Shop. If there are any questions, you can ask me for the doj staff here, we have folks standing in the back with badges and name credentials and theyre here to help you, please feel free to make use of us. We will wait for a few minutes until the stage is reset, and then well begin with our panel. Thank you all very much. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] ladies and gentlemen, if you will please take your seats we really begin our first panel of the morning. Session one this morning as a panel on effective Law Enforcement. Weve assembled nothing less than absolute allstar panel for you today, and they are on their way out right now as i understand. Ladies and gentlemen, i will turn to our moderator to it reduce our distinguished panel of the honor falls upon me to introduce our moderator. Pete williams of nbc news. Pete has come at the Justice Department and the Supreme Court for nbc news since 1993. Among the stories he has reported, the Oklahoma City bombing, the olympic bombing in the search for eric rudolph, the clinton impeachment proceedings, the legal wrangling over the 2000 florida election results, the federal governments investigation following the september 11 terrorist attacks and the Boston Marathon bombing and trial. He is a recipient of three National News emmy awards. A native of casper, wyoming, and a 1974 graduate of stanford, he was a News Reporter and news director at katie wo radio and television in casper for mac and 741985. He came to washington in 1986 o join the staff of congressman dick cheney as a legislative assistant and press secretary. In 1989 when cheney was named secretary of defense, williams was appointed assistant secretary of defense for public affairs. He served as pentagon spokesman during the persian gulf war and military operations in panama and somalia. The National Association of government communicators named him communicator of the year in 1991. Ladies and gentlemen, pete williams. [applause] thank you thank you very muc. A pleasure to be here today. Are these still working . Im sure something will happen soon. [inaudible] we are off to a great start. Does anyone know sign language . Let me just use my big boy voice [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] you we go. He was elected in 2016 with a commanding 62 of the vote but as based on television, but wait, theres more. Its the total number of votes he got, and correct me if im wrong, its the largest total that any candidate has ever gotten in the history of indiana politics. He served four terms as prosecutor in Elkhart County which is home turf for him. He is a martial arts black belt, so let that be a wilson to the lesson to the rest of you. Hes an accomplished actor who for some reason hes being cast as the king of siam and the king and i. Hillary axes director of [inaudible] shes been a federal prosecutor in the department of justice since 2001 and Human Trafficking [inaudible] she join the prosecution unit as senior litigation counsel when the unit was formed in 2007 and she has been its director since 2009. [inaudible] apparently starting when she was ten years old and is executive director of its Case Analysis division. She is an expert on the issue of child sex trafficking. Laster was appointed to the National Advisory committee on sex trafficking of children in the United States. And im going to ask each of our panelist to make some brief introductory marks, so we will start with eric. You may need this one. We will share. So thank you. Good morning, everyone. Its a real honor to be here, having been sworn in in the Northern District of texas just a little over 60 days ago. But it is like going home. I served almost ten years there in the district and i can tell you that the Northern District of texas is always prioritizing human traffic cases to weve been working those cases for many years and fortunately weve seen an uptick in investigations. I think primarily because we have been collaborating with our federal, state and local partners, and weve been working with justice to coordinate our efforts so we have seen these cases come up. Any prosecutor, and ive made to dedicate a prosecutor in my office that taken on one of these cases, is very supportive of the because working with these victims, oftentimes you, just very involved in these cases and are lifelong prosecutors in these areas. I did want to mention two aspects of these cases briefly and then im sure well get into the more as a speak as a panel. Number one, the investigative nature of these cases, they are very tough to investigate. Our local, state, and federal partners tell us this is one of the most difficult aspects of the case, getting the victims to come forward, working with the victims, and we see this in so many ways where this often becomes most challenging aspect of our ability to bring the case. Then when we take victims through the process and into trial, prepping these victims further testament is very emotional for them and it becomes a very difficult task as we get into trial with aspects of credibility and aspects of emotionality that are not typical for other cases. I would also say one thing that is incredibly important to our district is the collaboration with our federal, state and local partners. In the Northern District of texas we have a north texas Human Trafficking task force and we pull in all of the police department. We pull in our federal partners. We pull in state ags office and also importantly import peoplee social service partners. These are a crucial aspect of our ability to make these cases to work with victims and to take them through the entire process. I think for my other brother and in other districts i talk to them about their efforts and this is become the critical aspect of our ability to speed investigate these cases picked e last thing i would mention is just the importance of having forums like this and summits like this. The department has prioritize Human Trafficking and we are seeing that that is also critical aspect to us to have the awareness factor, get out to our communities. When many of the people think its not happening in their community, and i assure you it is. Just getting into look for the signs of trafficking, getting people to raise their hand and allow a specially trained investors to go in and start looking at some of these issues is vitally important to our efforts. So i thank you to having you having me here today and i look for to the panel. Thank you. Good morning. I want to thank the attorney general, the Deputy Attorney general and associate attorney general for gathering us today together to contends our focusn combating Human Trafficking. When we see this kind of leadership at the top it immediately translates to energy and momentum on the front lines. This is what leadership looks like with all officials of this department [inaudible] [inaudible] combating Human Trafficking. [inaudible] i look at where i was 17 years ago, when i came in young prosecutor [inaudible] [inaudible] here i i am today, and idealisc old prosecutor. Its been incredible to see the progress weve made. Its moments like this when we see so much [inaudible] for so many decades and [inaudible] that we can appreciate how far we have. [inaudible] so that is versus now. At the time we formed the special unit the department was prosecuting 32 cases a year involving forced labor, International Sex trafficking and sex trafficking of adults, comp lamenting the criminal divisions Child Exploitation work which includes domestic child sex trafficking pics of our unit was consolidated to focus on the forced labor transnational and adult sex trafficking aspect of this really wideranging threat. And at the time 32 cases a year, and unthinkable record made possible only by broad new statute and critically the victim protection that comes with that powerful statue to enable victims to stabilize, recover the lives and speak out and cooperate with us as witnesses. That was a man. We have tripled that was then. With tripled the number of cases bring over 100 of them just last year alone, and theres a key reason for that, and as United States attorney said, the reason is partnerships. These cases are complicated. They are resource intensive. They are a long haul and it takes all hands on deck, everybody bring their specialist expertise in working as one team, federal, state, local tribal, international. Both Law Enforcement and governmental and nongovernmental. Everybody is a key player in this and thats why its so exciting to have this opportunity to bring together such a diverse and talented and