RGJ - One View: GOP, Dems Must Come Together to End Human Trafficking

Op-Ed

By: Catherine Cortez Masto

January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, a problem we are all too familiar with here in Nevada. This form of modern-day slavery is estimated to claim hundreds of thousands of American victims every year. Unfortunately, Nevada is a hub for sex trafficking.

While the problems of sex trafficking are widespread and not confined to borders or continents, this is a very real problem for Nevada. Unfortunately, 60 percent of sex trafficking victims in Nevada are from Nevada. These are our kids; our daughters and sons.

I saw the toll sex trafficking takes on our community up close as attorney general. That's why, with the support of many people in our community, I took action to address this problem head on. Many Nevadans would be surprised to learn that until a few short years ago, sex trafficking was not even an identified crime in our state. In 2013, I sponsored a bill to tackle this problem and make this heinous crime a felony.

Assembly Bill 67 established the crime of sex trafficking in Nevada. One of my proudest achievements was watching Governor Sandoval sign this legislation into law. This wasn't a partisan effort. I worked with Democrats and Republicans to pass these reforms, which strengthened the law for prosecuting pimps, and predators, expanded the sex offender registry, and gave victims a pathway to becoming survivors, including the right to sue their captors. But there is still much work to do in rooting out this vile practice.

While the reforms we passed were a significant step in breaking the hold of sex traffickers, we need to do more. Nevada needs to do a better job at identifying and helping victims. Arrest and incarceration of trafficking victims continues to be a problem. Instead of arresting and prosecuting these victims for prostitution, they should be diverted to the appropriate service programs for treatment. Unfortunately, state government does not come close to adequately funding treatment for sex trafficking victims. Lack of treatment makes victims more vulnerable to falling back under the influence of pimps, even after the pimps are arrested. We need to increase assistance for victims, as well as provide more training and education to law enforcement, social services and local businesses to recognize the signs of human trafficking so we can get these vulnerable people the help they need to become survivors.

More also needs to be done at the federal level to address this problem. Last year, partisan debates over restricting women's health threatened to hijack legislation designed to help victims of human trafficking. This is something we see all too often in Washington. Ideological debates and partisan battles get in the way of what should be bipartisan attempts to solve problems.

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