Biography
Luis CdeBaca
Director
Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking In Persons
Term of Appointment: 05/18/2009
to present
In May 2009, Ambassador Luis CdeBaca was appointed by President Obama to direct the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons at the Department of State, where he serves as Senior Advisor to the Secretary. The Trafficking Office is statutorily mandated to coordinate U.S. government activities in the global fight against contemporary forms of slavery.
Mr. CdeBaca formerly served as Counsel to the House Committee on the Judiciary, where his portfolio for Chairman John Conyers, Jr. included national security, intelligence, immigration, civil rights, and modern slavery issues.
At the Justice Department, Mr. CdeBaca was one of the country's most-decorated federal prosecutors. He was honored with the Attorney General's Distinguished Service Award for his service as lead trial counsel in the largest slavery prosecution in U.S. history – United States v. Kil Soo Lee – which involved the enslavement of over 300 Vietnamese and Chinese workers in a garment factory in American Samoa. Mr. CdeBaca received the Director's Award from the Executive Office of United States Attorneys for his work on the New York "Deaf Mexican" trinket peddling slavery case, and was awarded the Department's highest litigation honor – the Attorney General's John Marshall Award – for his work as lead counsel in a path-breaking prostitution slavery case in Florida, United States v. Cadena. He has received the leading honor given by the national trafficking victim service provider community, the Freedom Network’s Paul & Sheila Wellstone Award, and has been named the Michigan Law School's Distinguished Latino Alumnus.
Mr. CdeBaca served as Chief Counsel of the Civil Rights Division's Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit under the Bush Administration, and during the Clinton Administration, was the Justice Department's Involuntary Servitude and Slavery Coordinator. He was instrumental in developing the United States' victim-centered approach to combating modern slavery. He has investigated and prosecuted servitude cases in which victims were held for prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation, farm labor, domestic service, and factory work. He has convicted dozens of abusive pimps and employers, and helped to liberate hundreds of victims from servitude.
A native New Mexican, Mr. CdeBaca was raised on a cattle ranch in Huxley, Iowa, and attended Iowa State University. He received his law degree from the Michigan Law School, where he was an editor of the Michigan Law Review.
Mr. CdeBaca formerly served as Counsel to the House Committee on the Judiciary, where his portfolio for Chairman John Conyers, Jr. included national security, intelligence, immigration, civil rights, and modern slavery issues.
At the Justice Department, Mr. CdeBaca was one of the country's most-decorated federal prosecutors. He was honored with the Attorney General's Distinguished Service Award for his service as lead trial counsel in the largest slavery prosecution in U.S. history – United States v. Kil Soo Lee – which involved the enslavement of over 300 Vietnamese and Chinese workers in a garment factory in American Samoa. Mr. CdeBaca received the Director's Award from the Executive Office of United States Attorneys for his work on the New York "Deaf Mexican" trinket peddling slavery case, and was awarded the Department's highest litigation honor – the Attorney General's John Marshall Award – for his work as lead counsel in a path-breaking prostitution slavery case in Florida, United States v. Cadena. He has received the leading honor given by the national trafficking victim service provider community, the Freedom Network’s Paul & Sheila Wellstone Award, and has been named the Michigan Law School's Distinguished Latino Alumnus.
Mr. CdeBaca served as Chief Counsel of the Civil Rights Division's Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit under the Bush Administration, and during the Clinton Administration, was the Justice Department's Involuntary Servitude and Slavery Coordinator. He was instrumental in developing the United States' victim-centered approach to combating modern slavery. He has investigated and prosecuted servitude cases in which victims were held for prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation, farm labor, domestic service, and factory work. He has convicted dozens of abusive pimps and employers, and helped to liberate hundreds of victims from servitude.
A native New Mexican, Mr. CdeBaca was raised on a cattle ranch in Huxley, Iowa, and attended Iowa State University. He received his law degree from the Michigan Law School, where he was an editor of the Michigan Law Review.
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