Sen. Judy Emmons sponsors bill to end human trafficking
Human trafficking is a $32 billion global industry and about 17,500 non-residents from foreign countries are trafficked into the United States every year, according to the state of Michigan website.
Realizing this issue State Sen. Judy Emmons, R-Lansing, sponsored Senate Bill 1213, which aims to stop human trafficking and place harsher penalties against offenders.
“Someone gave me the book called 'A Slave Across the Street,' (the author) grew up in the suburbs of Detroit and she was enslaved, and no one knew it. It is just an compelling story on how she got through it and now (the author) is an advocate on human trafficking,” Emmons said.
Emmons feels confidant Gov. Rick Snyder will support the bill after its passed by the Michigan House of Representatives.
“This really brings it home when it comes from your own state," she said. "It is sort of a dirty little secret, and it affects so many lives."
Senate Bill 1213 would change punishments for those caught for human trafficking. It would make the solicitation of a minor age 16 or 17, to commit prostitution or any other lewd or immoral act a felony punishable by imprisonment of up to five years, a fine of not more than $10,000 — or both.
The bill is sponsored by Sen. Tonya Schuitmaker, R-Antwerp Township, and would establish the sentencing guidelines for the new felony.
“I think we were all surprised when we noticed the extent of this in our own state,” Emmons said.
President Barack Obama spoke on Tuesday at Clinton Global Initiative about human trafficking and the suffrage that is going on.
“The ugly truth is that this goes on right here,” President Obama said. “It’s the migrant worker unable to pay off the debt to his trafficker. It is the teenage girl beaten, forced to walk the streets. This should not be happening in America.”
The president announced a new assessment of the scope and scale of human trafficking in the U.S., saying the country would enlist law enforcement officers, bus and truck inspectors as well as teachers and educations to look for signs of human trafficking.
The president said he is planning on signing a new executive order to ensure the U.S. would “lead by example” on trafficking.
“We are making it clear that American tax dollars must never, ever be used to support the trafficking of human beings,” he said. “We will have zero tolerance. We mean what we say. We will enforce it.”
