By Liz Nass
Gongwer News Service
Attorney General Dana Nessel said legislation stuck in both chambers and building a better partnership with federal law enforcement are solutions to human trafficking in the state during a roundtable on Thursday for Human Trafficking Awareness Day.
But, Nessel said, there was an elephant “not in the room” at the roundtable: federal agencies like representatives from the U.S. Attorney or FBI offices that are necessary partners in the work.
Many of the experts at the table raised concerns about where the fervor about trafficking was on the national stage, with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security instead focusing on their immigration enforcement efforts.
Jessica Glynn, a member of the Human Trafficking Health Advisory Board at the Department of Health and Human Services, said the Department of Homeland Security has been pulled “offline” in their services. She said this is now being weaponized against human trafficking survivors, because traffickers are paying attention to the fact that there has not been enforcement.
She also said what the department is prioritizing – raids through Immigration Customs and Enforcement–, is just giving traffickers more tools in fear, making survivors afraid to come forward and report in fear of being deported.
Karen Moore, executive director at Sanctum House, a shelter for women survivors of human trafficking in Novi, said while they have had great federal partners in the past, cases are now being dropped and answers to phone calls from victims go unanswered, adding to the trauma.
Michelle Palepu, attorney specialist in human trafficking at the Department of Attorney General, said the state will continue to bring prosecutions, with nine cases tried in the last year, but are hoping federal partners will rejoin them.
Palepu also outlined bipartisan legislation in the House and the Senate that would increase penalties for human trafficking and make language changes to remove stigma from trafficking for victims.
SB 520, SB 521 and SB 705 were all reported out of the Senate Civil Rights, Judiciary and Public Safety and sent to the Senate floor for a vote. The bills include designating a human trafficking violation involving a minor or involving kidnapping as criminal sexual conduct with death punishable by up to life imprisonment and a maximum fine of $50,000. All other human trafficking violations would be punishable by up to 20 years' imprisonment and a maximum fine of $20,000. The bills would also increase the age of a person who could be guilty of a misdemeanor or felony penalties for facilitating prostitution from 16 to 18.
Sen. Stephanie Chang, D-Detroit, chair of the committee, said she would advocate for a full vote on those bills in January once the Legislature returns to session.
SB 522 and 523 are still sitting in committee. Those bills would allow a juvenile court to terminate parental rights, which would allow the Department of Health and Human Services to exercise its right over a child if human trafficking occurred.
Advocates previously had concerns about those bills, saying a human trafficking conviction is not evidence a person is an unfit parent if the trafficking did not involve a child.
Chang said she and the other sponsor, Sen. Rosemary Bayer, D-West Bloomfield, are still working out some of those concerns.
“There are some productive ideas,” Chang said. “I think that we just need to kind of nail down and figure out what is the best way forward to just make sure that we don't have unintended consequences for parents who are perhaps trafficked themselves and so we are hopeful that we can figure it out.”
The House bill package, HB 5509 through HB 5028, was introduced and referred to the House Judiciary Committee, and has not seen movement since.
Nessel joked that this was “encouraging,” saying someone needs to remind the chair of the committee, Rep. Sarah Lightner, R-Springport, that the bills are sitting in her committee.
Chang said in an interview that some issues raised at the roundtable that she may want to introduce legislation on includes creating funding for rehabilitative housing for victims of human trafficking and licensure issues for businesses that may be connected to trafficking.
In response to questions of how cutting the Human Trafficking Commission’s Victim Services from the latest budget cycle affected their programs, Palepu said if they had more resources, they could reach more people, but they have always worked on tiny sums of money for their programs.
She called for separate funding in general for human trafficking efforts instead of pulling from the Department of Attorney General.
Palepu also said the department is already thinking about the next budget cycle, making a list of what survivors need the first year coming out of the system, wanting to fund those needs first with line-item appropriations.
Gongwer News Service
Attorney General Dana Nessel said legislation stuck in both chambers and building a better partnership with federal law enforcement are solutions to human trafficking in the state during a roundtable on Thursday for Human Trafficking Awareness Day.
But, Nessel said, there was an elephant “not in the room” at the roundtable: federal agencies like representatives from the U.S. Attorney or FBI offices that are necessary partners in the work.
Many of the experts at the table raised concerns about where the fervor about trafficking was on the national stage, with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security instead focusing on their immigration enforcement efforts.
Jessica Glynn, a member of the Human Trafficking Health Advisory Board at the Department of Health and Human Services, said the Department of Homeland Security has been pulled “offline” in their services. She said this is now being weaponized against human trafficking survivors, because traffickers are paying attention to the fact that there has not been enforcement.
She also said what the department is prioritizing – raids through Immigration Customs and Enforcement–, is just giving traffickers more tools in fear, making survivors afraid to come forward and report in fear of being deported.
Karen Moore, executive director at Sanctum House, a shelter for women survivors of human trafficking in Novi, said while they have had great federal partners in the past, cases are now being dropped and answers to phone calls from victims go unanswered, adding to the trauma.
Michelle Palepu, attorney specialist in human trafficking at the Department of Attorney General, said the state will continue to bring prosecutions, with nine cases tried in the last year, but are hoping federal partners will rejoin them.
Palepu also outlined bipartisan legislation in the House and the Senate that would increase penalties for human trafficking and make language changes to remove stigma from trafficking for victims.
SB 520, SB 521 and SB 705 were all reported out of the Senate Civil Rights, Judiciary and Public Safety and sent to the Senate floor for a vote. The bills include designating a human trafficking violation involving a minor or involving kidnapping as criminal sexual conduct with death punishable by up to life imprisonment and a maximum fine of $50,000. All other human trafficking violations would be punishable by up to 20 years' imprisonment and a maximum fine of $20,000. The bills would also increase the age of a person who could be guilty of a misdemeanor or felony penalties for facilitating prostitution from 16 to 18.
Sen. Stephanie Chang, D-Detroit, chair of the committee, said she would advocate for a full vote on those bills in January once the Legislature returns to session.
SB 522 and 523 are still sitting in committee. Those bills would allow a juvenile court to terminate parental rights, which would allow the Department of Health and Human Services to exercise its right over a child if human trafficking occurred.
Advocates previously had concerns about those bills, saying a human trafficking conviction is not evidence a person is an unfit parent if the trafficking did not involve a child.
Chang said she and the other sponsor, Sen. Rosemary Bayer, D-West Bloomfield, are still working out some of those concerns.
“There are some productive ideas,” Chang said. “I think that we just need to kind of nail down and figure out what is the best way forward to just make sure that we don't have unintended consequences for parents who are perhaps trafficked themselves and so we are hopeful that we can figure it out.”
The House bill package, HB 5509 through HB 5028, was introduced and referred to the House Judiciary Committee, and has not seen movement since.
Nessel joked that this was “encouraging,” saying someone needs to remind the chair of the committee, Rep. Sarah Lightner, R-Springport, that the bills are sitting in her committee.
Chang said in an interview that some issues raised at the roundtable that she may want to introduce legislation on includes creating funding for rehabilitative housing for victims of human trafficking and licensure issues for businesses that may be connected to trafficking.
In response to questions of how cutting the Human Trafficking Commission’s Victim Services from the latest budget cycle affected their programs, Palepu said if they had more resources, they could reach more people, but they have always worked on tiny sums of money for their programs.
She called for separate funding in general for human trafficking efforts instead of pulling from the Department of Attorney General.
Palepu also said the department is already thinking about the next budget cycle, making a list of what survivors need the first year coming out of the system, wanting to fund those needs first with line-item appropriations.
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