experienced group of partners in this room. Sometimes it feels like slowgrowing, two steps forward, one step back here but when you reflect on the aggregate impact of our collective work, we now since the formation of this unit in 2007 initiated over 700 federal cases against over 1600 defendants and secured more than 1200 convictions just in these forced Labor International and adult sex trafficking cases. Thats all in addition to continuing record numbers of child sex trafficking cases, and other forms of Child Sexual Exploitation cases brought by our counterparts in the criminal divisions, Child Exploitation section. So numbers are one thing but whats incredible is each one of these cases represents human lives recovered and restored and in some cases one prosecution represents dozens or even hundreds of victims who were preyed upon by those defendants and you are now restored to lots of freedom and independence. Theres a reason we been able to bring these high impact complex prosecutions that truly dismantle organized trafficking enterprises. Thats because of partnerships. The attorney general reference the initiative of the u. S. Mexico bilateral work. These are both examples of the power of partnerships. There are never enough hands to go around, though its incumbent upon us to work smarter, to do the forced Multiplier Effect of working in a streamlined, efficient manner. And thats what these partnerships have done. The acting initiative is phase one double the number of prosecutions in the six pilot disappeared stage ii two is now well underway with incredible progress and we were very auditor United States attorney broker from the Minneapolis Team to tell us about some of the incredible developments in that district. The u. S. Mexico bilateral work is a partnership between doj, Homeland Security, and our mexican Law Enforcement counterparts. These are cases that threaten the Public Safety of the mexican people as was the United States people, and targets some of the most vulnerable victims for compelled prostitution that devastates their lives. And it exploits them on both sides of the border. The traffickers are working seamlessly across International Borders so the counter traffickers must come at you, and doesnt weve established with our bilateral work. These partnerships have allowed us to bring high impact prosecutions that were unthinkable a decade earlier that charged multiple defendant defendants, apprehend them simultaneously on both sides of the border, charging them with racketeering, conspiracy, trafficking, immigration crimes, Money Laundering and other related violations to truly dismantle these heinous and Blue Networks at their roots. Brutal networks. In ten states the power of partnership and another important thing that u. S. Attorney cox alluded to, the United States attorneys broker will refer to and the attorney general associate attorney general reference as well and its something that everybody in this room knows extremely well from the work on the front line. Its the imports of survivors that our strategy, we stabilize victims, we empower them to be able to come forward and recount stories that they were otherwise too terrified to tell, and its that silence that allows these crimes to persist. So these victim protection from the survivor approach is not only mandated by the Trafficking Victim protection act, it is in or that has ever worked as would make inroads into combating Human Trafficking. The Survivor Center strategies are the reason we are breaking new ground. The other reason we been able to work with drug addicted victims of sex trafficking. That is a population that is usually extremely reluctant to work with Law Enforcement, but traffickers prey on that reluctant and they manipulate the fear of opiate withdrawal to control the victims, using that very drug addiction as a chemical tether to all the victims in captivity and compelled into prosecution regarded by using our victim centered strategy to recover, restore and stabilize the victims and survivors are we able to take down those trafficking schemes that pose a double edged threat to our Public Safety, perpetuating the Opioid Epidemic and the scourge of sex trafficking. Survivor Center Strategies are the reason were able to the spanish these mexican Trafficking Networks, the reasonable able to dismantle a network that compelled young watermelon boys, some as young as 14, to labor in Hazardous Conditions for minimal pay in ohio. There were too terrified to speak up because of a threat to the family perpetrated by the traffickers. Only by stabilizing and protecting them were we able to get the testimony necessary to convict this eight member conspiracy that undermined the integrity of our borders by smuggling these victims in and that threaten the Public Safety by abusing and exploiting some extremely vulnerable individuals. Of all the partnerships that are so critical to our efforts, we are most grateful to the partnership of survivors themselves. They give us insight, expertise, and guidance that we cannot get anywhere else from their view on the front line of this threat. Without them and their courage to come for to work with us, these crimes would remain hidden from view. They are the centerpiece of our broadbased alliances and peace at the trafficking alliances of are stronger now than theyve ever been, if they continue to grow every day thanks to all of you and our leadership who is bring energy to this fight by bringing us all together to strengthen those partnerships. We are excited to build on this momentum and we look forward to working with all of you to bring more traffickers to justice than ever before, and vindicate the right to the victims and survivors of Human Trafficking. Check his microphone. Are we good . These federal budget cuts are hell, i tell you. [laughing] can anybody hear me okay . Great. My name is priscilla, attorney general for indiana. Please to be here to talk about this incredibly important topic. I represent the states attorney general and i can tell you attorney generals all over the country are taking each of Human Trafficking very seriously and taking leadership roles in outline implementation strategies within the states. One of the things important to note is 85 of all prosecutions are at the state and local level. The local level. Many cases those localities are far removed on issues of the day so its very fair that we create awareness opportunity to make sure the awareness act is there and followed up with implementation or i can tell you use go several years ago i was at an event and it was the first time i had heard someone speak indepth about Human Trafficking. It was a woman who herself was a victim of Human Trafficking speak up . Thank you. It was a woman who herself had been a victim is that better . Ill just shout. I can do that. Try this one. I brought this one from home. Is this one better . That when is a lot better. My name is priscilla, ideas Indiana Attorney general. [laughing] we wont put you through that. But the first time is i heard anything indepth about human traffic i i was at an event uso and a woman who had been the victim of Human Trafficking had given a presentation and i have to admit as a longtime prosecutor stuck in my ways of understanding what happened in the world of criminal sex crimes, i was thinking shes just talking about prostitution. It took me a little bit of time to understand that no, this was something differently when not talking about a situation of voluntary criminal behavior. Were talking about coercion and involuntary behavior into a criminal organized pattern. Once you understand that you recognize the difficulty that it takes to break through not only the awareness issues but also how to get things taken care of, how to get it done, how to bring people that are responsible and hold them accountable for the activities. Thats a very important aspect im interested in. I was once engaged in a conversation of how do we go from awareness to getting things done. In our office at across the country attorneys general are making sure we are working with businesses and working with er rooms come working with hotels, working with any types of industry or businesses that might have come in contact with those who are victims of Human Trafficking so that we can identify where it is occurring. A real important aspect of what we have to discussed and hopefully will discuss today is of the resource issue. Most of local Law Enforcement deals in a reactionary mode. Crime occurs someone calls 911, cops go out and investigate, prepare a report, dated to the