On Human Trafficking Awareness Day, Portman Highlights Bill to Help End Online Sex Trafficking on CNN

Press Release

Today, on Human Trafficking Awareness Day, Senator Portman discussed his bipartisan Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) during an interview on CNN. The legislation, designed to help ensure justice for victims of sex trafficking and hold accountable websites like Backpage.com which knowingly facilitate sex trafficking, now has more than 60 cosponsors and is supported by trafficking survivors, anti-human trafficking advocates and law enforcement, 50 Attorneys General, the civil rights community, faith-based groups, the larger tech community, and courts and judges who have made clear that it is Congress' responsibility to act to protect sex trafficking victims. Portman detailed how SESTA would help to end online sex trafficking on the Senate floor on Monday and Tuesday. Portman also discussed Russian disinformation and interference campaigns and border security.

PORTMAN ON ONLINE SEX TRAFFICKING

"Sadly, Chris, in this country, in this century, we actually see an increase in sex trafficking, substantial increase if you look at the data from some of the experts, including the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The experts mostly relate it to one thing, which is the growth of selling people online, women and children, through the internet. This is where the focus of our legislation is, to take away a current immunity--unbelievably if you're an organization online, selling people online, knowingly selling girls underage as an example, you have, in effect, an immunity under a federal law called the Communications Decency Act. We want to change that. We did this in a very narrow, targeted way to ensure freedom of the internet but also to ensure that this kind of horrific behavior wouldn't continue. Our legislation now has 64 cosponsors. We want to get it to the floor for a vote and begin to help change this incredible dynamic, that is so tragic in my view, which is an increase in human trafficking here in this country."

PORTMAN ON RUSSIAN DISINFORMATION & INTERFERENCE CAMPAIGNS

"I do think we have a serious and bipartisan investigation here on the Hill that's going to be successful in getting to the bottom of what happened. That's in the Senate Intelligence Committee. I know less about the House Intelligence Committee investigation. I'm confident that Chairman Richard Burr and Ranking Member Mark Warner are doing a good job. I've had an opportunity to speak with both of them about their ongoing work. And I think we have to let Mueller get to the bottom of it, too. You mentioned I'm on the Foreign Relations Committee. For years, I've been concerned about Russia's interference, particularly in fledgling democracies around the world, but also meddling in our own election. It's not new. They've been doing it for a while. They did it before Donald Trump and they'll be doing it after Donald Trump unless we make some changes. I think it's a serious issue. There was a report issued this week about some of the meddling in European elections, particularly Eastern European countries. It's trying to increase uncertainty and instability in these democracies and it needs to be addressed… I think the facts are pretty clear--I think they're very clear in fact--and I know that [the president] and his team are concerned about what the Russians are doing, again, not just in this country but in other countries."

PORTMAN ON BORDER SECURITY

"If you look at his latest proposal he sent to Congress a week or so ago, it included some additional fencing and wall. It also included more border security in terms of personnel and more technology, all of which I think is appropriate and I think most Democrats do as well… I think it's what he talked about the other day when he brought the media in for a 45-minute discussion with Republicans and Democrats alike and he talked about the need to extend the existing fencing and walls. As I look at the map, it's about 350 miles of additional fencing of walls over a 2,000 mile border. This will be mostly in the suburban and urban areas where you do have a big issue, not just with immigration but obviously with one of the issues I care a lot about, which is the drug issue. We do have very little enforcement on the border in terms of stopping heroin and increasingly fentanyl, much of which comes from China but then it comes over from Mexico. We have a real issue… It would help [on the drug issue]. It also actually would help in terms of the other issue we're going to talk about in a moment which is trafficking. This is something that we're focusing on this month. Today is Human Trafficking Awareness Day. So it would help. I think that's more where we're headed as a country, is a way to have a more secure border. If you just have a wall and don't have the personnel to respond when it's breached, then it's not very effective. In some areas it's more effective to have technology. I think it's a combination of those things. The commitment the president made in the campaign, which I think most Americans agree with, is that you have to have a more secure border, particularly a southern border."

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