Office of Justice Programs (OJP) FY 2017
State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance Victims Services Task Forces Grants
THE FUNDING NEED
$35,000,000 and report language for the Victims of Trafficking Grants program for foreign nationals, U.S. citizens, and legal permanent residents, of which, no less than $17,500,000 is for foreign national victims and $17,500,000 for U.S. citizen and legal permanent resident victims.
$10,000,000 for Human Trafficking Task Forces and law enforcement training, as authorized by section 1242 of Public Law 113-4.
$10,000,000 for victim services programs for minor victims of sex and labor trafficking, provided that no less than $8,000,000 shall be for victim services grants for sex trafficked minors as authorized by section 202(i) of Public Law 113-4.
Victims of Trafficking Grants Program
Summary of Program
The statutory authority for the Victims of Trafficking Grants program is 22 U.S.C. § 7105(b)(2)(A). The overall goals of this program are to:
- Provide timely, high-quality comprehensive services to foreign national victims of severe forms of human trafficking; and
- Enhance interagency collaboration and coordination in the provision of services to such victims. Grantees under this program are required to work in coordination with existing Anti-Human Trafficking Law Enforcement Task Forces, funded through the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), to meet the immediate and long-term needs of all trafficking victims wherever they are rescued by law enforcement or through other means.
Human Trafficking Task Forces
Summary of Program
In 2010 the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, provided funding to state, territorial, and local law enforcement agencies through the BJA and 36 non-governmental organizations through the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) to form Anti-Human Trafficking Task Forces across the country. The primary goal of the anti-trafficking task forces is the identification and rescue of victims of human trafficking, with the secondary goal being the successful prosecution of traffickers. To accomplish these goals, the BJA law enforcement grantee works in close collaboration with its Office of the U.S. Attorney to investigate all forms of human trafficking and with the OVC-funded comprehensive trafficking victim services provider to identify and rescue trafficking victims. Multidisciplinary, cross-agency collaboration, and a victim-centered approach are necessary for a successful response to victims of human trafficking. The goals of this program are to:
- Expand and enhance a comprehensive service model for victims of human trafficking in coordination with BJA-funded Anti-Human Trafficking Task Forces, or other local and federal law enforcement entities if no formal task force structure exists;
- Enhance community capacity to identify and serve victims by conducting training and public awareness activities on human trafficking; and
- Conduct program evaluation activities.
These task forces are designed to:
- Create multidistrict contacts in trafficking cases;
- Proactively investigate trafficking cases;
- Bring federal, state, and local law enforcement and victim services organizations together to investigate all forms of human trafficking and assist victims; and
- Provide agencies with training and other materials to assist in identifying trafficking cases and victims.18
Need
Victims of Trafficking Grant Program
The Department of Justice is essential to prevent and prosecute human trafficking and protect the victims of trafficking and forced labor. Unfortunately, the problem of human trafficking and forced labor is growing. While the prevalence of human trafficking is difficult to determine, there are some indicators of the scope of the problem. The Department of Justice has estimated there are between 14,500 and 17,500 victims trafficked into the United States each year, while countless U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents are trafficked within the country. Since 2002, there has been a 569% increase in the number of victims identified and certified as in need of comprehensive, trauma-informed, gender specific services. And the National Human Trafficking Resource Center has identified 24,156 potential human trafficking victims since 2007. Victims have often endured years of trauma and abuse. They require immediate access to shelter, medical services, legal assistance, and intensive case-management. There has been a rise in the number of cases successfully investigated by law enforcement, which has led to an increase in the number of victims identified. Despite this increase, funding for victim services remains insufficient to meet victims’ needs. For example, the United States government in 2010 announced it was prosecuting the largest human trafficking case identified in the United States—with over 400 victims—however, in that same year approximately 300 victims were actually certified to receive services in the entire United States.
Law enforcement is finding more victims, yet those victims are not receiving crucial services. Service providers consistently report that there are simply no funds to support trafficking survivors in the two to six years it often takes for a criminal prosecution to be completed. One of the greatest risks is that victims will become homeless or will once again be vulnerable to traffickers while providing vital assistance to law enforcement. A modest increase in funds for victims will allow service providers to develop the specialized comprehensive services that trafficking survivors need to be effective “victim witnesses” and recover from the trauma they suffered while trafficked.
