Durbin Questions Witnesses About Protecting Vulnerable Youth From Sex Trafficking, Exploitation

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, questioned witnesses in today's Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism hearing entitled "Lost and Exploited: Confronting Child Trafficking and the Failure to Protect America's Most Vulnerable." During his questioning, Durbin focused on how the federal government can intervene before children are brought into dangerous situations, including trafficking and sextortion.

Durbin began by asking Ms. Julia Einbond, CEO of Covenant House New Jersey, about her organization's view on his bipartisan legislation, the Runaway and Homeless Youth and Trafficking Prevention Act.

"Ms. Einbond raised the Runaway and Homeless Youth and Trafficking Prevention Act, which I reintroduced with Senator Collins last year, to reauthorize funding for essential programs and services for runaways and homeless youth. Ms. Einbond, how do you come in contact with homeless youth?" Durbin began.

Ms. Einbond explained that some youth seek out Covenant House while others are connected to the organization's services through the court system or law enforcement referrals. Ms. Einbond emphasized that youth homelessness is a crisis and that more resources must be made available to those in need.

"Could you give me the two or three largest [demographic] categories of homeless youth?" Durbin asked.

Ms. Einbond noted that many homeless youth are survivors of human trafficking. At Covenant House, more than 10 percent of the youth they serve annually have survived human tracking at some point in their life. Ms. Einbond further explained that other youth seeking support were pushed out of their homes or aged out of the foster care system, and roughly 20 percent of the youth served at Covenant House are part of the LGBTQ+ community.

Durbin then asked Ms. Yasmin Vafa, Executive Director of Rights4Girls, about how law enforcement engages with victims of trafficking and the difficulties in holding perpetrators accountable.

"Part of the problem is that law enforcement ends up pointing to the victim for their activity, rather than the preparator. Explain why we can't get it across to them that they are clearly pointing in the wrong direction," Durbin said to Ms. Vafa.

Ms. Vafa pointed to the stigma that survivors face, and often times, law enforcement does not account for the full breadth of federal law that would categorize abuses like "survival sex," in which a victim is forced to perform a sex act to avoid physical harm, as sex trafficking. Ms. Vafa continued, explaining that young girls of color must also overcome "adultification bias," by which dangerous stereotypes are projected on to young girls of color; they are not viewed as the children they are. Instead, law enforcement agencies and the court system see these young girls as willful participants in the violence against them rather than as victims suffering at the hands of their abusers. Ultimately, this leads to negative outcomes for these victims in the criminal justice system.

Ms. Vafa also urged the members of the subcommittee to review state laws that still inappropriately consider the sex buying of minors a misdemeanor rather than a felony.

Video of Durbin's questions are available here.

Audio of Durbin's questions are available here.

Footage of Durbin's questions are available here for TV Stations.

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