SLAVERY: Time to end it in the U.S.

Last month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Human Trafficking Prioritization Act (H.R.2283). If signed into law, this legislation would elevate the U.S. government’s Trafficking in Persons Office to a State Department Bureau, a change that would help ensure that human trafficking is upheld as a foreign policy priority for the United States. The bill doesn’t add cost or bureaucracy and would be a critical step forward in the fight against human trafficking, a crime which enslaves nearly 30 million people worldwide. Now that the House of Representatives has acted, it is time for the Senate to follow suit.

I’m pleased that Senator Crapo has already co-sponsored legislation that would make the TIP Office a Bureau, and I hope Senator Risch will sign on as well.

During the congressional recess this August, our policy-makers will be listening to the concerns of the constituents in their states; I hope they hear loud and clear that we in Idaho care about ending slavery once and for all.

JAN STURGES

Coeur d’Alene