A week ago, CPAC had the privilege to present on legislative solutions to end modern day slavery during a conference held by the Borders, Trade, and Immigration Institute and the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). Led by the Center for Immigration Studies and alongside Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s team, the presentation shed light on the critical importance of developing effective legislation to not only hold traffickers accountable but also ensure that survivors have the resources needed to successfully reintegrate into society. Specifically, the focus was on four key components that policy makers must address to be effective:
Meeting a crucial need for legislation that focuses on holding perpetrators accountable through defined criminal penalties for buying, selling, and coercing other human beings into a life of slavery and abuse.
Prioritizing relief and recovery services for victims, ensuring that these survivors are not punished for crimes that they were forced into and restoring their ability to thrive in modern society.
Allocating resources to address the flow of illegal criminal activity into the country, through supporting law enforcement and advocates at the southern border with the tools necessary to keep organized crime out of the United States and ensuring children are not brought to our country to be labor or sex trafficked.
Acknowledging and addressing the harms caused by ‘big tech’ platforms that serve as breeding ground for traffickers to exploit young and vulnerable victims into a life of trafficking.
By integrating these four elements into legislation, the panel advocated for a more holistic approach and robust legal framework that not only combats trafficking effectively but also places a strong emphasis on victim-centered approaches that ends the cycle of abuse we see too often in human trafficking cases. You can learn more about the conference and CPAC’s presentation: https://uh.edu/bti/news/events/combat-human-trafficking/.
