Impactt Human Trafficking Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, S. 670, the IMPACTT Human Trafficking Act, is bipartisan legislation that has a dual purpose. It would establish the program within the DHS' Homeland Security Investigation unit, or HSI. It would also codify and expand the HSI Victim Assistance Program.

By establishing the IMPACTT program, this bill would ensure that outreach and training are available to HSI agents, forensic interviewers, survivor assistance specialists, task force officers, and other partners who work with survivors of human trafficking.

This work can be extremely taxing, exposing these individuals to the trauma of those they are working to help. By ensuring that these individuals receive support, such as through training to help recognize burnout and secondary traumatic stress, this legislation would help them be more effective, reduce turnover, and ensure that they can continue the important work of fighting human trafficking and assisting survivors.

The second component of this legislation would enhance the HSI Victim Assistance Program to ensure that every human trafficking survivor identified by HSI is assigned a survivor assistance specialist and that this program provides survivors with the support they need.

Survivor assistance specialists are a critical component of HSI's survivor-centered approach to addressing human trafficking. These specialists connect survivors to resources they might need and might not otherwise be aware of, help survivors understand their investigative and prosecutorial process, and train other law enforcement and private-sector partners so that survivors receive assistance that is survivor-centered, trauma-informed, and linguistically appropriate.

Currently, only the largest HSI field offices have a victim assistance specialist, but this legislation would ensure that every HSI office with a human trafficking or child exploitation task force would have a survivor assistance specialist to carry out this important work.

The Victim Assistance Program also provides forensic interview support so that survivors are not retraumatized during investigative interviews, and this bill would ensure that more survivors receive that support.

Finally, this bill would help address the immediate needs of survivors of human trafficking by providing funds for clothing, food, transportation, hygiene products, and temporary shelter.

This benefits the survivors by promoting their safety and reducing the chances that they end up back under the control of a trafficker. It also prevents crime and future victimization by increasing the chances that survivors are willing and able to assist law enforcement in bringing the perpetrators of trafficking to justice.

As the State's attorney of Prince George's County, I saw some of the harrowing experiences survivors of human trafficking experienced. This bipartisan legislation would provide important support to help them as well as those who work with them.

I commend Senator Peters and my House colleagues who jointly led the companion to this bill: Representatives Joyce, Titus, Wagner, and Slotkin. It is truly encouraging to see a bipartisan, bicameral bill that supports the survivors of human trafficking, and I hope we can all work together on more bipartisan legislation like this in the future.

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Mr. IVEY. Mr. Speaker, S. 670, the IMPACTT Human Trafficking Act, would enable more survivors to participate in the investigation and prosecution of the crimes committed against them and prevent future trafficking crimes. I support this bipartisan legislation, and I encourage my colleagues to do the same.

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