Washington, DC - "This is an urgent humanitarian issue. My Administration is committed to leveraging every resource we have to confront this threat, to support the victims and survivors, and to hold traffickers accountable for their heinous crimes." ~ President Donald J. Trump

HUMANITARIAN CRISIS AT THE BORDER: There is a humanitarian crisis at the southern border as human traffickers victimize countless women and children.

• Transnational criminal organizations from Mexico and Central America engage in human trafficking in staggering numbers across our southern border.
• Human traffickers use loopholes in our immigration laws to exploit women and children.
  • More than 30% of women are sexually assaulted on the journey to our southern border.
  • Nearly 70% of migrants traveling north to the United States are victims of violence.
• In FY 2018, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) made 1,588 Human Trafficking arrests and identified 308 victims.
  • Of the 1,588 arrests, 1,543 were for sex trafficking violations.
• Without a wall, our southern border is wide open to human trafficking.

MORAL OBLIGATION: Democrats and Republicans have a moral obligation to build a wall to protect children and women from human trafficking.

• Congress has a moral responsibility to pass legislation that strengthens border security and includes funding for a wall to prevent human trafficking in all forms.
• We need a wall to provide an effective barrier to entry to help decrease kidnapping and human trafficking along the border.
• Despite Democrats’ objections, there is proof that walls deter illegal entry.
• Areas with walls have seen a decline in apprehensions of illegal aliens crossing the border.
  • In San Diego, illegal traffic dropped 92% over the past 23 years.
  • In the El Paso sector, illegal traffic dropped 72% in one year and 95% over 22 years.
  • In the Tucson sector, illegal traffic dropped 90% over 15 years.
  • In the Yuma sector, illegal traffic dropped 95% over 9 years.

ADMINISTRATION PRIORITY: President Trump has made stopping human trafficking an Administration priority.

• As one of his first acts as President, he signed an executive order to combat transnational criminal organizations that engage in trafficking and exploit people.
• Last year, the President signed the Abolish Human Trafficking Act (S. 1311) to strengthen programs supporting survivors and resources for combating modern slavery.
• Additionally, the President signed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (S. 1312), establishing new prevention, prosecution, and collaboration initiative to bring human traffickers to justice.
• The President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (PITF) is working to prosecute and combat human trafficking at home and abroad.
• Reaffirming this Administration’s commitment to ending human trafficking, President Trump proclaimed January 2019 as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month.
• In January, the President signed the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (S. 1862) that tightens criteria for countries to meet for eliminating trafficking.