prosecutor. Thats the typical situation. We cant have a typical Law Enforcement response in a criminal organization aspect such as Human Trafficking. This is organized crime and it requires intelligence gathering and, unfortunately, one of the shortcoming at the local level is the lack of resources for extensive longterm investigatory activities. Thats why its important to have a coalition of responsive between the federal government, State Government and local governments absolutely bone graft ridden by ways in which we can get the local Police Departments who are beginning to understand the importance of Human Trafficking but to get them the resources so they can engage in whats necessary for successful apprehension and prosecution of those who profit from these particular offenses. Im happy to be here to be a part of the discussion. More importantly im unhappy tr to be a part of the solution, to taking things that we learn and discuss here and turning them into Real Life Solutions on how we can fix and solve these problems. Thank you very much. Thank you. Im honored to beer today on behalf of the National Center for missing and exploited children. We were treated in 1984 by john walsh and other child advocates is a private nonprofit organization. Congress doesnt even National Center of definitions issues surrounding missing and exploited children. Our mission is to prevent child abduction, respond to missing children and combat and deter Child Sexual Exploitation. Relevant to todays discussion where the National Clearinghouse for reports were to child sex trafficking and we use that information to provide assistance to Law Enforcement, first responders, victim specialist rooted to the identification, recovery and location of child sex Trafficking Victims in this country. What we are seeing is in the United States a population of children that are particularly portable are missing children and especially those children that go missing from care, social services care. Another population we see that especially vulnerable are those you that are homeless. They may be forced out of their home to their sexual orientation, domestic violence, they may be gang involved for these children maybe trafficked by family members as well. We see traffickers that are recruiting in schools, in foster care, in shopping malls, at bus stops but most definitely online. We have several resources that are multifaceted to address this crime. We offer resource of religion missing child cases that are there to support Law Enforcement as these often become multijurisdictional cases. Its not uncommon for traffickers to move these kids from city to city or state to state an effort to thwart Law Enforcement identification. We leverage our nationwide resources of identified Law Enforcement who specialize in child recovery to make it a a e efficient process for Law Enforcement, but most important to the victims needs first. As a National Organization we have the ability to see trends and observe them on a nationwide basis, and some of them are extremely concerning. Last year one out of seven of the missing kids reported to the National Center also victims of child sex trafficking. 88 of those victims had run from that care or custody of social services. We are seeing the traffic buyers are targeting teens pick the average age of child sex Trafficking Victims reported to the National Center is only 15. Trafficking victims can be male, transgender or female. Historically, males made up less than 1 of the victims known to the National Center just last year that number rose to 5. 3 . In addition to resources surrounding missing child cases we operate in the cyber tip line, an efficient mechanism for the public and Electronic Service providers to make reports about possible Child Sexual Exploitation, specifically child sex trafficking. We get them into the hand of Law Enforcement nationwide so theyre available for possible investigation. Understanding that this crime is multifaceted it needs a multifaceted response. The recovery, location and identity of these children is the first step, but the second step has to be providing them with services. They are crime victims and they deserve those services but theyre not defined by their victimization. Based on the trauma they faced, often longterm and chronic, some of that recovery can be ripe with challenges. And as a result we have several resources to provide, to provide the resources postrecovery. That includes working with Law Enforcement, social services, as well as family members to plan for that recovery in advance. We need to make sure that the services are identified early on, so that at the point of recovery were not scrambling to try to figure out what those children need. We also work with families long term to provide resources through the Family Advocacy division, to make sure they receive referrals for needs in the local community. Knowing that Recovery Services and stabilization is often followed up by criminal and civil cases to hold everyone accountable for that childs victimization, we provide legal Technical Assistance to prosecutors, civil attorneys and families as well to help them navigate the complex cases we already heard can include, state, federal, sometimes international law. Im here today and very excited to be part of the panel and echo sentiments of prior panelists to be a part of the solution. I look forward to providing examples how the National Center can be part of those resources and the many topics around this issue. Thank you all very much for the opening comments. Let mow ask a couple questions if i may, first of all for any of you and all of you talk about the cooperation from federal government, local Law Enforcement, victim assistance, how much help are you getting the from the Business Community, from the Hospitality Industry, from agriculture, from the industries where people are, where their labor is forced, how many cooperation are you getting . Is it Getting Better . Speak into the gizmo there. You got it on. Good luck. I will weighed in first, talking about Human Trafficking in that realm but not near enough. That is why it is important to have forums like this. It is no surprise that we see upticks, especially sex trafficking cases on the of big sports events. Were on the eve of super bowl. Were talking about what signs to look for in some industry historically not known what to look for and come forward. Were seeing that but we would like to see more. By way of example, within the last two weeks we announced in indiana were enhancing our Human Trafficking initiatives. And as a result of that we have received over 20 inquiries in the last two weeks, requests for educational seminars, requests for information at the local level, for resources, from prosecutors, offices as well as information from businesses. So i think as we are more effective in getting the word out that this is a very important problem, especially when we tie it to what is going on with the Opioid Crisis and the correlation between drug use and Human Trafficking, and how all of that is degradation of our society at large. Businesses are becoming more aware. That is the good news. The bad news they need to be much more aware. Much of our efforts we continue to play connect the dots of the warning signs what people look for and warn authorities. I wonder some of this in essence depend or at least tolerate this, agriculture, Hospitality Industry, hotel maids, people that make sugar beats, in a sense do they not want you to be too successful . I think there is a lot of opportunity there. Were starting to realize the full scope of the opportunity. For example, we prosecuted sex trafficking cases where one witness in our order of proof, among victims, case agents, testifying about the electronic evidence and documents seized and travel documents, one witness telling a story, hotel desk clerk. Testimony boils down to working there. This same man, a defendant, came in with a series of different young women. Rented four or five rooms at a time. Always asking the different young woman to present her i. D. , paying in cash. Leaving the next morning coming back in a week with another different young woman with their i. D. S and renting for cash. That is what we in Law Enforcement call a clue. We should make the folks in position to protect that clue responsible an detecting reporting that clue. If youre in private industry this just does not occur in the motel 6 by the airport or by the loading dock. It occurs at very Highend Hotels in prestigious parts of our cities and nobody wants their hotel lobby has a big sign, human