On January 28, 2015 Rep. Bob Dold of Illinois asked for and was granted permission to address the United States House of Representatives for one minute regarding the epidemic of human sex trafficking in his Congressional District:
” Mr. Speaker, I rise today to highlight the importance of the legislation that we passed this week on human trafficking.
Sadly, my district is no stranger to this despicable crime. In both Lake and Cook Counties, we seem to have too many cases of human trafficking. In the Chicagoland area, up to 25,000 women and girls are victims of commercial sexual exploitation.
According to the Justice Department, as many as 300,000 American youths are at risk of becoming victims of sexual trafficking. The average age for girls that first become victims is between 12 and 14 years of age.
This legislation will protect our youth by establishing programs to help runaways and homeless children who are at the highest risk for becoming victims. The bills will also help address the issue by giving tools to health care professionals and law enforcement to identify and help victims of human trafficking, and to create programs to deter and prevent human trafficking in the first place.
Human trafficking for sexual exploitation is an epidemic that needs to be stopped. This is a first step, and we must remain focused to end human trafficking altogether.”
Source: Congressional Record
See video: HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN CHICAGO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vum9w4SayYo
See video: FIGHTING SEX-TRAFFICKING IN CHICAGO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1Z1sFPnDms
See video: Sex Trafficking in Chicago https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMoPQrqRkcc
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