‘One Of The Most Horrific’: Chris Wray Speaks About Human Trafficking

have now on my list and with great gratitude for um for sticking things out mr director the director of the fbi chris wright thank you mr secretary uh needless to say uh of all the many things that the fbi investigates i think we feel and i've felt this way since i was a line prosecutor that human trafficking is one of the most horrific and i i certainly agree with the sentiments and observations that have already been expressed that we're talking about a vicious and appalling cycle in which victims of human trafficking are held against their will often beaten or starved and coerced to perform sex work or forced labor under threats of blackmail or violence what makes this so much worse and even more heartbreaking is that scores and scores of these victims are children and has it been said human trafficking is of course a global scourge but it's everywhere including right here in our backyard in the united states which is of course our principal focus at the fbi we're working hard with our partners both in law enforcement and nonprofits to fight back and together we're sending the message that if you harm the most vulnerable among us you will forfeit your right to live freely in this country at the fbi we investigate all forms of human drafting regardless of the victims age gender or nationality i should say that on our end about 95 of our human trafficking cases involve sex trafficking while about five percent of all labor trafficking recognizing that uh many who've already spoken focus more on the labor side our overall human trafficking caseload has increased significantly in the past several years every single one of our 56 field offices has encountered human trafficking in those areas which tells you a lot about how pervasive this is even right here in the united states last fiscal year the fbi arrested 786 traffickers at 786 traffickers each with scores of victims in one year and as of this month we have more than 1700 active human trafficking investigations in addition to our investigative and law enforcement work a big part of our work also focuses on victims we find them rescue them and our victims specialists work to get them the help they need to recover and rebuild their lives that includes helping them with everything from getting access to food clothing housing translation services and support throughout the legal proceedings which can in their own right be incredibly stressful we also have child and adolescent forensic interviewers uh who are specially trained to account in our interviews for the development potential trauma and mental health of young victims going forward we're of course going to be doing our part to carry out the national action plan to combat human trafficking we're going to continue to work human trafficking cases across our entire enterprise ensuring that we follow a as you said mr secretary a victim-centric trauma-informed approach and we're going to keep doing all that working hand-in-hand with our partners to continuously update our training strengthen our investigations and prosecutions and develop more effective strategies to combat these horrific crimes and make those who perpetrate them pay the price not only by holding them accountable through criminal conviction and punishment but also by seizing the proceeds of trafficking and seizing seeking forfeiture of their assets our mission at the fbi is to protect the american people and protecting kids in particular the most vulnerable among us is what drives so many in the fbi to join in the first place and it's work that uh inspires us and drives us and we're proud to do it and we're thankful for the help of our many partners and we're going to keep doing this work for as long as it takes so thank you mr secretary director thank you thank you for the vital work that the bureau does thanks for putting the spotlight as well uh on the children on the youngest uh survivors of of trafficking uh and all the focus you're bringing to that