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    State Attorney General Letter To Congress - Polaris

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    OKCFOX
    The letter is from 48 state attorneys general to congressional leaders expressing concern over the National Human Trafficking Hotline's (Hotline) policy of not reporting all adult trafficking tips to law enforcement. The attorneys general argue this policy hinders their ability to help victims and catch traffickers. They urge Congress to require the Hotline, run by Polaris, to promptly forward all adult trafficking tips to relevant state law enforcement.

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    State Attorney General Letter To Congress - Polaris

    Uploaded by

    OKCFOX
    614 views6 pages
    The letter is from 48 state attorneys general to congressional leaders expressing concern over the National Human Trafficking Hotline's (Hotline) policy of not reporting all adult trafficking tips to law enforcement. The attorneys general argue this policy hinders their ability to help victims and catch traffickers. They urge Congress to require the Hotline, run by Polaris, to promptly forward all adult trafficking tips to relevant state law enforcement.

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    State Attorney General Letter to Congress - Polaris

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    State Attorney General Letter to Congress - Polaris

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    The letter is from 48 state attorneys general to congressional leaders expressing concern over the National Human Trafficking Hotline's (Hotline) policy of not reporting all adult trafficking tips to law enforcement. The attorneys general argue this policy hinders their ability to help victims and catch traffickers. They urge Congress to require the Hotline, run by Polaris, to promptly forward all adult trafficking tips to relevant state law enforcement.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    614 views6 pages

    State Attorney General Letter To Congress - Polaris

    Uploaded by

    OKCFOX
    The letter is from 48 state attorneys general to congressional leaders expressing concern over the National Human Trafficking Hotline's (Hotline) policy of not reporting all adult trafficking tips to law enforcement. The attorneys general argue this policy hinders their ability to help victims and catch traffickers. They urge Congress to require the Hotline, run by Polaris, to promptly forward all adult trafficking tips to relevant state law enforcement.

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    February 27, 2023

    The Honorable Chuck Schumer The Honorable Mitch McConnell


    Senate Majority Leader Senate Minority Leader
    322 Hart Senate Office Bldg. 317 Russell Senate Office Bldg.
    Washington, D.C. 20510 Washington, D.C. 20510

    The Honorable Kevin McCarthy The Honorable Hakeem Jeffries


    Speaker of the House House Minority Leader
    2468 Rayburn House Office Bldg. 2433 Rayburn House Office Bldg.
    Washington, D.C. 20515 Washington, D.C. 20515

    Re: National Human Trafficking Hotline reports

    Dear Majority Leader Schumer, Minority Leader McConnell, Speaker


    McCarthy, and Minority Leader Jeffries,

    It has recently come to our attention that the National Human


    Trafficking Hotline (“Hotline”), which Congress has funded for 15 years,
    is not reporting tips of adult trafficking to state law enforcement
    except under the limited circumstance where the victim self-reports
    and affirmatively consents to the Hotline making the report. Not only
    do we believe this action contravenes one of Congress’ intended
    functions of the Hotline, but we believe it disrupts the federal-state
    partnership to end human trafficking and help its victims.

    By its own accounts, Polaris operates the Hotline to, among


    other things, “take tips of suspected human trafficking from
    community members.” 1 The Administration for Children and Families
    (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which
    administers the grant under which Polaris operates the Hotline,
    specifically notes that it “takes tips about potential situations … and
    facilitates reporting to specialized human trafficking task forces,
    federal authorities, local law enforcement, and service providers
    throughout the country.” 2

    1 www.polarisproject.org/responding-to-human-trafficking/
    2 https://www.acf.hhs.gov/otip/victim-assistance/national-human-trafficking-hotline
    ACF touts that since its inception, the Hotline has provided more than 15,000 tips to
    law enforcement 3 and Polaris reports that its most frequent request on human trafficking
    cases is to “Report a Trafficking Tip.” 4 According to its own statistics, of the 10,360 cases
    identified by the Hotline in 2021, 6,546 were from citizens reporting a suspected trafficking
    situation. 5 In contrast, only 3,284 were calls requesting service referrals. 6 Of the 51,073
    signals, meaning contacts by call, text, web message, chat or other form of communication,
    13,277 of were from victims or survivors of trafficking. 7

    The National Human Trafficking Hotline website displays several ways that citizens
    may submit a tip, including via phone, text, chat, or online submission. 8 Congress and many
    states have taken steps to ensure that the Hotline information is widely disseminated so
    that citizens can report suspected trafficking directly to the National Hotline. Those tips are
    crucial to catching criminals, to recovering victims, to uncovering evidence of broader
    trafficking operations, and more. Those tips help local and state law enforcement to end
    trafficking and to help its victims.

