Senator Collins' Testimony On Human Trafficking Before The Senate Judiciary Committee

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Susan Collins testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee today during a hearing regarding human trafficking in the United States.

In her testimony Senator Collins said, “No state is immune from the evils of sex trafficking. Traffickers lure vulnerable victims with the promises of a better life and use violence, threats, lies, money, drugs, and other forms or coercion to trap them in a life of commercial sex…Congress must do more to provide law enforcement with the tools it needs to pursue sex trafficking and to support those preventive programs that help vulnerable women and men who fall victim to trafficking.”

Senators Collins, Ayotte (R-NH), Gillibrand (D-NY), and Mikulski (D-MD) testified today following a letter that all 20 women senators authored earlier this month urging the Judiciary Committee to hold the hearing.

In January, Senators Collins and Leahy (D-VT) reintroduced bipartisan legislation to curb youth homelessness, which affects 1.6 million teens throughout the country who are among the most likely to become victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation.

The full video of Senator Collins’ testimony can be viewed here