As Congress gets set to take on the troubling issue of human trafficking, Senator Marco Rubio, who is co-sponsoring a major bill on the subject, tells the Brody File that what is happening in America is a humanitarian crisis and, “sounds like some sort of cable movie but it’s real.”
He said America must take the lead because of its moral standing in the world. He then takes a swipe at China saying, “China will never be America” because it is a country that, “violates the rights of its own people and can care less about the rights of others.”
I spoke with Rubio in his Capitol Hill office about the issue of human trafficking, which will be the focus of a hearing on Capitol Hill today. Rubio will play a lead role as he and other members of the U.S. Helsinki Commission look to reauthorize the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2011.
Watch the clip below.
The definition of human trafficking is as follows:
“Human Trafficking is a crime against humanity. It involves an act of recruiting, transporting, transfering, harbouring or receiving a person through a use of force, coercion or other means, for the purpose of exploiting them.”
It is estimated that 17,000 people (mostly women) are illegally trafficked in the United States every year. Rubio’s state of Florida has major transit points for the illegal activity.
Rubio highlights one story of two 15-year olds who ran away from home and met a couple of men who drugged and raped them and were forced into prostitution. This is not an isolated incident.
Read the State Department's "Annual Trafficking in Persons Report" here.
Rubio is selectively choosing important national issues to engage in. He is seen as a possible vice presidential pick and a future president. I ask him about that as well. That clip will be released tomorrow on The Brody File.