This bipartisan legislation does several important things to combat the scourge of human trafficking, including:

• Reauthorize various programs under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 through Fiscal Year 2028 (which lapsed September 30, 2021), with approximately $1 billion in funding for anti-trafficking efforts over the next five years;
• Authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to carry out a Human Trafficking Survivors Employment and Education Program to prevent the re-exploitation of eligible individuals with services that help them to attain life skills, employment, and education necessary to achieve self-sufficiency;
• Authorize grants for programs that prevent and detect trafficking of school-age children in a “linguistically accessible, culturally responsive, age-appropriate, and trauma-informed fashion”; and
• Require the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to encourage integration of activities to counter human trafficking into its broader programming thus helping migrants remain in their home countries.

Catholic Charities, Catholic Relief Services, and others have stated that, “this legislation is critical for continuing and bolstering our nation’s efforts to eradicate human trafficking and assist human trafficking survivors,” and we agree. 

The School Sisters of Notre Dame have a deep commitment to standing up for human dignity and the protection of the vulnerable.  Please take time today to contact your senators and urge their support for the House-passed Frederick Douglas Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act (H.R. 5856).