Human
Trafficking Hotline: 1-888-3737-888
Victims
are young children, teenagers, men and women. After
drug dealing, human trafficking is tied with the
illegal arms industry as the second largest criminal
industry in the world today, and it is the fastest
growing.
We ask you to contact your govermental
representative(s) via fax to petition for the safety
of trafficking victims by printing, signing, and
faxing this letter (CLICK
HERE) to the contacts listed
below:
President George W. Bush
The White
House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20500
FAX: 202-456-2461
Mr. Emilio Gonzales
Director of Citizenship
and Immigration Services
Department of Homeland Security
20
Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20520
FAX: 202-272-8118
Secretary Michael Chertoff
U. S. Department
of Homeland Security
Washington, DC 20528
FAX: 202-282-8401
PLEASE FAX
YOUR LETTERS AS SURFACE
MAIL TAKES AT LEAST 3 WEEKS DUE TO ANTHRAX SECURITY
CHECKS.
Approximately 600,000 to 800,000 victims annually
are trafficked across international borders worldwide,
and between 14,500 and 17,500 of those victims are
trafficked into the U.S.A., according to the U.S. Department
of State. These estimates include women, men and children.
Victims are generally trafficked into the U.S. from
Asia, Central and South America, and Eastern Europe.
Many victims trafficked into the United States do not speak and understand English and are therefore isolated
and unable to communicate with service providers, law enforcement and others
who might be able to help them.
Prior to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of
2000 (TVPA), no comprehensive law in the United States
existed to protect victims of trafficking or to prosecute
their traffickers. The TVPA is intended to prevent
human trafficking overseas, to increase prosecution
of human traffickers in the United States, and to protect
victims and provide Federal and state assistance to
certain victims so that they can rebuild their lives
in the United States. Victims of human trafficking
who are not U.S. citizens are eligible for a special
visa and can receive benefits and services through
the TVPA to the same extent as refugees. Victims of
trafficking who are U.S. citizens may already be eligible
for many benefits due to their citizenship.
TVPA defines “Severe Forms of Trafficking in
Persons” as:
- Sex Trafficking: the recruitment, harboring,
transportation, provision, or obtaining of
a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act,
in which the commercial sex act is induced by force,
fraud, or coercion, or in which the person forced
to perform such an act is under the age of 18 years;
or
- Labor Trafficking: the recruitment,
harboring transportation, provision, or obtaining
of a person for labor or services, through the
use of force, fraud or coercion for the purpose of
subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt
bondage or slavery.
Our Congregation, along with the
Houston Dominicans, The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston,
and 25 other local organizations have formed the
Houston Rescue and Restore Coalition. The main purpose
of the Coalition is to get information out to the
public and raise everyone’s
awareness of the issue. The initiative, implemented
by Steven Wagner, Director of Trafficking in Persons
Program, U. S. Department of Health and Human Services,
was launched November 16, 2005.
As a beginning about 30 packets of the Rescue and
Restore information was mailed to the Mission Effectiveness
Directors at CHRISTUS Health. There will be a training
workshop in the future for medical personnel to help
them recognize trafficked persons.
This hotline will help you
determine if you have encountered victims of human
Trafficking, will identify local resources available
in your community to help victims, and will help
you coordinate with local social service organizations
to help protect and serve victims so they can begin
the process of restoring their lives.
For more information on human trafficking visit www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking.
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