traffic something occurring right under your nose. That is not good for business, right . There is a little tension there. Think about it, we have all warning signs about other issues that should concern us, like dangers of not washing your hands. The right to be paid minimum wage. There are posters requiring that and required by law and there are opportunities to put notices out to employees and youre responsible for detecting an reporting signs when you see them. There is a lot of opportunity there. Every time we take on a con a concerted effort like the attorney general from indiana referenced where you engage firstresponders or Health Care Providers or code inspectors or alcoholic beverage licensing personnel, when you target a sector of our economy like that you see results and they start saying, oh, my goodness, i have seen a situation like that where i had a patient and instead of answering my questions, that patient turned to the older gentleman who was hovering in the background and let him answer every single time i asked her a simple question, that is another clue. That is it what we need to get out there to folks in all sectors of our economy who are in a position to detect and report and allow us to bring more of these cases. Pete, i think you bring up a very good point because it is very easy to see the really bad actors. The ones who are clearly willfully violating the law. But what about the people who turn a blind eye, who probably know whats going on or have a clue that it is not on the up and up. But because of profit, but because it is not their responsibility, ignore the problem . That is even different than someone who is completely ignorant. Our first issue of awareness, we want to go after people ignorant of the problem to let them understand. If someone doesnt know, getting them information will often times help. For that middle group, the group really knows there is something going on, theyre complicit. That is a difficult place to go. And it requires good intelligence. It is awareness issue, but more than awareness. It is getting people to recognize their part in this and certainly we need to make sure that more people recognize it that they have a part to play in correcting this problem. Let me ask you about the victims let me start with you, if i may, mr. Hill, does indiana have socalled safe harbor laws meaning you will not prosecute victims, for example if a young person is compelled to engage in underage sex, will you prosecute them . And secondly, let me ask you on the federal level is it clear that the federal government uniformly will give these people relief from deportation . Well the, it is a tricky situation that requires each individual case to be seen as it is. Not everyone who is engaged in, lets say prostitution is there willingly. In the old days if you had a case of a prostitution the investigation would look at how do we get to the johns. Typically you would end up, you would prosecute the prostitutes. And that was it. This is an entirely different matter. Were talking about victims were identify having been cokersed, doing something involuntarily. That is something we have not understood over a party in terms of what the offense really is. We have someone perpetrating a crime under our typical statute who they themselves is a victim. It is imperative we recognize that when occurring. But its a matter of prosecutorial discretion in indiana or is there a safe harbor law. It is prosecutorial discretion. We have statutes, our statutes on Human Trafficking have a measure, i think they need to be adjusted, they have a measure of coercion as a factor. We have to get past proving by force or coercion as it is defined. We have to tendency to think by force i made you do this. Force has much different connotation. Perhaps it is getting you drugs. Perhaps it is providing you a place to stay, other ways that have forced some one into activities they did not want to incur or engage in. We have to establish when that occurs and provide victims with the treatment they require, which is victims and witnesses of the offenses. What were after in Human Trafficking not to punish those being used in this regard. Were after those who are bringing them into the fold and encouraging the behavior and profiting from the behavior. And we can only do that if we are able to make sure we turn these folks into the witnesses that they have to be to help us. So what is the National Center view on safe harbor laws and how are [inaudible] i think safe harbor is a broad term that can include bar to prosecution and affirmative defense and we think it is important that no child being arrested for the crime being committed against them. Were talking about a crime of abuse and rape. It is not a choice to participate in sex trafficking when youre a minor. As a result safe harbor has a lot of intended positive consequences and has come a long way. I think one of the most important things we need to include beyond just that protection from arrest, is the fact that it must include Sustainable Resources and services for that victim. If there is potential for moving forward with a criminal investigation, providing that child with resources to stablize them is the best way in the course of action to move forward but these are also complex systems that we involve children in. A lot of these kids dont have adult advocates that are there, helping them navigate these complex systems. Depending on needs they may have, they might be dealing with the department of Mental Health as well as maybe some drug and alcohol services, housing, et cetera, that we need people, some states refer to them as navigators, to help these children navigate through these complex systems that are steined to hurt them. How many states have such advocates or navigators . I know one state is a model for the country in minnesota and we were recently out there in preparation for the super bowl and to see their coordinated response between the multidisciplines in that community to even include the Hospitality Industry and ride share, taxi, uber lyft, et cetera. This is area where states have a long way to go . I think they have come a long way and they can still move forward. What about the question of removal or deportation for adults . I really want to thank you how you framed that question, i confess, said Great Questions to many moderators and not meant it. You say that to all the moderators. No i have not, but but i reay mean it. You get to the heart of matter. They engage in prostitution. Some are using drugs. Theyre in the United States at least without papers. These are the things that Law Enforcement at first glance, these signs of a criminal. The transformation in Law Enforcement culture thats necessary to effectively combat Human Trafficking is the transformation to seeing them as crime victims and that exposures prosecution for engaging in commercial sex, using and buying drugs or being in the United States illegally is a vulnerability that traffickers exploit. We have to recognize that vulnerability and address it so we can stablize and empower these individuals and only then do they become a witness and only then do we have the evidence to dismantle the criminal enterprise that causes that drug distribution, that causes that widespread commercial essential exploitation. That is why the Trafficking Victims act takes the issue head on and classifies nonprosecution of victims for conduct resulting from their victimization. Thats why there are immigration protections provided by law in that federal statute specifically for Trafficking Victims. For duration of the investigation and prosecution. Then a longerterm, temporary nonimmigrant visa. Is that a bar to only federal prosecution or state and local prosecution as well . Its a principle of nonprosecution codified in the tbpa, implementing that principle is a subject of great debate and rapidly evolving areas of law with different approaches in many different jurisdictions. As stacy referred to, there is a wide range from outright, safe harbor, nonprosecutability in the first instance to affirmative defenses to viejo katetor provisions for vacate tor. Proposals at the federal level that follow along the spectrum of those different options. There is very much an active debate and different approaches are being tested. There is a lot of different ways we can address this but regardless of the Legal Mechanism for implementing the principle of nonprosecution of victims we can only address this threat by seeing through that superficial criminal exposure of the victim recognizing it as a vulnerability