Washington D.C., Apr 27, 2017 / 14:43 pm
The U.S. government needs to be continually equipped to fight the scourge of human trafficking in new and effective ways, said members of Congress introducing an anti-trafficking bill on Thursday.
"We have a huge human trafficking problem in the United States, and it needs to be combated even more robustly than it has," Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) said on Thursday at the capitol, introducing the Frederick R. Douglas Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Act of 2017.
"We must shatter the anonymity of purchasing sex and the violence against our women, our boys, and our young girls," Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Mo.), who joined Smith at the press conference, said.
The bill, introduced by Reps. Smith, Wagner, and Karen Bass (D-Calif.) builds upon the 2000 Victims of Trafficking Protection Act, which was a large new anti-human trafficking bill at the time, a "landmark" bill as Rep. Smith called it.