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By Miriam Raftery
September 25, 2022 (San Diego) -- The House of Representatives has unanimously passed the bipartisan Human Trafficking Prevention Act, introduced by Congressman Darrell Issa (R-San Diego) along with Reps. Mace, Jeffries and Bass. The legislation will require display of National Human Trafficking Hotline information in restrooms of all U.S. ports of entry, airplanes, airports, trains, train stations, busses, and bus stations so that victims or anyone who notices a potential victim of human trafficking can reach out for help.
“The scourge of human trafficking has reached every corner of this country and grows worse every day. That’s why we need creative, bipartisan consensus and national solutions to fight back and help rescue these victims,” said Rep. Issa. “This new reform can make a major difference, and I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to do even more.”
In 2020, the National Human Trafficking Hotline received 51,667 substantive phone calls, text, Webchats, emails, or online tip reports. California had the highest number of cases in 2020 -- 1,334. From 2007 to 2020, the last year for which data is available, the hotline has fielded 328,255 contacts resulting in 73,946 human trafficking cases reported.
“A phone call or text can save a life and stop an individual from being trafficked. But, to make that contact, you need to know who to reach out to. The National Human Trafficking Hotline does lifesaving work to stop such crimes and provide support to victims, and we must spread their information as far and wide as possible,” said Rep. Jeffries. “I thank the tremendous leadership Reps. Issa, Bass and Mace and all my colleagues in the House who supported this lifesaving legislation to post the contact information of the hotline across our nation’s transportation infrastructure.”
The National Human Trafficking Hotline is a toll-free service connecting victims and survivors of trafficking to critical support and resources. The Hotline provides both a toll-free phone line and SMS text lines which are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year in English, Spanish, and more than 200 additional languages through an on-call interpreter.
Contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline at: 1-888-373-7888, TTY: 711, Text: 233733. You can also visit their website at https://humantraffickinghotline.org/.
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