    This past summer, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch met with Catherine Chen,
    Chief Executive Officer of Polaris, to discuss her concerns about the lack of adult tips
    Mississippi was receiving from the Hotline. Ms. Chen explained that Polaris uses a victim-
    centered approach that takes into consideration the potential adverse consequences to
    victims. As further explained on its website, “Except in situations involving potential abuse
    of a minor or if we believe a person is in imminent danger, the Trafficking Hotline will not
    take action without the consent of the person in the situation.” 9

    Many states also take a victim-centered approach to suspected instances of human


    trafficking. For instance, the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office regularly conducts joint
    operations with local law enforcement across the State, which invariably include
    opportunities for victims to be connected with the appropriate services for recovery. In
    fact, the training provided to local law enforcement and prosecutors on human trafficking
    investigations and prosecution in Mississippi is centered on victim recovery, not victim
    arrests.

    During last Summer’s meeting, Ms. Chen informed General Fitch that the Hotline was
    beginning to transition away from serving as a tipline to concentrate more on connecting
    survivors with resources. We cannot stress enough how great a departure this is from our
    understanding of the current practices and purposes of the Hotline or how serious a
    detriment it will be to our work to stop trafficking and aid its victims.

    3 Id.
    4
    https://humantraffickinghotline.org/en/statistics
    5 Id.
    6 Id.
    7 Id.
    8 www.humantraffickinghotline.org/
    9 https://humantraffickinghotline.org/about-us/when-you-reach-us
    Possibly more alarming, some states are reporting that they receive tips from the
    Hotline a month, sometimes two months, after a tip of suspected trafficking is reported to
    Polaris. If the Hotline is not promptly sharing tips with law enforcement, law enforcement
    cannot act to help victims of trafficking. Timely information is necessary for a quick
    recovery of victims of human trafficking and is paramount to the entire purpose of the
    Hotline. Polaris’s current system of reporting is hurting the very victims Polaris purports to
    be central to their approach.

    In the Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2022, just
    signed into law on January 5, 2023, Congress reauthorized $3.5 million for the Hotline each
    fiscal year through federal Fiscal Year 2028.

    It appears to us that the Hotline is not performing the services it is already funded to
    perform. Without changes to Polaris’s operating procedures, our state anti-trafficking
    initiatives gain little from participation in the National Hotline. As such, individual states may
    be forced to establish their own state hotlines, as some already have begun to do. A
    nationally-run hotline not only achieves cost-efficiencies, but also ensures a uniform
    approach and allows for the collection of cross-state information with regard to human
    trafficking tips.

    However, we cannot in good conscience continue to ask the public to share tips
    about trafficking in their communities if the Hotline will not give us, as law enforcement, the
    opportunity to address those tips. It serves no one well to do so, least of all the victims that
    could be helped by a tip phoned in by a good Samaritan who sees their suffering and tries
    to do the right thing.

    We urge Congress to ensure that Polaris makes changes to its current and reported
    planned tip reporting policies to begin forwarding tips regarding suspected human
    trafficking of adults, in a prompt manner, to the corresponding state’s law enforcement
    officials for their evaluation and response to ensure victim safety. The Hotline’s creation
    and its multijurisdictional use is an acknowledgment that traffickers do not respect borders
    any more than they respect their victims. We cannot afford to lose the benefits of this
    federal-state partnership to end trafficking.

    Sincerely,

    Kathleen Jennings Lynn Fitch


    Delaware Attorney General Mississippi Attorney General
    Steve Marshall Treg R. Taylor
    Alabama Attorney General Alaska Attorney General

    Kris Mayes Tim Griffin


    Arizona Attorney General Arkansas Attorney General

    Rob Bonta William Tong


    California Attorney General Connecticut Attorney General

    Ashley Moody Christopher M. Carr


    Florida Attorney General Georgia Attorney General

    Raúl Labrador Todd Rokita


    Idaho Attorney General Indiana Attorney General

    Brenna Bird Daniel Cameron


    Iowa Attorney General Kentucky Attorney General
    Jeff Landry Dana Nessel
    Louisiana Attorney General Michigan Attorney General

    Andrew Bailey Austin Knudsen


    Missouri Attorney General Montana Attorney General

    Mike Hilgers Aaron D. Ford


    Nebraska Attorney General Nevada Attorney General

    Raúl Torrez Drew H. Wrigley


    New Mexico Attorney General North Dakota Attorney General

    Dave Yost Gentner Drummond


    Ohio Attorney General Oklahoma Attorney General

    Ellen F. Rosenblum Michelle Henry


    Oregon Attorney General Pennsylvania Attorney General
    Peter F. Neronha Alan Wilson
    Rhode Island Attorney General South Carolina Attorney General

    Marty Jackley Jonathan Skrmetti


    South Dakota Attorney General Tennessee Attorney General

    Ken Paxton Carol Thomas Jacobs


    Texas Attorney General U.S. Virgin Islands Attorney General

    Sean D. Reyes Charity Clark


    Utah Attorney General Vermont Attorney General

    Jason S. Miyares Joshua L. Kaul


    Virginia Attorney General Wisconsin Attorney General

    cc: The Honorable Christopher H. Smith, sponsor, H.R. 6552 (117th Congress)
    Catherine Chen, CEO, Polaris

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