and working with the victims and survivors to stablize them and partner with them to take on the real criminal threat of the traffickers. So they are victims, not codefendants . Exactly and that actually echoes the point i was making earlier which is their immigration status or their belief theyre committing a crime, makes it that much harder for them to come forward. And the people perpetrating these Human Trafficking organizations play upon that vulnerability. These victims are told you cant go to Law Enforcement. If you do, you will be deported. You cant go to Law Enforcement because you will be put into jail. Many victims are runaways, no place to live. Even in the forced labor cases were dealing with folks that have no ability to go out to get housing and get shelter, get a job without help and they are afraid to come forward and it is one of the toughest problems that we have, being able to communicate to these victims there actually is a path for them and then being able to work with our Community Outreach partners to help them when they do make, when they do make that first brave step to reach out and trust in the system that they heard about. Now you have all mentioned that the trafficking, traffic victims protection act which is originally, what, 2000, reauthorized 03, 08, 013, up for reauthorization again this year. You mentioned a few months ago, hillary, what the tone is often states, but staca, some of ways that you believe the legislation is essential and answer if you can what are its prospects. I think legislation is essential because it defines the victimization and it has really been able to narrow the scope in terms of a topic a lot of people have trouble understanding this, the term of trafficking. So from the perspective of children, one of the most important things it has done was to clarify that children are victims, whether or not they have identified a third party trafficker, controller, that is involved in their victimization. Can you explain that. I dont understand. Absolutely. Trafficking occurs if a child is involved in commercial sex. Anything of value traded for sex, that could be a place to say, food, drugs, et cetera. So if that child encounters Law Enforcement or if that child encounters a Service Provider theyre deemed a victim according to the federal law and there has been some debate and historically it has been more difficult if the child doesnt identify a trafficker being viewed as a Trafficking Victim in those instances. So this has been crucial and one element of an extremely broad and very important piece of legislation but its also had a huge effect in terms of connecting these victims with services. To echo what i was talking about before in terms of understanding the victimization and having the knowledge that, at the point of recovery the likelihood of them already, we heard from other panelists about the barriers to them speaking out. This automatically deems them as the victim, it is one of the more important things like i said in a large piece of legislation. What does it mean for you, mr. Hill, for the states . One of the things we have to look at the victims often times dont recognize that they are victims and one of the even with our understanding that we want to treat them as victims and move in a different direction, often times the only way to get them into our clutches if you will, is through the criminal process. Now that doesnt mean you have to follow through with prosecution but its wonderful if we have victims who recognize whats going on, who voluntary come in for assistance. It is wonderful if they go to Law Enforcement. Typically they are caught up in a dragnet. Theyre arrested. They dont see themselves as victims . They see themselves as coconspirators . They see themselves living their life the way they need to live their life. I dont know that they are considering themselves could conspirators of anything. For them they need to do what they need to do. Our times only ability to get into their mindset is through the arrest. Now from that point forward we certainly have a lot of flexibility we can work at working away from an ultimate prosecution but we have to be careful with the concept of simply saying theyre never, they should never be engaged in the criminal process because unfortunately that is one of the few ways we can actually get to them. I guess im a little confused though. If you bust up a child sex ring lets say, you find five young women, young teenagers, and if they, as you just put it, come into your clutches, are introduced to you and they dont know, do they consider me a part of the crime or do they consider me a part of the victim, why dont you want to send that message right at the beginning to reassure them . Why is it important to say were here to help . I think we absolutely do want to do that, when you bust through the door that is a Law Enforcement move. So immediate action thats in place is a arrest, sorting, whos who. We have to identify who is doing what. Who is our target. Who are these other folks. Maybe these people here dont belong to this process. There is investigatory process that has to take place so we even understand what were looking at. We often times just dont go in and know who all the players are and relate. If we have that information, that is great. But the vast majority of time we dont know the players. So everybody gets caught up. Then what has to happen is the sorting. Okay, who is this role . What is this . As soon as we can identify that weve got someone here who is underage, we have got someone here who clearly has been a victim, and dont misunderstand when i say clearly. Maybe not so clear. Certainly we suspect this is a victim situation, that we need to make steps, or take the appropriate steps to get them the information they need on the resources to move forward is. If i could ask you two questions, miss cox, number one, how important to you is the tbpa . Secondly from the federal Law Enforcement perspective do you approach these things the same way, when you find a young person, you have to decide whether you sort them into the victim or the codefendant group . Well, obviously the federal statute is very important to us and very important to our efforts. Why . Because it presents us with the possibility of characterizing victims as victims. It gives us avenues for immigration status. It emphasizes the priority to the department of Human Trafficking. It plays on a number of different ways in extremely important to our efforts in this field. And your second question in terms of, how do we have the intake of these cases. You have to look at it in two different ways, right . Were conflating a little bit with the child section trafficking cases and adult sex trafficking cases and forced labor. Fair enough. In child sex trafficking cases are easier, what we want to do is try to identify the organized element how theyre being trafficked so we can prosecute the individuals that are organizing and creating the situation for them. In the adult trafficking area, in the forced labor area often times much harder to identify its victims without pulling that information from them and in the context of forced labor cases its sometimes even harder because, as attorney general hill said, sometimes they dont identify themselves as victims. Theyre here. They come from other countries that come from deprived status in other countries. Theyre here. Theyre happy to be here. They dont necessarily recognize this is not right for the person that has brought them here to be doing to them what theyre doing. They also feel very, you know, in our cases they also feel like they have no real ability to go anywhere and do anything. Why some of our forced labor cases are some of the hardest to identify and target and to investigate. Let me ask you about a different part of this process and that is judges and juries. Let me start with you. Is it your sense judges and juries get it or do you have to educate them about the nature of victimization . That is the exact challenge we take on every time we charge one of these cases and bring it to court. Will the judge, the jury understand why this scheme was coercive enough to overcome the will of this vulnerable individual and turn them into a victim . And i just, superstitious enough, knock wood while i say this, weve been pleasantly surprised time and again they do get it. When we enable a victim to be able to come into court and tell the story people understand that trafficker, engaged in a deliberate scheme to leave that person with no choice, no safe choice, and the law, this is one