Additionally, as the U.S. Government has learned more about trafficking in the United States, they have begun to identify an increasing number of US citizen and LPR victims, especially minors. In 2015, the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) hotline identified 1,621 child trafficking cases: 1,379 cases of child sex trafficking (involving at least one minor) and 114 cases of child labor trafficking (involving at least one minor). The NHTRC hotline also found that of the sex trafficking cases it identified, 34.7% involved U.S. citizen victims (1,435 cases), and of the labor trafficking cases it identified, 14.8% involved U.S. citizen victims (107 cases). Service providers and law enforcement partners consistently report that minor victims of trafficking are often jailed because there no appropriate supportive services available or to ensure cooperation with law enforcement.
In response to the increased identification of minor victims who are U.S. citizens, in 2011, DOJ awarded $6.7 million in grants to 17 victim service organizations and continued funding a grant program that focused in part on adult U.S. citizen victims.19 According to the 2015 TIP Report, from July 1, 2013, to June 30, 2014, DOJ grantees provided victim services to more than 1,366 new victims, compared with 1,911 open client cases and 1,009 new victims in the previous year. In addition, DOJ funded 28 victim service organizations across the United States in 2014, totaling approximately $10.9 million, compared with $11.2 million in FY 2013 and $5.4 million in FY 2012. A federally-funded study on labor trafficking in the United States found some local law enforcement officials did not recognize indicators of labor trafficking and some labor trafficking victims went months or years after their escape before being connected with service providers.
The grant program should be developed through the results of promising practices identified by the demonstration projects. Funds must be allocated for specialized programs for U.S. citizen and LPR trafficking survivors who will then be able to better connect these victims to current resources. These resources remain underutilized by trafficking survivors due to a lack of information and expertise in the area of human trafficking. Furthermore, service providers and law enforcement partners consistently report that minor victims of trafficking are often jailed (1) because there are no appropriate supportive services available, or (2) in order to ensure cooperation with law enforcement. A system in which trafficking victims are no longer treated as criminals must be established. Funding is necessary to ensure that the needs of victims are met and that the people interacting with victims are trained to work with this particular victim population. In addition, ATEST opposes moving the Victims of Trafficking Grant program to the Crime Victims Fund from the Office of Justice Programs.
Human Trafficking Task Forces
Task forces coordinate extremely diverse agencies including federal and state prosecutors, local and federal law enforcement, Department of Labor investigators, and local service providers. These task forces play a vital role in implementing the TVPA by mobilizing existing resources in both federal and state agencies to combat human trafficking. Those working on the ground agree that an inter-agency, community approach is vital to combating this complex issue. Research indicates that both investigations and prosecutions require significant amounts of time and resources with cases oftentimes taking more than a year to process. Providing additional resources to this area will ensure task forces may pursue traffickers without having to share limited resources with those assisting the victims. In addition, ATEST opposes moving the Human Trafficking Task Forces to the Crime Victims Fund from the Office of Justice Programs.
Minor Victim Services Grants
In response to the increased identification of minor victims, in 2011 DOJ continued funding grants targeted toward helping U.S. citizen minor victims of labor and sex trafficking through technical assistance, comprehensive services, and service coordination.20 In further recognition of the specialized needs of trafficked youth, the TVPRA of 2013 (P.L.113-4) created a grant program to “develop, expand and strengthen assistance programs for certain persons subject to trafficking.” This new funding is limited to minor victims of sex trafficking. Specialized assistance to minor victims of human trafficking is essential to combat modern slavery, as minor victims face major hurdles in recovering from the abuse and trauma of their trafficking situation. From 2007-2014, the NHTRC identified 6,014 cases of human trafficking involving minors. Lack of resources to establish specialized programs for child victims of trafficking is preventing states from providing these vital services.
Law enforcement around the country has identified the lack of stable housing programs as the greatest obstacle in bringing effective prosecutions against child traffickers. Anecdotal data from selected cities further illustrates the need for these funds. For example, in Los Angeles County, in 2012, 72 commercially sexually exploited children were processed through L.A. County’s Succeed Through Achievement and Resilience (STAR) Court Program; similarly, in 2013, nearly 150 youth were arrested for prostitution. In addition, a 2013 report found that 469 children were commercially sexually exploited in the Portland, Oregon area over the previous four years. Additionally, the Senate Appropriations Committee called on the Administration to request funding for assistance to minors in its report accompanying the FY 2010 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill (Senate Report 111-066). In addition to minor sex trafficking, service providers around the country are identifying minor victims of labor trafficking in industries as diverse as magazine crews to forced begging to agriculture. These victims are often even harder to identify and need the same long-term services as sex trafficked children.
