Hearing of the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee - Rape Kit Testing, Child Sex Trafficking, and Immigration Courts
Hearing
At Friday's Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies subcommittee hearing of the House Appropriations Committee, Congressman Mike Honda (D-CA17) asked Attorney General Eric Holder about the backlog in testing of rape kits, delays in immigration hearings, and what resources the Justice Department plans to dedicate to fighting the sex trafficking of minors.
Rep. Honda, a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, specifically asked if the department had requested enough immigration judges to address a backlog in those cases. "On average, it takes 577 days for an immigration court case to be completed," Congressman Honda said. "There was a 42% increase in immigration cases between 2009 and 2012, while only an 11% increase in the number of judges in the same period," he added. "The increase in number of judges has not kept pace with the cases. This means that many people are not being given due process, and are being deported without ever going before a neutral magistrate."
Congressman Honda also asked the Attorney General what the Justice Department is doing to train court systems to recognize signs of child sex trafficking. "One of the best opportunities for identifying and intervening in cases of domestic minor sex trafficking is when victims appear in juvenile court," the Congressman said. "County, state, and tribal judges need training on how to identify these victims and place them in a situation where they can be helped."
The backlog in testing rape kits has been a priority for the Congressman since Alameda County DA Nancy O'Malley first brought it to his attention. In this hearing, he asked Attorney General Holder if he approved of a pilot program that would allow outside laboratories to test rape kits for DNA without needing every single result to be double-checked by a federal government laboratory. "There may be as many as 500,000 untested rape kits across the country," Congressman Honda said. "We need to speed up this process to preserve the rights of both victims and the accused." The Attorney General said he was in favor of the pilot program idea, and would be presenting it to the FBI Director and discussing it with President Obama.
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