thing that is very strong about the Trafficking Victims protection act. It codifies the principle that you must analyze the scheme of coercion from the perspective of a reasonable person in the victims situation. The legal question is not whether this action was enough to overcome the will of the judge, the jury and educated person with stable, loving home and you know, literacy and identification documents and, it is whether it was enough to overcome the will of a person in that situation, whether it is, that they are severely drugaddicted from fleeing a home where they were subjected to physical and abuse and violence before the trafficker targeted them. Before coming from disruption, extreme poverty and violence in their home country and have fled on a promise of a better life. Whether they have been promised love, marriage, Economic Opportunity and education. And they get here and they literally know nobody. They dont speak the language. They dont have a document. There is no safe way for them to leave that situation without fearing serious harm to themselves, to their families, because of threats they have heard. Because of debts they have incurred to pursue this opportunity. So the tbpa is powerful strucking the judge and jury under law to identify the defendants actions from a reasonable person in that situation and when you have that evidence of the deliberate scheme that pulls together isolation, threats, deliberating exhausting victims. We had Filipino Workers in a hotel in south dakota and they were worked 16 hours a day. Then required to walk a mile down the road without coats in the winter in the dakotas to this place where the traffickers would then yell at them for two hours about how bad they were at their jobs and how they needed to do more. Wake them up if they started to fall asleep, wearing them down with exhaustion. When you tell that story to a judge and jury everybody understands that is not what a boss does to run a hotel when they want their workers to do get work at a hotel. What you do when you want to break somebodys will and coerce them and control them and exploit them and underpay them, have them at your disposal. People have been able toed in that. Now as everybody understands, getting to the point where we have the evidence of the whole story, and i really want to echo the point that people donteyed time them dont identify themselves as victims because they may come from a background where they were exploited and fearful of dire consequences if they dont fall into line. More often i had victims scream at me, you ruined everything. I had them say thank you for pulling them out of the situation. There are many reasons for that. They often still believe the false and fraudulent promises. They believe that they are being compelled into prostitution temporarily because of a medical emergency of the traffickers father. They believe the trafficker is in love with them, going to marry them, is using the proceeds to save future fatherinlaw from some medical emergency and to build a house she will then sail off into the sunset never have to go back to the home where she was beaten and raped by her father and uncle every day before the trafficker came along and gave her hope. The point we pull her out of that situation, were the enemy. She has been indoctrinated to fear Law Enforcement. She has been indoctrinated theyre here to lock you up because youre undocumented. Lock you up because youre prostituting. Lock you up because you use drugs. They want to separate us and ruin everything were working for together. We had until they take the stand in court that theyre yelling at the trafficker, i lied for you because i loved you. I still love you. I still dont know why, i know i shouldnt but i still do. It is incredibly powerful, they target somebody who is psychologically vulnerable and strategically psychologically, an they dont recognize themselves as victims. Part of the Law Enforcement approach to recognize these trauma symptoms and symptoms of this crime. Meet the victim where they are, do whatever stabilization and support is necessary so we can begin to get the story told from the perspective the victim. That is what is so important about the tbpa. I would like to ask two questions, to dovetail, we were talking about it, you have been at this 20 years, have you seen a change in judges and juries . Secondly to move on to the next point we need to address which is, seems like when you find these victims they are so needy. They need housing. They need treatment. They need a lot of care. And how good are the states and the federal government giving them that care . So that is the second question. But the first one is, if you could go back you have seen this change, how do judges and juries in your perspective get it . Has that changed . I think we have seen change. We have seen increased Public Awareness about the fact that this crime exists. That the victims are not willing participants choosing this as a profession as a form of work. So i think that is having an impact. Is it even an issue anymore . Yes, absolutely still an issue. While were making change, im seeing jury education being incredibly crucial part of these cases as they move forward. There is still bias against the victim understanding that they are victims and were not willing participants. Because nice people dont do these things, is that it . I think it goes a little broader than that i think there is still some bias attached to anything involving commercial sex. If were talking about other forms of Child Sexual Exploitation, the recognition of that child as a victim is instantaneous. But for some reason when we commercialize it, and they are referred to being involved in prostitution, which is a horrible way to categorize that child, there is a bias. Were also seeing that there, while we have made progress, judicial and jury education, in the area of recognizing victimization when it comes to the Way Technology has been used, involved, in this crime, we still have a ways to go. Understanding that there are a lot of facilitators of this crime. That the internet can be used as a great tool to locate victims to reach out to them to provide services. It can be used as a tool to recruit these victims, control them. The trafficker may not even have to go to the hotel with the minor. How that is a problem for the judge and jury . They look at them, if you found them on the internet you must be a willing, you must be willing to do this, youre not conscripted . But if you stayed at the home. You did not go to the child with the location of the hotel. The assumption that child has so many different ways to and avenues to escape, without understanding that cell. Phone in the pocket is the direct connection to the trafficker to monitor the child. Broad understanding how technology is involved not only with the control and sale of children but more broadly. Staca, i turn this question around to you, resources to help the victims, seems like they need a lot. What is your sense that the states are doing in getting them the help that they need . I think it is an accurate description to say they deserve a lot. That the kids have multiple need of resources but to identify them as victim after crime. That is my fault i started it, what resources . What do they need . They need a place to stay . What do they need . They need housing Mental Health, sometimes they have parents and young children, moving forward down the line as they become more stablized. They need more help with special development, resume writing, moving forward into the job market. They neededcation. Many are runaway kids out of Education System for a long. They may be very behind in school. Concerns talking about all the Services Many decades there are valid safety concerns, knowing the location is, trafficker going there, trying to get them to bring them back. The sad reality that these kids are required to recruit. So when youre playing them into a environment theyre are at times there are safety concerns that the child may recruit other victims to take out with them. Mr. Hill, what is your sense how well the states do, starting with your own . I think were doing better. My office partnered with the hope Recovery Group which is a Residential Center that focused on child and sex exploitation. It is imperative, that we get, that we support residential therapy in the sense where places people can go. Hope recovery center, not unusual for people to stay there several months. Youre talking about breaking down, the current lifestyle and creating a new lifestyle. And learning to, to appreciate