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Marylanders: Please Take Action on Human Trafficking Legislation- House Hearing on Feb. 9!
(Updated February 5, 2010)
The 2010 Maryland State Legislative session is now in full swing and several bills are now under consideration to address the brutal industry of human trafficking in Maryland. Please join us in taking action to support legislation to punish the criminals, provide needed assistance to the victims who they brandish their abuse upon, and raise awareness about sex and labor trafficking that is occurring right here in Maryland. Two of these bills will be considered in a public hearing on February 9th - the perfect opportunity to engage your legislators on this important legislation! |
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Urge Virginia State Delegates to Support Criminal Forfeiture Legislation
Human trafficking generates over $36 billion in profits annually. Significantly raising the financial risk to traffickers reduces the incentive to commit human trafficking. Through asset forfeiture, the criminal is penalized, a financial incentive is created for law enforcement agencies, and additional assistance can be provided to victims. House Bill 1113 would permit the forfeiture of a vehicle used in the crime of abduction -- which covers human trafficking activities in Virginia -- and other human trafficking offenses including those penalizing the prostituting of minors. Please help support this legislation by calling your state representatives and telling them to vote ‘Yes’ on House Bill 1113! Take action today! |
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Alabama: Comprehensive Anti-Human Trafficking Legislation Being Heard in the House Judiciary Committee Today- February 3, 2010 Alabama is one of only a few states with no law against human trafficking! Forty-four other states have passed human trafficking laws. Alabama legislators can be one step closer to eradicating human trafficking in Alabama by passing House Bill 432. House Bill 432 would create new human trafficking crimes and penalties; provide for mandatory restitution to victims; provide a civil cause of action for victims; provide for asset forfeiture and seizure; and create other protections for victims of human trafficking. Please help support this legislation by calling your state representatives and telling them to vote ‘Yes’ on House Bill 432! Take action today! |
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Pennsylvanians: Urge your Senator and Representative to Cosponsor a Resolution on Human Trafficking!
(February 1, 2010) A new human trafficking resolution is poised for introduction in the both the Pennsylvania House and Senate – and your help is needed! This resolution, sponsored by Senator Stewart Greenleaf and by Representative Katie True, would establish an advisory committee to study and collect important information about human trafficking within Pennsylvania; bring law enforcement, victim service providers and prosecutors together; and recommend policies to help bring human traffickers to justice and provide needed assistance to victims. Please take a moment to contact your state legislators and urge them to cosponsor this important resolution! |
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Profit motivates human traffickers, and that profit is derived from one source: the purchasers of sex, colloquially known as “johns”. Without johns’ demand, there would be no prostitution, which is an enabling environment for sex trafficking. Virginia legislators can take one step closer to eradicating prostitution and human trafficking in Virginia by passing House Bill 701, legislation that proposes education programs for first-time offenders violating Virginia’s laws against purchasing sex, also called john schools. Please help support this legislation by calling your state representatives and telling them to vote ‘Yes’ on House Bill 701! Take action today! |
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Pennsylvania: Please Urge Your Senator to Cosponsor Human Trafficking Legislation!
(January 20, 2010)
Human Trafficking is one of the fastest growing criminal industries in the world, in which traffickers reap billions in profits by using force, fraud or coercion to rob victims of their freedom. And while there are approximately 14,500-17,500 human beings trafficked into the U.S. each year, it is estimated that thousands of U.S. citizens are trafficked within the United States. Pennsylvania is not exempt from the brutality of human trafficking - but thankfully, legislation to increase awareness about this horrible crime and provide needed help to victims and anyone wishing to provide tips on human trafficking, is poised for introduction in the Pennsylvania legislature. Your voice is needed to urge legislators to cosponsor and strongly support this important bill. |
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December 1, 2009 Washington DC: Comments Needed on the Prohibition Against Human Trafficking Act!
The U.S. capital is one of the top destinations for human traffickers in the country, but legislators are now poised to change this by enacting the Prohibition Against Human Trafficking Act of 2009 (number 18-70). Every year traffickers generate billions of dollars in profits by forcing or coercing U.S. citizens and foreign nationals to provide labor (in domestic servitude, labor operations, or in service industries), or to provide commercial sex in hotels, brothels, and on the street. Victims, including those in Washington DC, face a horrific life with little hope of escape in which they are repeatedly threatened, beaten, raped, isolated, psychologically abused, or subjected to debt bondage. These crimes are committed for one reason: the financial profit of traffickers. However, we can change this in DC by enacting the Prohibition Against Human Trafficking Act of 2009 (number 18-70) which would make human trafficking a crime in the District, provide severe penalties for traffickers, and help victims. This critically important legislation will be taken up by the DC Council in early February, so please take a moment to urge D.C. Council Members to strongly support this bill. Please Click Here to Take Action!
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A Texas couple faces up to 55 years in prison for holding a Nigerian woman as an indentured servant in their home for nine years. Please click here to read the full article. |
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A bill reviewed by a Senate committee Wednesday would make coerced employment a crime punishable by time in prison. Longer sentences would apply when the trafficking is part of an ongoing criminal enterprise. The bill also would allow police to seize the assets of human trafficking rings. Click here to read the full article. |
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A Newark, NJ man pleads guilty to human trafficking charges – admitting he played a role in prostituting minors. The charge carries a penalty of 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. Click here to read the full article. |
A Seattle gang member who forced girls into prostitution was sentenced today to 17 years in prison for human trafficking and promoting commercial sexual abuse of a minor. DeShawn "Cash Money" Clark, 19, was the first person in the state to be convicted under a new human trafficking law. Click here to read the full article.
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Like dozens of other workers from Vietnam and China, Tiep Ngo had been lured to the Daewoosa clothing factory in American Samoa by hollow promises of good pay. She left behind her child, her husband and her parents and paid $5,000 for her job contract only to be starved, beaten and cheated of wages.
For nearly two years, Ngo labored in the stifling, overcrowded factory, subsisting on meager portions of rice and cabbage and longing for her family. Then, through the efforts of Good Samaritans, federal agents and churches, Ngo and about 300 other workers were rescued and brought to the U.S. mainland, some of the first immigrants to receive special T-visas allowing human trafficking victims to remain in this country and eventually become permanent residents. Read more... |
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May 11, 2009 | Maryland - Greenbelt, Maryland—Paul Raymond Green, a/k/a “PJ,” age 23, of Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking in a scheme to prostitute three minor females, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein and Acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King, of the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division.
According to Green’s guilty plea, from April to May 2007 Green, through his coconspirator, arranged on two separate occasions to provide minor victims to an acquaintance of Green’s who was paying to have sex with the victims. On both occasions “dippers” or “wets” (cigarettes dipped in phencyclidine liquid known as PCP), were available in the hotel room where the girls were brought to have sex. Green also sold cocaine to that same individual. |
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