It’s the unthinkable crime that is nearly unknown to many law-abiding citizens. But human trafficking, unfortunately, is alive and well in the world, the United States and even West Virginia.
“When I began to learn more about human trafficking and saw the statistics, I was shocked that this horrific industry was making a fortune right here in our own backyard,” U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., told a summit she hosted at West Liberty University in Wheeling last week.
“It is not just occurring in other countries and on other continents. It is happening right here in our country ... While not in large numbers, trafficking occurs in West Virginia’s small communities and towns. In our hotels and at our truck stops. At our schools and online.”
Victims of human trafficking include minors involved in the sex trade, adults who are coerced or deceived into sexual acts and anyone forced into different forms of “labor or services such as domestic workers held in a home or farm workers forced to labor against their will.”
At last week’s summit, Tara Tighe, assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia, presented statistics showing how big the problem is in West Virginia, reported the Wheeling News Register. “Unlike drug dealers who sell their product one time, human traffickers sell the same people repeatedly,” she said.
Lt. Daniel Swiger of the State Police Crimes Against Children Unit said local police officers can make a difference if they embrace local runaway children rather than consider them as bad kids who are a nuisance.
“Let’s find out why they are running away,” he said, according to the News Register.
Capito is co-sponsoring bipartisan human trafficking legislation she says is “stuck in the politics of a dysfunctional Washington,” which is a polite way of saying Democratic Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is holding it up.
The Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act would establish a Domestic Trafficking Victim’s Fund using court fees and other penalties paid into the criminal justice system. It also aims to improve programs that deter child human trafficking, aid victims of child pornography and increase compensation and restitution for victims of trafficking.
Capito and others are right to bring attention to this issue.
Harry Reid needs to stop his obstructionist ways and allow the bill to proceed so that the horrific crime of human trafficking can be better deterred.