McCaul Mourns Deaths of Migrants, Condemns Human Trafficking

I released the following statement after at least 48 people died in an abandoned tractor trailer in San Antonio, TX, and an additional two people died later at the hospital. An additional 14 people remain at a local hospital being treated for heat stroke and exhaustion. I have been a leader fighting against human trafficking, including sponsoring the Blue Campaign Reauthorization Act in 2018 and the Leveraging Information in Foreign Traffickers (LIFT) Act in 2020. Both were signed into law.
 
Our porous southern border combined with limited resources for proper border security enforcement has created the perfect cocktail for illegal human trafficking – and resulted in this senseless loss of human life. I have been fighting to secure our border and stop the scourge of human trafficking since coming to Congress, but the Biden administration’s policies are wreaking havoc. What will it take – how many more deaths like this – before President Biden and his so-called border czar, Vice President Harris, finally take substantive action to secure our border?”
 
Human Trafficking Legislation Sponsored by Rep. McCaul
 
The Blue Campaign Reauthorization Act was enacted into law in 2018. It authorized the Blue Campaign, which better equips the Department of Homeland Security to partner, educate, and coordinate efforts and intelligence sharing, and provides resources to help deter, detect, and mitigate instances of human trafficking in the United States. 
 
The LIFT Act became law in 2020 as a part of the National Defense Authorization Act. While human traffickers are already denied visas under U.S. law, the LIFT Act ensured the U.S. government is better tracking these denials so U.S. taxpayer money is used in the most effective way to fight human trafficking. In addition, it reauthorized the U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking, which advises the government on best practices for fighting human trafficking.
 
I serve as a sponsor of the Interdiction for the Protection of Child Victims of Exploitation and Human Trafficking Act, which he first introduced in 2019. This would give law enforcement agencies the tools they need to better train officers to identify exploited children and other vulnerable individuals. 
 
I am an original cosponsor of the Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act. This legislation was recently adopted by the House Foreign Affairs Committee with bipartisan support and is pending a vote in the House.