U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, hosted a conversation with local experts on Tuesday at Ave Maria University about efforts to tackle human trafficking in Florida.
The panel included local leaders on the issue of human trafficking.
Among the experts was Doug Molloy, a former chief assistant for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Fort Myers. He tackled the first big human trafficking cases in the area.
Molloy, along with Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking founder Anna Rodriguez, brought this issue to the attention of state lawmakers and law enforcement years ago.
Now there are laws in the state aimed at rescuing these victims and prosecuting their perpetrators. And as awareness of this problem grows, so has the movement to fix it.
Rodriguez, who has been working on this issue for years, said more groups are popping up, but they are only focusing on child sex trafficking, which she said is only a sliver of the broader issue of human trafficking.
“Well, the numbers show that literally throughout the whole state probably Collier and Southwest Florida has the least amount of cases regarding child sex trafficking,” she said. “Now, prevention, awareness and education that has to continue. But we need to open our minds that there is more than child sex trafficking.”
Rodriguez said domestic servitude and labor trafficking, which also includes children, is one of bigger issues in the U.S.
Diaz-Balart, whose district includes Collier County, said the U.S. House will likely vote this week on five bills aimed at preventing trafficking of vulnerable groups, protecting victims and providing care, as well as stamping out trafficking recruitment online.
