Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), author of five comprehensive laws to fight human trafficking, issued the following statement on National Human Trafficking Awareness Day:

“On National Human Trafficking Awareness Day—and during National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month—I call on Congress, the State Department, and all citizens to redouble efforts to eradicate the scourge of human trafficking once and for all. Evil thrives in the shadows—we must bring to light the prevalence of this multi-billion dollar industry, punish the perpetrators, and help the victims.

“My Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act (P.L. 115-425), signed into law this week, commits over $430 million over four years for a comprehensive U.S. government response to human trafficking. My law would fund trafficking prevention programs, critical survivor assistance like shelter and therapy, and oversight to ensure U.S. commerce supply chains are free of labor trafficking and that government contractors are not employing traffickers. 

“The National Human Trafficking Hotline (1-888-373-7888) is an invaluable tool for reporting cases of trafficking. There have been over 45,000 human trafficking cases reported to the hotline since 2007, and New Jersey is consistently in the top 15 states for calls made to the hotline. My law would increase funding for this critical hotline and provide U.S. Citizen and Legal Permanent Resident (LPR) and foreign victims with 24/7 access to rescue and assistance through the hotline.”