Remarks as prepared at the HHS Trafficking In Persons In-Reach Campaign

Good afternoon. Thank you, Daniel Schneider, for that warm introduction. And thank you, Martha Newton, for the leadership that you and the Office of Refugee Resettlement have provided in identifying and aiding victims of human trafficking. I'm pleased to have this opportunity to talk to all of you about the problem of human trafficking and the scourge of modern-day slavery.

For almost 400 years, people have sought refuge and freedom in America. Of this, George Washington said:

The bosom of America is open to receive not only the Opulent and respectable Stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all Nations And Religions; whom we shall wellcome to a participation of all our rights and previleges?

Yet sometimes, people are brought to the United States only to find themselves forced into labor or sex slavery. Still others are U.S. citizens who are coerced into unthinkable situations. These people are victims of human trafficking - a devastating human rights violation that demands our attention.

Around the world every year, between 600,000 and 800,000 men, women, and children are trafficked across international borders. And between 14,500 and 17,500 of them are trafficked into the United States. Most of them come from Southeast Asia, Latin America, the former Soviet Union, Africa, and other developing countries. Eighty percent of the victims are women and girls. Half of the victims are girls and boys under the age of 18.

Meanwhile, thousands American citizens - including runaway and homeless youth, people living in poverty, and other vulnerable populations - are exploited for labor or sex in the very country that has always been their home.

Who are these people?

They can be nannies in the best neighborhoods or maids in hotels. They are homeless youths who are forced to earn money as prostitutes. They are American children who run away from home and exchange sex for a meal or a warm place to sleep. They are workers who dream of a better life in America, and yet are never paid for long hours in the field. They are foster children with severe behavioral problems. They are single mothers who are pressured into prostitution to make ends meet. Any of these people may be victims of human trafficking.

Every day, HHS programs provide care and services to thousands of men, women, and children. Some of these people, however, are also victims of human trafficking. HHS researchers studying disease, abuse, or mental health issues, may not consider the relevance of their research to human trafficking victims - but these people are relevant. And HHS surveyors may not realize that the populations they are studying can often include these people. We need to ensure that we are not missing opportunities to help victims of trafficking. We need to know how to recognize them when our programs come into contact with them.

President Bush has made abolishing human trafficking and modern-day slavery one of his key priorities. As the President said:

We must show new energy in fighting back an old evil. Nearly two centuries after the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade�the trade in human beings for any purpose must not be allowed to thrive in our time.

Secretary Leavitt and I are committed to meeting this charge, so I would like to talk with you about how we can better identify and serve human trafficking victims within your client populations.

Let me tell you about a woman from Central America. She came to the United States on a tourist visa. She planned to use her Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration to find work and send money back home to her family. She was taken to a beautiful home in one of the most affluent areas in Southwest Florida and given a job as a housekeeper. It wasn't until she had arrived that she discovered that her travel agency had sold her as a domestic slave. Once placed with the family, she could not leave. She had to ask permission to use the bathroom. She was forced to sleep on the ground by the family's swimming pool, where she was scarred by mosquitoes.

Since the traffickers allowed her to eat only once a week, she would wrap small portions of food in plastic and hide them in garbage cans. Fortunately, an alert local pastor recognized her situation for what it was and helped rescue her.

Another young woman from Guatemala was kidnapped by a Guatemalan native and brought to Florida. He forced the girl to work in tomato fields and sexually abused her. One day, a police officer responded to a domestic disturbance call at the trafficker's home and saw her cowering in a corner. The officer realized that the girl might be a victim of trafficking and brought her to a local domestic violence shelter.

This is the old evil that the President referred to - it's taking place in our country today.

HHS has a great number of programs and services available that can help victims of trafficking. Providing services is the easy part. In fact, many of them are already receiving HHS assistance. The hard part is actually recognizing the victims of trafficking for who they are. We should not have to rely on pastors or police offers fortuitously stumbling upon these people. If we can learn to recognize the face of a victim, we can do more than just reimburse their health care or give them TANF support. We can rescue them from the evil that keeps them in bondage.

Since the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act in 2000, HHS has been working with state and federal partners through our Office of Refugee Resettlement and interagency initiatives. We have been tasked with identifying, certifying, and assisting trafficking victims. To meet this charge, we have centered our efforts on helping victims rebuild their lives by providing them with short-term assistance - shelter, food, medical care - and long-term aid - counseling, language skills, job training, career planning, and education.

Over the past year, ORR has made a more concerted effort to educate their agency partners about human trafficking. We are happy that ORR Human Trafficking Program has already reached out to the SAMHSA-CMH-funded National Center for Trauma Informed Care, the HHS Office of Women's Health, and HRSA-Bureau of Primary Health Care's Division of Immigration Health Service. We are also looking forward to the fruits of the ORR Human Trafficking Program's work with the Family and Youth Services Bureau.

This is a good start. However, we have not had the opportunity to integrate the entire Department into this work. Now, we have become concerned that we may be missing opportunities to help victims.

So today, I am pleased to launch the HHS Trafficking In Persons In-Reach Campaign. This campaign is our first step toward a Department-wide response to human trafficking. Through it, we plan to educate people in all related areas of HHS on the problem of trafficking in persons, how to recognize victims, and what they should be doing about them.

I would like to encourage all of you to join the HHS In-Reach Campaign. ORR will be conducting quarterly trainings and roundtables as part of this Campaign. We would like each agency to designate a point of contact to participate in these sessions.

Talk with your program staff about how they can move forward in looking beneath the surface to rescue and restore human trafficking victims. You need to ask yourself if your program is currently serving people who might be human trafficking victims, or researching health issues that might affect victims of human trafficking? Think about your program's client populations, study populations, and scopes of research. Contact the ORR Human Trafficking program to discuss how collaboration through targeted Technical Assistance might help your program participate in anti-trafficking efforts.

As you can see from the victims' stories I told earlier, victim identification is the key to the success of the anti-trafficking movement. And since HHS is the federal agency responsible for providing social services to our nation's most vulnerable citizens, as well as researching and reporting on crucial health issues, it is vital that we all understand the problem of trafficking and learn how we can help victims.

As you begin to look beneath the surface and consider how your program might already be serving human trafficking victims, think about how you might work collaboratively with other parts of the Department. Think through what your program can do to champion and respond to the needs of people trapped in modern-day slavery.

Last, as you gain expertise in recognizing and serving human trafficking victims, share your knowledge with us - let us all learn from you as we move forward in the fight against human trafficking.

It is time for HHS programs to change in order to meet the needs of these suffering people. It is time - it is past time - for us to abolish slavery in the twenty-first century.

Now, I'd like to introduce Martha Newton, Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement. She will discuss the ORR Anti-Trafficking Program's work in trafficking victim identification, service provision, and public awareness.