Enhancing Detection of Human Trafficking Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 443, a bill to assist the United States Department of Labor in identifying and preventing cases of human trafficking.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Walberg for his leadership and partnership on this issue and for introducing this legislation, of which I am an original cosponsor.

Human trafficking is a scourge that preys on the most vulnerable, subjecting more than 27 million people around the world--and thousands here in the United States--to abhorrent working and living conditions.

Eradicating all cases of human trafficking first requires an awareness of where it exists. As the Federal agency that oversees labor laws, the Department of Labor is uniquely positioned to identify patterns of labor exploitation.

That is why Representative Walberg and I reintroduced H.R. 443, the Enhancing Detection of Human Trafficking Act. This bipartisan, no-cost legislation directs the Department of Labor to train appropriate Department staff on how to detect human trafficking and ensure that personnel of the Department of Labor are provided with screening tools to identify and detect trafficking activities.

The bill requires the Department to report back to Congress within a year on the progress that is being made by such efforts.

Unfortunately, this horrible crime occurs in every part of our country, including in my own district in the Northern Mariana Islands. In the past, several construction companies have lured non-U.S. workers to come to the Marianas with false promises and misrepresentations about pay and conditions. They didn't come through the southern border, I will assure you of that. They came by airplane. The companies then withheld the employees' wages and confiscated their passports.

The workers were subjected to inhumane working conditions and crowded, unsanitary barracks with barely enough food and water. They were forced to work in unsafe conditions, forced to look up to the community for food and food assistance, some suffering serious injuries without access to adequate medical care. There was even a workplace fatality.

To their credit, the Department of Labor's OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and Wage and Hour Division have worked to address these crimes, issuing fines and citations and recovering wages.

These grave injustices that rob people of their freedom, and sometimes their lives, are preventable. Congress can and must do more to hold human traffickers accountable. H.R. 443, the Enhancing Detection of Human Trafficking Act, is an important step toward ensuring that the Department has the tools and resources it needs to combat human trafficking.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the leadership of the House, especially Chairwoman Virginia Foxx and Ranking Member Bobby Scott of the Education and the Workforce Committee, for moving this bill to the floor. Again, I thank my friend, Representative Walberg, for his leadership in combating human trafficking.

One reason we should vote for this bill is because it is a good bill. Another good reason we should vote for it is because Mr. Walberg's team got the national championship. He deserves this win here.

Last month, this bill gained overwhelming support in committee with a vote of 42-0. It passed the House unanimously in the 117th Congress.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this bill today and support this legislation. I yield back the balance of my time.

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