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Sean D. Reyes
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Attorney General Reyes on Human Trafficking Panel: Survivors First, Awareness Essential

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 2, 2020

ATTORNEY GENERAL REYES ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING PANEL: SURVIVORS FIRST, AWARENESS ESSENTIAL

WASHINGTON D.C. — Today, Utah Attorney General Sean D. Reyes helped outline the extent of the human trafficking problem on a panel that included Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf and Attorneys General Leslie Rutledge of Arkansas and Ashley Moody of Florida.
 
“There are more victims of human trafficking throughout the world than the public realizes,” said Attorney General Reyes. “In fact, there are more victims entrapped in slavery than ever before. We will keep working tirelessly to wake up America to the pervasiveness of the threat. Many people either don’t know or don’t want to know what’s happening to victims in their community because it is so shocking. We have to change that.
 
“In Utah, we have made great strides in six years. We went from an “F” grade in 2013 to an “A” grade in 2019 from Shared Hope International because of incredible public support, willing state leaders, aggressive law enforcement and a focus on empowering and healing victims and survivors. Yet, we still have a long way to go.”
 
DHS Acting Secretary Wolf pledged his support.
 
“We need to take a victim-first approach and assess the real threat to our communities,” Wolf said. “The Federal Government can’t do it alone. For example, we need to work with tech companies so they can identify victims and takedown harmful content. We need to go where the threats take us and ask the people in our nation for assistance. But we need to ensure our resources are allocated in the correct way.”
 
“If you see something, say something,” he added.
 
The panel emphasized that it is vitally important for the general public to keep an eye out for unusual behavior that could signal a person may be in a situation against their will.
 
A public-private partnership is necessary in order to accomplish the goal of freeing victims of human trafficking, the panel agreed.

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