Missing Children's Assistance Act Amendment

Floor Speech

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Mr. WALBERG. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and rise in support of H.R. 5111.

Today, Mr. Speaker, the House of Representatives continues its commitment to providing the necessary tools and policies to help reduce child sex trafficking and better serve these victims in the United States. I want to thank Congresswoman Joyce Beatty for her leadership on this issue and for introducing H.R. 5111, which will improve the ability of law enforcement officials and others to respond to and assist these victims.

For too long these victims have been viewed as willing participants and have been treated as actors in the criminal scheme. However, we now know that oftentimes individuals are trapped as victims by human trafficking organizations, and sadly, many of these victims are children.

As previous House efforts have done, the bills today attempt to change for the better how we view these victims. Congresswoman Beatty's legislation will ensure that we view victims of sex trafficking not as participants but as victims, and ensure that child sex trafficking crimes are reported.

Under current law, the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children, NCMEC, operates a CyberTipline to provide online users and electronic service providers a means of reporting Internet-related child sexual exploitation in many areas, including child prostitution. However, children who are sex-trafficked or sexually exploited should be treated as victims, not criminals. In fact, approximately one out of seven runaway youth are likely victims of sex trafficking, and roughly one out of three youths are lured into prostitution within 48 hours of running away from home.

For this reason, H.R. 5111 would replace the term ``child prostitution'' with ``child sex trafficking'' in the CyberTipline reporting categories to reinforce that children who are sex-trafficked or sexually exploited are victims whose situation should be taken seriously when reported. It would also ensure the public recognizes that child prostitution is included in how NCMEC uses the term ``child sex trafficking,'' and thus should still be reported to the tip line.

Again, I want to thank Congresswoman Beatty, along with the Education and Workforce Committee and House leadership, for recognizing the need to steadfastly address this dreadful practice. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 5111.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. WALBERG. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the remainder of my time.

The passage of this legislation, Mr. Speaker, shows the House's commitment to not only bolstering enforcement efforts against human traffickers, but also ensuring that we properly identify victims.

I urge all Members to lead efforts in their districts, to continue the conversation, as I have done in mine, about human trafficking, to learn what more we can do in our communities to curtail this hideous crime.

During the human trafficking roundtables I have held in my district, law enforcement officials have consistently raised the need to make community members aware of the real and present threat of human trafficking. We must work to not only educate children, but also families and the general public about the safety risks.

H.R. 5111 is another step to educating our communities about human trafficking victims, and it continues our work to ensure that we are doing what we can to help reduce this horrible crime.

I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 5111, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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