompanied Alien Child Protection Act of 2005, which would sensibly resolve these ambiguities and provide other needed reforms in the care and placement of these children, including ensuring that proactive steps are taken to protect such children from smugglers, traffickers, and unscrupulous attorneys who may be cooperating with such criminals. I commend the Senate for passing this legislation in the 108th Congress and urge both the Senate and House of Representatives to pass it in this Congress so the legislation may be presented to the President for his signature.
Mr. Chairman, the issue of trafficking in human persons is perhaps one of the most important human rights issue facing the world community today. The United States, and Congress, have taken significant steps in the past several years to address this problem. The historic passage of trafficking legislation in 2000 established the framework for the U.S. response and places the United States as a moral leader in the effort to eradicate the scourge of trafficking from the face of the earth. Reauthorization of the legislation in 2005 would represent another positive step.
I am confident that, with better coordination and cooperation between all branches of government, we can, as a nation, punish traffickers and provide appropriate care to victims. We also will, as a nation, influence other nations to step up their efforts to end this practice, so that vulnerable men, women, and children everywhere will not become victims of the worse side of humanity.
Thank you for considering our views today.
- Pope John Paul II, Letter to Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran on the Occasion of the International Conference on 21st Century Slavery—the Human Rights Dimension in Trafficking in Human Beings, May 15, 2002.
- U.S. and Mexican Catholic Bishops, Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope, January, 2003, n. 191.
- Statement of Bishop Thomas Wenski, Press Conference on Launching of Anti-Trafficking Initiative in Central Florida, June 9, 2004.