With consensus often in short supply on Capitol Hill, Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., are teaming up and leading the bipartisan effort to rescue victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
Spearheaded by Blackburn, the Stopping the Abuse, Victimization, and Exploitation (SAVE) of Girls Act will be introduced to provide states, local governments and non-profits the necessary resources to prevent the smuggling and trafficking of vulnerable women, according to a press release.
The bipartisan legislation authorizes $50 million for a grant program to fight the trafficking of young women and girls, including those who have been brought across the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE KWAM APP FOR NEWS AND INFORMATION ACROSS THE MID-SOUTH.
“Human trafficking is one of the fastest growing criminal industries, and more than 90 percent of female trafficking victims are trafficked for sexual exploitation,” Blackburn said. “We cannot continue to allow criminal cartels to flourish while they rape, trade, and exploit women and girls. I thank my colleagues for joining this bipartisan solution to help stop the trafficking industry in its tracks and protect victims.”
Joining Blackburn from across the aisle, Klobuchar said the bill will help “combat these crimes and support those who have already been victimized.”
“We must do all we can to prevent human smuggling and trafficking across both our country’s borders,” she said.The State Department estimates that between 14,500 and 17,500 people are trafficked into the United States each year, with women and girls disproportionately affected. Nearly 1 in 4 victims of human trafficking in the United States is a child.
The measure comes after Blackburn traveled to the southern border with two female Republican senators in January. She, Hyde-Smith, and freshman Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., told NBC News that border patrol agents along the Rio Grande “begged” them for help to end the problem of trafficking.
Hyde-Smith told NBC that her position as a mother has “a lot to do with” her reason for tackling the issue.“I have a small shoe on my desk that I picked up that came out of the Rio Grande River,” she said. “And I will always keep that shoe on that desk so we can remember we got to continue to tell the story.”
The Department of Homeland Security rolled out a $60 million initiative last year to take down human trafficking networks, which led to the arrest of more than 8,800 traffickers and the disruption of almost 9,000 trafficking operations, according to the department.
