WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representative Peter Meijer (R-MI) today spoke on the House floor in support of his bill, H.R. 2795, the DHS Blue Campaign Enhancement Act, which passed the House with bipartisan support.
The full text of Rep. Meijer’s remarks as prepared is below:
“Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2795, the DHS Blue Campaign Enhancement Act.
“This bill, which I am proud to have introduced with my colleague, the Chairman of the Homeland Security oversight subcommittee, Representative Correa, has one very specific goal: to combat human trafficking. According to the Department of State’s Trafficking In Persons Report, every year around the world, tens of thousands of men, women, and children are trafficked, including far too many right here in the United States.
“Human traffickers use fraud and coercion to compel people into a situation of forced labor or sexual exploitation. False promises of well-paying jobs, romantic relationships, and violence are all methods used by human traffickers. Victims can be any age, race, gender, or nationality, and from any socioeconomic background.
“To end this horrific practice, we must use a multipronged approach. A critical component to this strategy is ensuring that law enforcement personnel and employees in customer-facing industries are trained to identify a potential victim of human trafficking by recognizing key indicators and then taking appropriate action.
“DHS started the Blue Campaign in 2010 to do just that: to unify and coordinate Department efforts to address human trafficking. The Blue Campaign enables and empowers the DHS workforce, the industries they work with, including airlines, and the public to recognize the indicators of human trafficking and take steps to alert the proper authorities.
“My bill, the DHS Blue Campaign Enhancement Act, bolsters these efforts by creating an advisory board to inform and coordinate training among the DHS Components. The bill will also increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the trainings DHS provides for its personnel, industries, and State and local law enforcement partners.
“This legislation also increases the online trainings DHS will provide, enabling the Department to reach a broader audience more quickly.
“I would like to thank my good friend from California, Mr. Correa, for joining me in this effort and supporting this important piece of legislation.
“I urge my colleagues to approve this bill and help DHS do its part to combat human trafficking, and I yield back the balance of my time.”
The Blue Campaign is a national public awareness campaign designed to educate the public, law enforcement, and other industry partners to recognize the indicators of human trafficking and how to appropriately respond to possible cases.
While the Blue Campaign works closely with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) components and other federal partners to combat human trafficking, it is often state and local law enforcement officers who are encountering victims and their traffickers firsthand. Individuals employed in industries outside law enforcement, from medical professionals to airline employees, are also more likely to encounter victims and need to know how to identify and respond to them. Increasing widespread public awareness is critical to expanding these efforts.
H.R. 2795, the DHS Blue Campaign Enhancement Act, would:
- Require the Director of the Blue Campaign to develop web-based interactive training videos and provide online training opportunities for federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement officers.
- Establish a Blue Campaign Advisory Board within DHS to consult regularly with the Director on the development of effective awareness tools for distribution to industry partners that will help them identify and prevent instances of human trafficking.
- The advisory board would include representatives from at least each of the following DHS components and offices:
- Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
- Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC)
- U.S. Secret Service (USSS)
- Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
- Privacy Office
- The advisory board would include representatives from at least each of the following DHS components and offices:
“Human trafficking is a serious global problem that hurts people and impedes economic growth. While employers do not have direct control over others in their supply chain, through collaborations like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Task Force to Eradicate Human Trafficking, employers are able to be part of the solution by working with others like the DHS Blue Campaign to educate employees, customers, and communities on how to recognize and report human trafficking. This legislation would provide critical additional resources to the DHS Blue Campaign for web-based training of law enforcement and correction personnel, as well as establish an Advisory Board focused on the importance of public-private partnerships in combating this heinous criminal activity." – Glenn Spencer, Senior Vice President of the Employment Policy Division, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
“I applaud Congressman Meijer for introducing this important piece of legislation at a time when funding for critical training to recognize and combat human trafficking continues to decline. Improving access to online resources for local law enforcement is crucial to expanding our efforts to protect vulnerable individuals and prevent these terrible crimes.” – Chief Robert Stevenson (Ret.), Executive Director, Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police
“Human trafficking is a critical issue across the United States and locally in Kent County,
Michigan. We support the DHS Blue Campaign Enhancement Act as an important opportunity to strengthen trauma informed and culturally and linguistically appropriate training within the criminal justice system. The last year of economic upheaval creates conditions for trafficking to increase and the Enhancement Act renews our collective commitment to both prevent and identify human trafficking in our community. Human trafficking is a complex problem including forced or bonded labor, debt bondage, involuntary domestic servitude, and commercial sexual exploitation of children. We are hopeful the Enhancement Act is a step toward needed resources and reforms to increase the cross-sector insight and collaboration that is necessary to equip divisions of the criminal justice system to protect our neighbors with vulnerabilities and to prevent human trafficking.” - Rachel VerWys, Executive Director, SEE, and Co-Chair, Kent County Area Human Trafficking Coalition
“By expanding training opportunities to include an online component, will ensure that local officials are able to identify and combat human trafficking. As a survivor and Social Worker providing services to victims of human trafficking, increasing law enforcement’s awareness on human trafficking is essential. Partnerships between the community and law enforcement is the only way to end human trafficking. This legislation takes one critical step towards this mission.” - Katie Papke, LMSW, CAADC, CCTP, Life Support Counseling and Coaching, LLC
Original source can be found here.