yourself. To love yourself. Recognize youre not a bad person. Gaining tools how to move forward in society. If you pull somebody out of the situation and expect them to be able to recover on their own, that is somewhat naive, because they have, they, their own help to facilitate how they got into that. Which need an environment where they have support from others who have been down the road, been successful. They need demonstrations of care, love, support, from others. Were seeing that a great deal in the nonprofit world. From our standpoint, were trying to participate as much as we can, and look towards legislation that will help enhance those activity. How about you, mrs. Cox, when you have the case in your office, you have individuals that you can help these folks while awaiting tree . Absolutely. What i would say it is absolutely impossible to make impact in our cases without help of our Community Partners. Just impossible for victims to come forward, with not a way to provide them with housing, shelter, food, family services, in many instances legal services, paths to get jobs. Just a recipe for failure, if we try to go down the road without engaging our Community Partners. You see this in some areas. One of the ways were doing it in our district, through our task force, where typically you see task forces are Law Enforcement oriented. A lot of different Law Enforcement partners. In our task force we have Community Outreach and Community Service partners. The salvation army, mosaic, genesis womens shelters. We partner with them from the beginning to make sure victims are not only the reporting the crime but theyre taken care of. It is critical to work more and more with the Community Partners so we can continue to be more successful. What is the Community Role in the help of getting more people involved on the local level. Nine governmental victims assistance organizations who are there to help survivors rebuild their lives are everything in our Law Enforcement efforts. We can not do this without the organizations who really have the expertise in identifying and understanding and addressing the victims needs. We also have Law Enforcementbased victim witness coordinators who bridge that partnership between the Law Enforcement team and the nongovernmental victim Service Providers and they are rock stars. They are experts in trauma symptoms, the effect of trauma on victims ability to recall and recount their experiences and on the needs of victims and there are never enough specialized services. There are never enough beds. When you pull out 24 victims of a scheme, youre looking for an appropriate place to just shelter, stablize them, address their urgent and psychological need. There is never enough so to go around and service victims organizations an Law Enforcement victimization specialists they work to find a way to work with these victims to make it happen so they have a chance at pursuing a new life and not going back to the trafficker. It is an incredible struggle and it is kind of incumbent on all of us to find solutions for these extremely intensive needs to rebuild the shattered lives of the survivors. We have four minutes left. So let me ask you each of you to answer in one minute or less. Look forward a little bit now. What do you see as opportunities, challenges . Whats your oneyear horizon . What do you want to see happen in the next year . Like a wishlist. Like im sitting down for my email, what do i want to achieve in 2018. You have 45 seconds. I think there is a lot of areas we can continue to build upon the success that exists already. We can continue to educate the public and increase awareness about this crime. We can also continue to focus more efforts on improved education about this. That if we are talking to kids at younger ages, about the vulnerabilities that exist are pathways into trafficking, we can try to prevent this from ever happening in the first place. But then we also have to empower those in the opportunities to identify these kids with the none they need to see those red flags, know something is not right, not talk themselves out of picking up phone and making a report to organizations like ours. It could literally lead to an intervention that can recover a child. We have to support our Law Enforcement and Service Providers. So when the crime does occur they have the needs to combat it. My objective that human traffic something at the forefront of activities that were absolutely against. Well utilize resources at various states attorney generals around the country, working very hard crafting solutions and we want to model what some of those Better Solutions are to adopt those in indiana. We want to work with groups like the Hope Recovery Center and others providing services to the victims. We want to do everything we can to make sure across our entire state Law Enforcement as well as the Business Community is aware of not only whats occurring but their role of participating making sure that we expand move forward in holding those who perpetrate these offenses accountable. So, it. , you know, what is incredible ly important for me as United States attorney how important this mission is for the department of justice. Zoos attorney general brandt and attorney general sessions being a high priority in the department allows me the support to go into my district as a leader, really work with our Law Enforcement partners and Community Partners in order to make these cases more successful. I think success for us would be after a year to have even more people aware in the Law Enforcement community how the cases need to be investigated. To have more specially Trained Personnel to do the investigations and to be able to be in the community with our Community Outreach partners and to be communicating more effectively with victims. Having just being able to shine a light because it can be a remarkable disinfectant for this crime. Final word miss axem. I think where we are right now were on the verge of a real transformation in Law Enforcement culture to recognizing the things that initially distracted us and prevented us from recognizing victims are very things we need to be focusing on, seeing them as vulnerabilities as traffickers exploit. Were getting there. Were really starting to say, hey, if they were already engaged in commercial sex, that doesnt mean theyre not a victim. That means they were lowerhanging fruit. The trafficker could then manipulate them for the traffickers profit more easily than recruiting somebody from a stable loving home and Bright Future with education al and employment opportunities. They go for the folks who are already struggling. Who are already exposed to some kind of instability in their lives and there was a time when Law Enforcement across the country would say, that cant be a Trafficking Victim because she had previously prostituted. Theyre now saying let me look how the trafficker exploited their vulnerability. There was a time Law Enforcement in our country would say a jury in our district will not believe undocumented woman knowingly came into this country illegally, did so knowing she was going to prostitute, that is illegal alien prostitute. That will not be sympathetic to juries. People are saying hey, wait a minute. There is somebody behind this who facilitated that whole smuggling and prostitution scheme. Did so for their profit by manipulating this victim and knowing she was not inclined to speak out and would not turn to authorities for help precisely because of those attitudes. That is what were transforming one day at a time. One case at a time. One survivor at a time. I look forward to continuing to do that. Thank you to all our panelists. [applause] what a terrific panel to start the series of panels for today. To all the panelists, thank you. To pete, thank you for moderating. Rain, we have about a 15 minute break. Well reconvene at 11. As reminder if you step outside of the great hall there are restrooms to your right and to your left. There is a coffee shop on the first floor. Well see you back here in about 15 minutes. [inaudible conversations]. Justice Department Conference on Human Trafficking taking about a 15 minute break as you heard. When they come back, greg booker, u. S. Attorney for the district of minnesota, will lead a Law Enforcement case study presentation. They will take another break at about, actually they will be back at 1 00 eastern. That will be a panel on victim support. Then one on engaging the Business Community. Dhs secretary Kirstjen Nielsen will address the conference that will talk place at about 4 30 eastern. U. S. Senate