Traffickers will thrive on the chaos.

[[link removed]]Dear John,

While much about the future of life, work, and society post COVID-19 remains
murky, we can with some clarity predict the future of sex and labor trafficking in the
aftermath: It will get worse. More people will be victimized as joblessness soars. Survivors will have a
harder time getting - and staying - out, and rebuilding their lives. Traffickers
will thrive in the chaos.

Knowing this, we have to prepare. We can start by ensuring Congress gives local
anti-trafficking service providers - shelters, drop-in counseling centers,
employment support programs, legal clinics - the resources they need to meet the
surge in demand. Call your Senators and Representatives [[link removed]] and politely ask them to do the following:

• Ensure that victim service providers funded by the Department of Justice and
Department of Health and Human Services receive continued funding through FY21
and budget appropriations that reflect an increase in need. • Reauthorize the Runaway and Homeless Youth Trafficking Prevention Act
[[link removed]] to ensure that this vulnerable population has resources to survive and thrive
in this challenging time. • Provide additional resources to support remote operations, increased call
volumes, and overhauls of protocols for national service hotlines, including
hotlines that support not only trafficking survivors but survivors of sexual
assault, child abuse, domestic violence, victims of crime, and more. • Support the Domestic Worker Bill of Rights
[[link removed]] , providing much-needed protections to a group of workers who are extremely
vulnerable to trafficking in the best of times and likely to be left out of most
of the COVID-19 relief packages. • Strengthen congressional oversight of the Department of Labor and Department of
Homeland Security as the federal government makes changes to the rules that
protect migrant guest workers who provide the essential labor that safeguards
our nation’s food supply.The people most often targeted for abuse, exploitation, and trafficking are made
vulnerable by other complex hardships - most notably poverty and instability. As
the unemployment rate soars, we know financial hardship, unstable living
situations, strains on interpersonal relationships, and mental health challenges
cannot be far behind. With more people struggling, traffickers will take advantage - offering fake employment opportunities, establishing coercive and violent
relationships, and turning desperation into profit.

We also need Congress to fund services that keep people out of trafficking
situations in the first place. While the COVID-19 relief bills were a good start, they are only stopgaps to
meet immediate needs. Supporting better foster care, affordable transitional housing, stronger labor
protections, and expanding other social services that help vulnerable people
build the strength they need is supporting anti-trafficking legislation. Let’s
do this, the right way.

In Solidarity,

Catherine Chen
Chief Program Officer




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