Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) joined US Dept. of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao today to launch a new USDOT human trafficking initiative. The following are excerpts of his remarks:
Special thanks to Secretary Elaine Chao for her leadership in combatting the cruelty of human trafficking both in the eight years she served as Secretary of Labor, and now, at Transportation and for the Transportation Leaders Against Human Trafficking Initiative.
Deep thanks as well to all the assembled leaders—for your commitment and effectiveness in this human rights and humanitarian cause.
Truckers Against Trafficking have written the book on how to discern and disrupt human trafficking networks through training and referrals to law enforcement. You are the eyes and ears on the highways—thank you, Kendris.
Human trafficking is a barbaric human rights abuse that thrives on greed, secrecy, a perverted sense of entitlement to exploit the vulnerable and an unimaginable disregard for the victims.
Twenty years ago, the U.S. Congress approved and the President signed legislation that I authored—the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000—a comprehensive whole-of-government policy to combat sex and labor trafficking in the United States and around the world.
This past January, I authored another bill that was signed into law by President Trump—my fifth major law on human trafficking— The Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Act. The new law honors the extraordinary legacy of one of the greatest Americans who ever lived.
Among its many “prevention” provisions, the Douglass Act provides grants to local education agencies in partnership with NGOs to establish, expand and support programs:
- to provide age-appropriate information to students on how to avoid becoming victims of sex and labor trafficking;
- to educate school staff to recognize and respond to signs of sex and labor trafficking.
The law also requires General Services to ensure that any contract entered for the provision of air transportation with a domestic carrier submit the number of personnel trained by that carrier, notifications of number potential victims, whether they contacted the trafficking hotline or law enforcement.
In 2010, I chaired a congressional briefing and heard compelling testimony and best practices from many leaders—including Nancy Rivard of Airline Ambassadors International.
Yesterday I spoke to her in El Salvador where she is advising that government on airline training of flight attendants, pilots and other personnel akin to what was prescribed in the 2016 and 2018 FAA reauthorizations.
To date, she organized 117 airport training seminars—including at New Jersey’s Newark International and an OSCE multi-nation conference that I had proposed in Kiev, Ukraine.
More than 100,000 aviation officials have been trained through the Blue Lightning Initiative.
As we all know, children are especially vulnerable. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO) one in four trafficking victims is a child.
In 2008, I first introduced International Megan’s Law. It passed the House in 2010, 2014, 2016—and, thankfully, finally cleared the United States Senate and was signed into law in 2016—eight years later!