>> for c-span's voices 2024 we are asking voters across the country what issue is most important to you in this election and why. >> this political season it is immigration. >> i think homelessness is the issue that needs to be addressed. >> we invite you to share your voice by going to our website, c-span.org/campaign 2024. select the record your voice to bed record a 32nd video telling us your issue and why. c-span's voices 2024. be part of the conversation. >> next a look at ways to stop human trafficking at the state level with officials and policy advocates at this year's conservative political action conference held just outside washington, d.c..

>> ladies and gentlemen, next, combating human trafficking. please welcome antihuman trafficking director for the attorney general of virginia, can you gold. founder and executive director, leticia house, elizabeth emily, ohio attorney general dave yost, and your moderator, cpac senior fellow mercedes schlep. >> hello cpac. how is everybody doing? it has been bustling. let's take a seat. in the cpac central hub it is an honor to be with you. we have to turn to a very serious topic. a topic that cpac has been involved in and i want to really

bring in this incredible panel of experts, fighters on the front lines to save the lives of children who are being sex traffic, of young women and young men who are being sex traffic. i'm going to make this clear. this is nothing to do with politics, it is about humanity. if we do not save our children, if we do not save innocent victims, why are we here? to get started, attorney general , great to have you from ohio. you ran an effective, very effective operation, operation buyer's remorse. walk us through, what did you do and how did it work? >> these were law enforcement agencies in support services agencies, so we are not just out there doing the law enforcement thing, although we do that as well. we make sure the survivors of

human trafficking when we encounter them out of the field are connected with services, whether that is a meal, addiction treatment, shelter, we are there to help support them, what we call the highway to hope. buyers remorse, there is no market for human trafficking if there is not buyers. we have shifted in ohio from focusing on enforcing laws against soliciting and prostitution to actually enforcing the laws against buying sex. we have a new law -- yes, that is the right way to go. we are trying to send a message to all the buyers of sex, do not buy sex in ohio. if money dries up the trafficking will dry up. >> what is unfortunate here is that part of this is the fact that you have got the u.s. being the largest consumer of sex

trafficking. let me ask you this, you are nodding saying yes. this is a horrible problem. what is happening in virginia? you all have taken this battle, you yourself, you are a survivor. what are you hearing? what has been done at the state level? >> are attorney general has made this a priority and also the governor. so we have that. we started a commission to really look at what we have been doing and some gaps. we want to be intentional about making sure we have a trauma informed response. person centered. we also want to make sure we are reaching our citizens so they would understand they are part of the solution. one thing that's going really well, we started a program called 100%, this is against

trafficking, it has been successful. we cut a short video. we are focusing on awareness to send out to all businesses so they can make sure they -- for their employees are watching it because they are firsthand. people always think human trafficking happen somewhere else. it is places i -- i went to a retail store. i went to an ice cream shop while i was being trafficked. making sure that businesses understand they can be part of the solution. we have had the chamber of commerce come to us and say we want to make sure this is available. all throughout the commonwealth. it's been successful. >> elizabeth, you run this incredible home. i had the opportunity to go visit and see where you care for these victims. you have seen the human trafficking. what has to be done so victims

get a second chance? >> so many things. first they need to find safety. there are so few places where they can go. they need to be in a housing setting where there is trauma informed. victims of sex trafficking, they have complex trauma, dig, mental illness, addiction. -- d.i.d., mental illness, addiction. we have two houses and we are going national where women can stay and there is addiction counseling and parenting classes and financial literacy. we have to overcome barriers like felonies. women are overwhelmingly victims of trafficking, overwhelmingly have felonies in other things. mercedes: what is the average age? >> 24. mercedes: the average age they start the sex trafficking. >> 12. mercedes: average age is 12.

i hope the media is really capturing this. average age of sex trafficking is 12 years old. and they are raped to times a day, handed off. -- multiple times a day, handed off. who takes care of them? >> a lot of them did not make it to a safe place and they die or are incarcerated. the other thing people may not know is 99% to 100% of survivors , they were all sexually abused as children, it's the number one predicate or for people being trafficked. usually under the age of five. they end up trafficked. mercedes: attorney general, so we look at ohio. you are not a border state. but yet with the border crisis, the chaos we are seeing with over 86,000 children that are missing, then across the border, -- that have crossed the border, how does this tie between the border and ohio and these other

