Why were hotel giants Hilton, Starwood, Marriott and Carlson mentioned on Capitol Hill Thursday during a hearing on global human trafficking? In a hearing that Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) called to examine findings in this year's Trafficking in Persons report, he noted that "American chain hotels in China as well as in Mexico have been locations of sex trafficking." Police raided a five-star Hilton in China last year and found prostitution and other criminal activity in the hotel's independently o... Read more

The nexus between transnational organized crime and human trafficking was examined by the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (The Helsinki Commission) at a hearing chaired by Congressman Chris Smith today. "We know that human trafficking—modern day slavery—is the third most lucrative criminal activity in the world,” said Smith. “According to the International Labor Organization (ILO) human traffickers make profits in excess of $31 billion a year. So it is not surprising that more a... Read more

The long history of violence and humanitarian crises in Zimbabwe and U.S. policy toward the troubled country were the focus of a congressional hearing Wednesday held by Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), chairman of the House congressional panel that oversees international human rights and African issues. “There is serious contention within the ruling party for the right to succeed President Mugabe once he leaves office, and added to the division within the opposition, politics in Zimbabwe is in f... Read more

Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04) testified today before the House Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement about his legislation, H.R. 2121, to deny senior Chinese leadership entry into the United States, as well as entry by individuals who have committed human rights abuses. “We are holding China to universal standards that apply to all states and that China itself claims to uphold,” said Smith, chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China and the chairman of the House p... Read more

The following text and video is from WABC New York Channel 7 about Naval Weapons Station Earle in Monmouth County, NJ. (WABC) -- They're a group of 46 security guards charged with protecting one of the most sensitive military installations in the area, the Earle Weapons Naval Station in Monmouth County. Not only did a federal contractor default on their pay, but the federal government recouped the money but then sat on hundreds of thousands owed to the workers. Click here to watch the video. Rou... Read more

The unknown condition of Chen Guangcheng, a blind human rights lawyer being oppressed by the Chinese government, was the topic of an emergency hearing of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China this afternoon. “As we sit here in this room today, free to meet, free to move, and free to speak our minds, we are convening to examine the plight of an extraordinarily brave man, and his equally courageous wife, who in every sense of the word is not free and at grave risk,” said Commission Chair... Read more

The Obama Administration’s decision to grant China a political waiver and India an upgrade in this year’s annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report issued by the State Department were questioned by the lawmaker who wrote the first-ever U.S. law to combat trafficking in 2000—the same law which also created the annual report and its ranking system (Public Law 106-386). A hearing held by Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), author of the landmark Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) as we... Read more

In ceremonies that celebrated courage and duty during the post office’s darkest days, officials and postal employees yesterday marked the anniversary of the anthrax attacks that contaminated the Route 130 plant and sickened five workers 10 years ago. Union leaders and postal officials reminisced not only about the anxiety that gripped workers in the wake of the 2001 bioterrorism attack, but also the spirit of unity that helped rebuild the postal facility as well as trust in America’s mail system... Read more

Members of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Central Jersey Chapter met with Congressman Chris Smith this week at his Mercer/Burlington Constituent Service Center. Families that attended expressed appreciation for the Congressman's support of funding for research and for other initiatives that could one day lead to a better life and possibly even a cure for those afflicted by Type 1 Diabetes. Federal efforts to find a cure and facilitate new treatments were discussed. Government Relation... Read more

Ten years ago today, Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), stood with workers of the U.S. Postal Service in the parking lot of the Trenton Processing and Distribution Center in Hamilton Township, N.J., as they and all the country and all the world struggled to grasp the impact of an anthrax attack and the threat it presented to the people who worked at the plant and beyond. Over 200 postal workers from two shifts attended today’s commemoration held in the same facility’s parking lot, including severa... Read more