will have brief proforma session in ten minutes. Well have live coverage of that well return to the conference after that ends. While were on a break, well show you comments from this mornings session, from attorney general jeff sessions. [applause] good morning. Thank you all for being here. Thank you, rachel for your kind words and more importantly for your strong leadership as our third in command of the department. Those two are rod and rachel, are harvard graduates. They are experienced lawyers. They are, rod had 27 years in the department. Rachel has had a number of years in the department previously, so they both represent the kind of quality and leadership that we want in the department. We are focused and are proud really of the work that has been done over a number about years, maybe, over the last 10 years. Weve seen an increasing focus on fighting Human Trafficking, and i wanted to thank all of you that have been important leaders in making this a reality. I want to thank the panelists who are here with us. Each of you bring as valuable, unique perspective, that were going to be able to learn from today. I especially want to thank Andrea Hipwell showing courage and strength to share your experience and insight with us. Youre channeling your experiences into something positive that can help others and that is commendable. I want to thank cory parnell who is a survivor for being with us today. To thank all of those who are here, who have dedicated your lives to helping survivors reclaim their lives and their freedom. Thank you to mary francis fowler, dr. Jordan greenbaum, jeff rogers, so many others who joined with us today and thank you to all of the victim assistance organizations and Survivor Advocacy groups who work to bring healing and hope to those who suffered from this terrible crime. We have also Congressional Staff here with us. Were proud to have them. Thank you for your attention to this issue. Congress has been supportive, indeed, they are appears to be a unique, bipartisan interest in this subject, which i would suggest means that we have an opportunity, maybe, in the next few years to do more than weve done in the past. I want to welcome members of the Business Community. A number who are here, who are taking important steps to prevent trafficking. I want to thank them as well. Dave mcclearly of the rotary club. Nicole clifton of ups and davis of facebook and Audra Jenkins north america, and shelley panicote of anthem. Richard terry of delta and brent will ford of cocacola. A good list of people. We appreciate your attention to this issue. I want to also thank secretary Kirsten Nielsen of Homeland Security and all of our prosecutors and Law Enforcement officers who are with us today. I will try to be brief, mention a few things and, so we can get to some of the leaders who will be talking with us later. My friend curtis hill, attorney general in indiana and Erin Neely Cox and robert musi of civil rights decision. Erin is United States attorney in texas. I want to thank them for their hard work putting traffickers behind bars. Human trafficking is a violent crime. Trafficking victims are often threatened, beaten, drugged, isolated, deceived and manipulated psychologically in order to make them dependent, control them, keep them captive. It is hard to comprehend this level of cruelty but Human Trafficking remains far too common. The fbi estimated at one point this was the Third Largest criminality in the world after drugs and counterfitting. There are signs that the industry is changing and that is not uncommon in Law Enforcement has to change with it. That is just the way the world works. From 2010 to 2015 the National Center for missing and exploited children reported a nine fold increase in reports of suspected child sex trafficking, an increase they think is related to the internet. These numbers should be a wakeup call for all of us. It is easy to overlook the problem because Human Trafficking victims are often hidden in plain sight. Theyre just not on street corners or dark al i also. They are in hotels where we stay, truck stops, they are sold for sex in nightclubs, massage parlors, at parties. Theyre compelled to perform domestic service, janitorial jobs or farm work. Human trafficking is a crime that Law Enforcement has to look out for in any major event that occurs. And today, that is not enough. We now face the problem of Human Trafficking, traffickers using the internet. Every day in america criminals use online advertisements to sell Trafficking Victims of sex, for sex. The websites that host the advertisements act with near impunity. And im pleased that congress is focused on this problem and congratulate them for working to find a solution to the scourge that is online sex trafficking. This department is taking action against all forms of Human Trafficking. Im proud of what they have accomplished. Weve been aggressively pursuing traffickers an recovering their victims. All 94 of our United States attorney offices around the country have designated Human Trafficking cord neytores who have coordinators, who have developed customized antitrafficking strategies for each of their districts. They help our United States attorneys advance effective enforce mane strategies, build strong partnerships, and insure were using our resources as effectively as possible to identify victims and investigate and prosecute traffickers. Stopping trafficking is a priority of each one of our offices. The criminal divisions Child Exploitation and obscenity section duster risk work to to stop those trafficking children for sex. Just a few weeks ago, along with the United States Attorneys Office in the Eastern District of virginia, they secured convictions of two men in virginia for trafficking three underage girls. This section helps trains thousands of prosecutors, investigators and state, local and Tribal Police throughout the country. The department provides antitrafficking grant funding. As rachel mentioned to the 85 of how officers in america who serve at the state, local and tribal level, who are not federal officers. We support them and we know their response. We understand that they bring unique capabilities and on the ground intelligence that most federal agencies just dont have. They are indispensable partners in our evidents efforts. Im sure many of you work with them and have Great Respect for state and local officers. Many are highly talented and dedicated to this effort. Our human traffic prosecution unit, tphu, partners with the United States Attorneys Office to prosecute labor trafficking, sex traffic being of adults and transnational sex trafficking. Hcpu leads our act Team Initiative which brings together federal agents and prosecutors in competitivelyselected districts. U. S. Attorney brooka with us today is a valuable member of one of those teams and he will be presenting today some of the successes he had in his district including obtaining substantial restitution for survivors. We also work in partnership with the department of Homeland Security and our partners in mexico through a bilateral, antitrafficking initiative aimed at dismantling transnational Trafficking Networks because Human Trafficking of course is often a transnational crime. The day i was sworn in as attorney general President Trump sent me an executive order to dismantle these transnational criminal organizations. Its a high priority of our. You can be sure that this includes Human Trafficking rings. And this is another reason why we must finally secure our border. Traffickers and coyotes see our porous border as an opportunity they can exploit, often for great profit, and they exploit this weakness in our security all too easily. Meeting and talking with the United States Attorneys Office in minnesota, that had a massive case, i think you will hear about today. The amount of money that can be made through this illegal enterprise is far larger i think than most people realize. They suggest even larger than drug trafficking. Our Important Partnership with mexico has resulted in the federal prosecutions in this country of more than 50 defendants, multiple cases in georgia, new york, florida, and texas. In addition to the numerous prosecutions in mexico of associated sex offenders. I remember a case several years ago of two mexican nationals who were trafficking we are going to leave these remarks from attorney general sessions, go live to the u. S. Senate which is gaveling in for a brief proforma session. House and Senate Republicans are in a policy retreat in west virginia. They will be back for legislative work on mda