states? >> first of all there is no such thing as a border state anymore or maybe i should say every state is a border state. [applause] >> our southern border is so wide open whether we are talking about human trafficking or drugs it is pouring into our country and going right up the middle and dispersing everywhere. the border is the largest issue this year. in america. whether we are talking about the economy, talking about drugs, talking about human trafficking. get control of the border first. >> is not just sex trafficking but labor trafficking. what is that? >> neighbor trafficking is the same except they are using trafficking the human being for labor. mercedes: and you have caught unaccompanied minors on farms in ohio. dave: it happens all over the

country. it is a function of our indiscriminate enforcement -- nonenforcement of the southern border. mercedes: let me ask you this. looking at the policies itself, talking about the victims side, helping them heal, but the reality is how are we catching these human traffickers? are they being prosecuted? >> traffickers are master manipulators. they do everything they can to make sure someone else is blamed for what they are doing. that this is just something they have done forever, how they do their work, it is their operation. to really take the time to figure out what traffickers are doing and how, that is a lot of work. i do not believe we have enough resources to put on that side. talking about traffickers, about

buyers, that is one thing. it is easier when we talk about the low hanging fruit, it is easier to go after victims and survivors. we want to switch that but not only with our mindset, also switch that with our funds and make sure we are going after traffickers. it's very difficult. they are master maybe leaders which is how they are able to go after people who don't think they are vulnerable. they understand what vulnerability is and that this is how they do it. >> we have seen cases where women are part of these crimes, they get thrown into jail and their lives are ruined. elizabeth, you have dealt with these issues time and again. trying to get these women out of jail to help them rebuild their lives. elizabeth: we have. it is not unusually to have -- unusual to have some buddy trafficked for 12 years. the average number of felonies in our house is 11.

people who are trafficked will have credit cards that don't belong to them. there child might be in the next room and they get five counts of child endangerment. we had one person we love very much and she was trafficked by her mom. we have a lot of parents trafficking kids in the u.s.. her mom sold her for drugs, she was with the same man, had a very complex organization. she was arrested at 30 in virginia thomas she had a bunch of felonies. she testified against him a year and a half later. the charges were dropped because if you don't have enough witnesses you don't have a trial. he got 14 years. she was trafficked by him for 18 years. it is an injustice. we help them with jobs, pay for school, finding other ways to be employed. mercedes: but you mentioned they cannot get nail technician licensing or -- >> you can be a chef, psychologist, legal aid.

you are limited. mercedes: attorney general, what can we do more for these victims? in terms of, we talk about the statehouses but also more importantly helping them, changing these laws so they can have more opportunities to be able to rebuild? >> elizabeth hit on something big. collateral sanctions. if you have a criminal record, if you have been trafficked for any time at all, you have been forced into situations where you have theft, you have drug problems. you have any number of criminal actions. you cannot get an apartment. in ohio we have loosened restrictions for survivors of trafficking have a better opportunity to get their records expunged or sealed so they can actually rebuild their lives.

[applause] >> here's the other thing. i hear politicians so often say, a voice for the voiceless. survivors have a voice. it is just time for us to listen. thank you, tanya for your courage. [applause] mercedes: tonya, we were talking about virginia. virginia, the house and the assembly, the senate, they are both democrat run. how much support do you get from democrats on tackling this issue of sex trafficking? tanya: depends what issues are at the table. virginia has a long way to go when it comes to human, understanding and learning. that is one thing. there is still the learning curve. educating the uneducated and making sure they understand. we do have on both sides, we are

able to get good policy. however, it just depends. we are purple and sometimes you know, i say we are purple because we do not make any decisions. mercedes: don't you think this is a no-brainer bipartisan issue? i know for cpac our goal is to actually as we do with criminal justice reform, find the centerleft groups to work with us and find common ground and get through legislation. tanya: we get enough support to get a lot of bills heard. we are trying to do harsher penalties on buyers. that's not going to go. mercedes: how is it with the budget? is there enough money there? to help the victims? i cannot wait for elizabeth to jump in. tanya: it is still about educating our commonwealth. it really is area that's really

where we are. until legislators understand human trafficking for example, in virginia we do not have a great data collecting system. if we do not have the numbers we cannot prove this is happening. there is still a lot of work to be done in order for legislation -- for legislators to understand this is the path we need to go down. i know. we know where we need to go. you still have to have data and we are still working on that. mercedes: elizabeth, in the recovery process, you say sometimes women are let go to soon and end up back in a situation where they are being sex trafficked again. what is the frustration you are feeling as you are trying to make your home able to bring in more girls and help them rebuild their lives? elizabeth: the biggest frustration is we are very limited. there is a time constraint.

