House bill aims to help human trafficking victims
WASHINGTON – The House took up a series of bills on Monday to combat human trafficking, including one by Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., to boost aid to runaways and homeless youth vulnerable to traffickers.
The Heck bill passed by voice vote. It would allow federal research grants to be spent training local counselors who work with street youth, and to build programs to improve care to young people forced into prostitution or other crime.
Human trafficking “is not just a concern in foreign countries,” said Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich. “It is happening right here in the United States and right here in our own backyards.”
Heck was not present as the House debated his bill. His spokesman said the Nevada Republican, a brigadier general in the U.S. Army Reserve, was on mandatory military duty this week.
In a video posted to his YouTube page after the vote, Heck applauded House passage of the bill for the second consecutive year. The Senate has not yet acted.
Heck said the transient nature of Las Vegas and the city’s status as a major national and international destination make it a particular target for traffickers. He recalled meeting a young woman at a roundtable he sponsored last year who had become ensnared in the city’s sex industry and urged more be done to help trafficking victims.
“After hearing her story I was determined to do something to help,” Heck said.
