Gov signs anti-human trafficking bills into law in Queens
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Governor Kathy Hochul signed several anti-human trafficking bills into law in Flushing on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023. Photo via the governor’s office/Flickr
By Jacob Kaye
The governor was in Queens on Wednesday to announce a number of new initiatives to fight human trafficking throughout the state.
From inside the Glow Cultural Center in Downtown Flushing, Governor Kathy Hochul signed several bills aimed at decreasing instances of human trafficking, which she called one of the “most enduring forms…of exploitation.”
The governor, who was joined by Queens State Senator John Liu, Assemblymember Ron Kim, City Councilmember Sandra Ung and Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, among others, said that making the legislative announcement in Flushing was no coincidence. According to the governor, the area is the “epicenter of trafficking for the entire country.”
“Places like Queens and this Flushing community itself know about this all too well,” she said. “The neighborhood we’re in today is one of the most highly trafficked.”
“It's a real crisis,” the governor added. “And it actually has infiltrated a large number of modern industries like agriculture, construction, food service, domestic work, and of course, the illicit sex trade.”
According to the state’s Division of Criminal Justice Services, there were 240 confirmed trafficked individuals found in New York dating back to the start of this year. In 2022, the state confirmed 249 trafficked people and 295 in 2021.
Several of the bills signed into law by Hochul centered around requiring signage inside transit hubs that help connect human trafficking victims with assistance. One of the bills requires the Port Authority to post information about help for trafficking victims inside lactation rooms inside their airports, including LaGuardia Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport. A separate bill requires the MTA to post similar information throughout its facilities.
Additional legislation requires signage to be posted in commercial service airports, service areas and bus terminals.
“While circumstances definitely vary from case to case, what's consistent is the deeply harmful effect [trafficking] has on the victims,” Hochul said. “ If people lose control of their lives, they have no say…They can't just walk away. It's truly, truly a travesty.”
“It really does become a form of slavery, people in bondage to others, going on here in New York, and in communities like this,” the governor added. “That's the reality check that's facing us right now. We can't ignore this. We can’t turn our heads and say, ‘No, no, human trafficking, that happens elsewhere.’ It's happening in our midst, and there are people among us who are victimized.”
Also signed into law by Hochul on Wednesday was legislation that expands the state’s Interagency Task Force on Human Trafficking.
Currently, the task force is comprised of the commissioner of the Division of Criminal Justice Services, the commissioner of the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, the Commissioner of the Department of Health, the commissioner of the Office of Mental Health, the commissioner of the Department of Labor, the commissioner of the Office of Children and Family Services, the commissioner of the Office of Addiction Services and Supports, the director of the Office of Victim Services, the executive director of the Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence, and the superintendent of the New York State Police.
The legislation adds the New York secretary of state to the task force and extends the work of the task force by an additional four years.
Hochul also signed a bill that directs that task force to investigate connections between social media and human trafficking.
State Senator Roxanne Persaud, whose Brooklyn district includes a sliver of Howard Beach, sponsored the bill expanding the work of the Interagency Task Force on Human Trafficking.
“Preventing and combating human trafficking requires a concerted effort by many state agencies; and the bill that Governor Hochul is signing today provides longer authorization for these agencies to do their critical work,” Persaud said in a statement.
“I thank Governor Hochul for her dedication to this issue and I am eager to get more strategists at the table to better confront human exploitation happening in communities across our great state,” she added.
The governor also announced that $2.3 million in funding was recently awarded to a number of contractors that provide services to victims of human trafficking.
The services provided by the organizations include shelter, transportation, food assistance, phone access and medical services. The organizations also aid survivors in employment services, long-term housing assistance and mental health services.
Of the organizations to receive a cut of the $2.3 million in funding, three are located within the five boroughs. They include; Safe Horizon, Inc., which was given $500,000 in funding; Sanctuary for Families, which was given $379,000 in funding; and Restore NYC, which was given $319,000 in funding.
