Washington, D.C. (February 27, 2025)—Today, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Lucy McBath, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance, led subcommittee Democrats in condemning the Trump Administration’s disastrous funding freeze and illuminating its harmful consequences in disrupting efforts to combat human trafficking and online exploitation.
The hearing included testimony from: Jean Bruggeman, Executive Director of Freedom Network USA; Camille Cooper, Vice President of Anti-Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation, Tim Tebow Foundation; Anne Basham, founder and Chair, Interparliamentary Taskforce on Human Trafficking; and Sheri Lopez, Survivor-Advocate; founder, Pearl at the Mailbox.
Subcommittee Democrats rebuked the Trump Administration’s funding freezes, stop work orders, and reassignments of prosecutors and law enforcement officers which are putting victims’ lives in jeopardy.
Ranking Member Lucy McBath said:“The current Administration’s chaotic and reckless approach to governing has put lives on the line by freezing funding and stopping the critical work done by organizations that help victims and survivors. These disruptions have already forced nonprofits to lay off employees. And while some organizations have had their funding restored, they still worry about how the Administration might continue undermining their work. If the President continues down this path and funding is cut for good, it will be trafficking victims and survivors who pay the price.”
Ranking Member Raskin said:“We rely on law enforcement and personnel from Homeland Security, the FBI, the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program, which is a national network of 61 different task forces, to target the people that are preying on children and women. Just last week, we learned that the Department of Homeland Security has ordered its entire investigative division—6,000 agents—to stop focusing on drug dealers, terrorists, and human traffickers, and instead prioritize—you guessed it—immigration enforcement.”
Ranking Member McBath asked how Trump’s funding freeze negatively affected organizations like the Freedom Network that provide critical resources to victims. Ms. Bruggeman responded:“The response […] was widespread fear, confusion, frustration. […] Immediately people within our network had to lay off staff and stopped accepting new clients, denying services and support to the very victims that we’ve been talking about this morning. That includes legal services, housing, case management, and assistance through the legal process to clear their criminal records. All of these services were immediately in great peril.”
Rep. Steve Cohen asked Ms. Bruggeman how Trump’s funding freeze may be damaging to arresting criminal sex traffickers in the future. She responded:“Without building that capacity and that expertise based on the knowledge of survivors, we’re unable to effectively stop trafficking, labor, and sex trafficking. Any restriction, any halting, any stopping of that work, of that critical work is a gift to traffickers.”
Subcommittee Democrats made clear: If we truly want to end human trafficking and online exploitation, we must provide the necessary funding and resources.
Ranking Member McBath asked where any gaps in services to victims and providers exist and how legislation could effectively address those gaps. Ms. Bruggeman responded:“There are many gaps remaining. We need more funding. We need more support. We need to be allowed to really identify communities most at risk and direct our programs specifically to their needs, to their experiences, and to their situation. We need more housing, medical care, mental health care, case management services are always critical.”
In response to a question from Rep. Eric Swalwell, Ms. Bruggeman explained: “[There is] a web of protection that is woven with federal funds, private dollars, donations, earned income, that nonprofits around this country are working every day to ensure that they are able to provide consistent, reliable, dedicated services and support. When that is interrupted, even for a week, for a month, the message to survivors is: we cannot be relied upon. The day that you are able to find the time, the effort, the strength, the ability to escape your situation, may be the day that our doors are closed. And once you do that, you may never be able to come out again. So, if we allow our providers to close their doors to go dark, we are inviting traffickers to walk in the door to hold survivors captive, and we are telling survivors that we no longer care about your safety.”
Rep. Dan Goldman said:“I supervised sex trafficking cases in the Southern District of New York, and based on that experience, as well as 10 years of experience prosecuting other cases, I can say with great certainty that victims of sex trafficking in particular are the most traumatized and stigmatized […] I just want to make sure that we are all in agreement here that federal funding is essential to fighting online exploitation and sex trafficking.”