overwhelmingly the women are moms. a lot of them have lost custody of their kids. kids are in foster care and there's a tight window for them to get custody back. we have 12 to 13 months to help somebody recover from addiction, get their ged, learn life skills, financial literacy, improve their credit score by some miracle, get a job so they can get an apartment with five felonies and get their kids back. it is insurmountable. i want to add, safe is a critical part of the recovery process. when i walked into that home they had the bible there. it is prayer. because that is part of the healing. explain the importance of faith in this issue. tanya, i want you to weigh in on that. >> our founding principle is we are made in the image of god. we believe when women find out they have always been loved and there is no one like them, our

house manager says you are the apple of god's eye, he only made one of you and you are perfect. we say that because they do not have moms and dads. overwhelmingly their parents are dead or imprisoned. they have to have that connection. if they develop that while they are at our house, they do better going through counseling. they do better dealing with addiction. it is transformative because it lets them know they are loved. when we started, the first young lady we helped said, i feel love for the first time in my life. it is vitally important. but my wish was that we would have the ability to perform that transform and experience so moms do not lose their children because nobody should have their rights severed because they've been in jail for 12 months. it is so wrong. and children going into the foster care system, 70% end up in the trafficking pipeline. we want housing to be there so at the end of 3, 4, five years, their independent.

they have dignity. they know they are and their children are growing up loved and we break that cycle. we have to do it. [applause] mercedes: mention briefly on the faith component in your own experience. >> i just are member, when you were little, all of you were small like myself, there are dreams, right? ideas or thoughts about life, what you want to be. i am no different. i had the same dreams and ideas and aspirations. with the trafficking experience, so many other types of trauma that happened in my life, there was a big disconnect. what happened talking about faith, it takes faith to believe you are still that person after all of this has happened to you. having people and places and folks that believe in that,

believe in just me being human and who i am, being in the image of god, that, there was a huge disconnect. having people in place to come back to that is just beautiful. mercedes: i'm sure the department of justice does not care about the faith component and they are going to try to force in their own regulations with these homes. attorney general, i want to ask about big tech. we saw mark zuckerberg basically apologize to families for pushing their disgusting child-abuse type of content on big tech. should they be held liable? what changes should they make immediately? to stop sex trafficking? >> they should be held liable and that is one of the reasons why ohio as part of a group suing them. [applause]

>> but just this morning i'm sure you read this in the wall street journal like i did, an exclusive new bombshell, about these parental accounts featuring underage models in bikinis and underwear and they are selling this stuff. the meta algorithm is linking those accounts of children to known pedophile profiles. there is something seriously wrong with the algorithms that are driving our society, meta is at the top of it. i wonder sometimes whether they change the name meta to be short for metastasized. mercedes: that is right. final thoughts, what is one thing you want to leave to our audience? this is the heart of the movement, this is the frontline, the activists. what do you want them to remember as we get off this stage? >> for me, being a victim of

domestic sex trafficking was something that at one point even understanding i was a victim, it was just hard to get past. there is still a lot of shame. finally thinks to president trump, he made a big difference making sure that i had a voice as someone who was trafficked here in our country. as we are moving and talking about the border matar about this happen somewhere else, just remember -- the border, about this happening somewhere else, just remember this is america, the land of the free, the home of the brave. i remember saying the pledge of allegiance and singing my country tis of thee. as you are going about your day remember this happens here in america. mercedes: elizabeth? elizabeth: i would say we want

to see trafficking and in my lifetime -- trafficking end in my lifetime. i'm a grandmother so that could be soon. get on board. we will help you with restorative care homes, transitional housing, trauma training. we will help anyone and everyone who wants to take this national and stop it. contact us at free forever.org and we will help you gladly mercedes: attorney general? >> the rule of law, our society, our civilization is built on a profound insight that everyone, every human being is created in the image of god. that they are recipients of god-given rights. and of equal worth and dignity. tanya, i know survivors are frequently looked down upon and blamed but the truth of the matter is this fight is a fundamentally conservative fight.

about the dignity and equality of everybody. we do not throw away human beings in america. mercedes: i want to thank my panel. we launched our cpac center for combating human trafficking. we are on the front lines and we are supporting these incredible heroes across the country. so thank you all and god bless. ♪ [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024] >> coming utoght on c-span, supreme court oral argument in two cases involving how social mediaomnies moderate content on their platforms. the first case stems from a texas law, t oer from

florida. then a discussion on political ideologies at american universities and then investments in aifial intelligence, supply chains and the semucr industry at an event hosted by theenr for strategic and inrnional studies. c-span has your unfiltered view of government. we're funded by these television companies and more including buckeye broadband. ♪ >> buckeye broadband supports c-span as a public service along with these other television providers giving you a front row at to democracy.