Noem’s Anti-Trafficking Provisions Become Law
Washington, D.C. – Representative Kristi Noem today commended President Barack Obama on his signing of sweeping anti-trafficking legislation, including provisions authored by Noem that aim to help prevent trafficking and allocate additional resources to assist victims in recovery.
“We have a fundamental responsibility to protect the thousands of at-risk youth in America from ever seeing the horrors of trafficking,” said Noem. “And when preventions efforts fail, we have no choice but to help lift survivors to safety, through recovery and toward a better life. It is my hope the newly enacted Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act offers advocates access to meaningful resources, equips law enforcement with the tools they need to go after those who buy and sell our kids, and gives survivors some element of hope.”
The Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act (S.178) represents one of the largest anti-trafficking measures passed through Congress in a decade. After broad bipartisan support in the House and Senate, President Obama signed the legislation on May 29.
Rep. Noem’s language that was included in S.178 was first introduced as the Human Trafficking, Prevention, Intervention and Recovery Act in 2014. The language passed the U.S. House of Representatives in both 2014 and 2015 and the U.S. Senate in 2015. The Congresswoman’s legislation takes a three-pronged approach in combatting human trafficking:
- Improves existing Department of Justice grants, ensuring the grants support shelters for survivors. Currently, there are only about 200 beds available in the United States for underage victims.
- Launches a review by the Interagency Task-Force to Monitor and Combat Traffickingthat will look into federal and state trafficking prevention activities. The review will be done in consultation with nongovernmental organizations and will work to identify and develop best practices to prevent trafficking.
- Requires an inventory of existing federal anti-trafficking efforts by the non-partisan Government Accountability Office to make sure all federal agencies and programs work together and that federal resources are being targeted where needed.
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