By JAVIER MANJARRES

 Florida Governor Rick Scott signed two bills into law that aide the victims of human trafficking, allowing them to start their new post-trafficking lives with a ‘clean slate.’ According to the Miami Herald, the first law “seeks to help human trafficking victims who have trouble moving on with their lives because of their criminal record, while the second law keeps victims’ records private.”

 “Somebody who’s been involved in human trafficking—we want to get them back to normal as quickly as we can,” Scott said. “Because of being trafficked, they end up with a criminal record that makes it very difficult for them to get a job, get into school, get on with their lives.”-Miami Herald

 The two laws were sponsored by Rep. Ross Spano (R) and Sen. Anitere Flores (R). Flores is considered to be on Rick Scott’s short list of potential Lieutenant Governor choices. The Lt. Governor job has been left vacant after former Lt. Governor Jennifer Carroll resigned several months ago.

 Earlier this year, Governor Scott “signed the Safe Harbor Act and HB 7049 piece of legislation penned by State Senator Anitere Flores, State Representative Jeanette Nunez, and fellow State Representative Eric Fresen, that would help fight human trafficking by “increasing the prosecution of criminals who exploit children and also provide better services to the victims who are rescued from this heinous crime.”

 Here is a compelling testimonial by Allison Goode, a former victim and inhibitor of the sex trade, who felt “unwanted and unloved”, she didn’t feel valued, and at an early age, she was “pimped out for drugs, money and sex. Goode also said that by the time she turned 9 years old, she had already become a drug addict. (Source-Shark Tank)

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 The human trafficking epidemic is an issue that crosses political party lines, both at the state and federal levels of government. The two bills that Scott signed into law were supported by both Democrats and Republicans in the state legislature.

 One prominent politician who has been beating the human trafficking drum has been Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Wasserman Schultz has stated that in the U.S., “one person is sold into human trafficking every ten minutes,” and ” that between 100,000 and 300,00 children in the U.S. are at risk of sex trafficking every year.” Wasserman Schultz also added that children as young as 13 years old are enslaved, and exposed to pornography and prostitution.


 U.S. Senator Marco Rubio and his wife Jeanette, have also been at the forefront of bringing awareness to this issue.

 As we wrote back in October 2012, asides from having to look after four young ‘outgoing’ children on her own, Mrs. Rubio has given her special attention the issue of human trafficking, and she is committed to heightening the public’s awareness of it.  After the event, we caught up with Mrs. Rubio and asked her about her ongoing philanthropic efforts as well if we should expect to see a more “visible” Mrs. Rubio in the future.(Source-Shark Tank)

Anything to do with children and the community, and having to do with helping these girls, I will put my name out there to do whatever I can do to help. – Jeanette Rubio

At the same event, her husband Senator Rubio “pulled no punches when he called out the liberal Village Voice media outlet for its “egregious” exploitation of young women who are part of the growing human trafficking epidemic that is increasingly gripping the country.”

I want to take a moment to call attention to one of the most egregious things going on across our country, and that’s Village Voice Media, who runs a number of newspapers around our country, including the New Times here in Miami-Dade County and actively, actively advertising the services of some of these young girls.  Actively, you can go on there and buy a human being for two hours, and you can do that on advertising going on in newspapers being printed in this very town by Village Voice Media.  It is an outrage.

They make millions and millions of dollars selling human beings in this country. – Senator Marco Rubio

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