On February 13, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to pass the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2023 (H.R. 5856). This bipartisan measure would do several 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. 
 
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Migration formally endorsed the bill with other Catholic organizations during the previous Congress, stating at the time that “this legislation is critical for continuing and bolstering our nation’s efforts to eradicate human trafficking and assist human trafficking survivors.”
 
More recently, in a press release reaffirming the USCCB’s support for the bill, Bishop Mark Seitz, current chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Migration, emphasized that it “is incumbent upon all of us to unite in promoting efforts that prevent the evil of human trafficking. I join our Holy Father in inviting the faithful and all people of good will to uphold and affirm human dignity and grow in solidarity with those who are vulnerable to exploitation and have been impacted by this terrible evil of modern-day slavery.” 
 
You can learn more about human trafficking and the Church’s anti-trafficking efforts by reading this explainer and by visiting the Justice for Immigrants campaign’s Saint Josephine Bakhita webpage. 
 
Message to Congress
Please Pass H.R. 5856 to Combat Human Trafficking and Support Survivors
 
As a Catholic and your constituent, I urge you to take up and support the House-passed Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2023 (H.R. 5856), an important, bipartisan bill that will help combat the evil of human trafficking. 
 
This bill would reauthorize important programs under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, provide about $1 billion in funding for anti-trafficking measures, authorize the creation of a Human Trafficking Survivors Employment and Education Program, support grants for programs that prevent and detect trafficking of school-age children, require that USAID encourage integration of activities to counter human trafficking in programs under its purview, and more. 
 
It is critical that our country continues to combat what Pope Francis has referred to as a “crime against humanity.” Please work with your colleagues in the Senate to pass H.R. 5856 without delay.
 
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