While we support the need for additional funding for trafficked minors, we believe DOJ must carefully administer this new grant fund in close collaboration with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as the key areas the grant fund includes: residential care, 24-hour response services, clothing and basic necessities, case management services, mental health counseling, legal services and specialized training for social service providers, public sector personnel and private sector personnel, and outreach and education. HHS in its runaway and homeless youth programs and other services grant areas already have technical expertise in all of the above listed areas. Therefore, to avoid duplication of efforts we are requesting report language that directs DOJ to collaborate closely with HHS as it develops this grant program. We also believe that money should be provided for both sex and labor trafficked children.
Solution
ATEST requests $35,000,000 for the Victims of Trafficking Grant program for foreign nationals, and U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents as authorized by the Trafficking Victims Reauthorization Act of 2013 (title XII of Public Law 113-4). Within this amount, we are seeking no less than $17,500,000 for victim services grants for foreign national victims of trafficking as authorized by section 107(b)(2) of Public Law 106-386 as amended by Public Law 113-4; and $17,500,000 for victim services grants to assist U.S. citizen and legal permanent residents as authorized by Section 213(a)(2) of the TVPA reauthorization of 2008 and Public Law 113-4.
Historically, funding for the Human Trafficking Task Forces has come from the Victim Services grants. However, section 1242 of the TVPRA of 2013 authorized for the first time $10,000,000 specifically for human trafficking taskforces focused on all forms of human trafficking. This authorization also provides funds to train law enforcement personnel on how to identify severe forms of trafficking and related offenses. Therefore, we request that the Law Enforcement Taskforce funds no longer be appropriated from the Victim Services Funds described above and that the newly authorized $10,000,000 be used for the Department of Justice’s Human Trafficking Task Forces, which integrate federal, state, and local law enforcement, prosecutorial and victim service organizations to prevent and prosecute human trafficking.
Under the minor victim services grant program created by the TVPRA of 2013 (P.L.113-4) the Attorney General is authorized under Section 202(i) to provide $8,000,000 in grant funding to serve sex trafficked minors. Since the authorized funds are specific to sex trafficked minors we are requesting an additional $2,000,000 in grant funds to support the same services, training and outreach, for labor trafficked youth. We believe developing these programs simultaneously is imperative, given that the federal definition of human trafficking includes both sex and labor trafficking and labor trafficking children are typically physically and sexually abused for years but under-identified. Therefore, to ensure funds are available to meet the needs of all child victims of severe forms of trafficking we are requesting $10,000,000, of which $8,000,000 is for sex trafficked minors and $2,000,000 is for labor trafficked minors.
Proposed Bill Language
State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance
$35,000,000 for victim services programs for victims of trafficking, as authorized by section 107(b)(2) of Public Law 106-386, as amended by Public Law 113-4; Provided, that no less than $17,500,000 shall be for victim services grants for foreign national victims of trafficking and $17,500,000 shall be for victim services grants for United States citizen and legal permanent resident victims.
State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance
$10,000,000 for Human Trafficking Task Forces and law enforcement training, as authorized by section 1242 of Public Law 113-4.
State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance
$10,000,000 for victim services programs for minor victims of sex and labor trafficking, provided that no less than $8,000,000 shall be for victim services grants for sex trafficked minors as authorized by section 202(i) of Public Law 113-4.
Proposed Report Language
State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance
The bill provides $35,000,000 for the Victims of Trafficking Grant program as authorized by Public Law 106-386 and amended by Public Law 113-4 of which no less than $17,500,000 is for victim services grants for foreign national victims of trafficking and $17,500,000 for U.S. citizen and legal permanent resident victims.
State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance
The bill provides $10,000,000 for the Human Trafficking Task Forces and law enforcement training as authorized by Public Law 113-4.
State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance
The bill provides $10,000,000 for Minor Victims of Trafficking Grant program, of which $8,000,000 is for victim services grants for sex trafficked minors as authorized by Public Law 113-4, and the remaining $2,000,000 is for victim services grants for labor trafficked minors. The Committee encourages DOJ to work in close coordination with the Department of Health and Human Services to encourage collaboration and reduce duplication of effort.