Leaders in the Fight to End Human Trafficking Join ATIP Roundtable to Discuss Next Steps on Capitol Hill

CPAC’s Center for Combating Human Trafficking banded together this week with other key organizations in the fight to end modern-day slavery at the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Congressional Roundtable (ATIP). 

For several years, ATIP has been an important opportunity for proposing legislation, criminal justice reform, and non-governmental solutions to human trafficking to pivotal organizations, leaders, and elected officials in the fight against human trafficking.  

CPAC joined partners including the Tim Tebow Foundation, Ascend Consulting, National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE), and Rights4Girls to discuss the importance of passing the Trafficking Survivor’s Relief Act at this year’s ATIP Congressional Roundtable.

The Trafficking Survivor’s Relief Act is a bipartisan effort that proposes criminal record relief to victims of human trafficking who were arrested or convicted of a non-violent crime while being trafficked. 

Human trafficking victims are often coerced into committing crimes, such as prostitution, fraud, and identity theft, by their traffickers but once in the justice system, receive no recognition of their victim status, only a criminal record that damages their chances of escaping trafficking and the cycle of crime. The Trafficking Survivor’s Act advocates for human trafficking victims by proposing expungement or sentence mitigation only for the crimes committed as a direct result of their trafficking.  

CPAC and its partners presented the act to an audience that consisted of 8 members of Congress and over 60 influential organizations. The meeting also featured renewed commitments from Senators Marsha Blackburn (95% CPAC Rating) and Cindy Hyde-Smith (78% CPAC Rating) and Congressman Andy Biggs (97% CPAC Rating).  

Our team looks forward to working alongside champions on Capitol Hill to support survivors and hold traffickers accountable in the 119th Congress.