U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) introduced a package of four bills on Thursday aimed at combating human trafficking.
Blackburn’s package of bills includes the Stopping the Abuse, Victimization, and Exploitation of Girls (SAVE Girls) Act; National Human Trafficking Database Act; End Child Trafficking Now Act; and Preventing the Recycling of Immigrants is Necessary for Trafficking Suspension (PRINTS) Act.
The SAVE Girls Act would “establish a Federal grant program to combat the smuggling and trafficking of children and young women,” according to the bill’s text.
Blackburn’s bill would authorize grant funds to be awarded to “States, Indian tribes, units of local government, and nonprofit, nongovernmental victims’ service organizations” for efforts that “prevent the smuggling of children and young women between 12 and 24 years of age across the borders of the United States” and “provide support for children and young women between 12 and 24 years of age who have already been smuggled into the United States or who have been or are at risk of becoming victims of child sex trafficking or a severe form of trafficking in persons.”
The National Human Trafficking Database Act would establish a national human trafficking database at the Office for Victims of Crime of the Department of Justice and “incentivize certain State agencies to report data to the database,” according to the bill’s text.
The End Child Trafficking Now Act would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to require a DNA test to determine the familial relationship between an alien and an accompanying minor.
An alien means “any person not a citizen or national of the United States,” according to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Under the bill, any alien 18 years old or older who “knowingly uses, for the purpose of entering the United States, a minor to whom the individual is not a relative or guardian, shall be fined, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.”
The final bill Blackburn introduced Thursday, the PRINTS Act, would require the Secretary of Homeland Security to fingerprint noncitizen minors under the age of 14 entering the United States who are suspected of being victims of human trafficking.
In addition, the bill would also require that the number of such minors who are fingerprinted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials and the number of child traffickers who are apprehended by CBP are publicly disclosed.
“Human trafficking is a vile crime, and we need to do everything in our power to deter criminals and trafficking rings from preying on innocent men, women, and children,” Blackburn said in a statement.
Blackburn’s bills come as Saturday, January 11, is observed as National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. The entire month of January is also recognized as National Human Trafficking Prevention Month.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
