October 2, 2018
White House and Congress Respond to Our Call to Maintain Legal Protections for Sex Trafficking Victims in USMCA Trade Agreement
Great Falls, VA – Enough Is Enough® (EIE) is pleased the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is keeping intact both state and local legal protections for sex trafficking victims in the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which replaces NAFTA. This is another victory for children and families as website companies who knowingly facilitate sex trafficking will not be able to seek immunity for their crimes.
EIE and coalition partners reached out directly to the White House to implore the Administration to remove from the agreement language similar to previous wording of Section 230 of the U.S.’s Communications Decency Act (CDA)-- language tech companies tried to stealthily insert in an attempt to bring back sex trafficking immunity provisions in the U.S. and expand them to our neighboring countries.
Had this language remained, the trade deal would have would have served to protect companies that profit off sex trafficking, derailing recent victories achieved on behalf of sex trafficking survivors.
EIE is grateful the White House was swift to respond, as were members of Congress whom EIE advocates contacted asking immunity not be an option for website executives who knowingly facilitate sex trafficking.
FOSTA ("Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act,”) which amended CDA Section 230, fulfilled a promise by then-candidate Trump, who in 2016 signed Enough Is Enough®’s Children’s Internet Safety Presidential Pledge promising to advance public policies and provide law enforcement with the resources and tools needed to investigate and prosecute Internet crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children.
This is another needed and significant "win" for sex trafficking survivors and victims of sexual exploitation, but our work is far from done. We must aggressively enforce obscenity laws that have not been enforced since the Bush/Ashcroft D.O.J. efforts.