Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a new law on Tuesday that adds protections to victims of human trafficking.
The Christian Post reported that Florida has some of the United States' strongest laws on human trafficking, also citing the new law's co-sponsor Representative Jackie Toledo for expressing her gratitude that DeSantis signed the "much needed bill that puts human traffickers on notice that Florida is not open to human trafficking!"
In an interview with the Florida Bar last April, the bill's co-sponsor Representative Jackie Todd revealed that "human trafficking is ... a scourge across greater Florida" such that DeSantis sent 50 law enforcement officers last month to the Mexican border.
DeSantis said his decision was prompted by human trafficking and drug smuggling information he got from Northern Florida sheriffs.
The new law, Senate Bill 1826, lays out the proper handling of human trafficking cases by specifying the proper conduct of government personnel especially when the victim are minors. It expands the definition of human trafficking along with the list of offenses the court may impose on perpetrators. It also modifies the prohibition on clerk of courts in the charging of fees victims are charged with in the filing of cases.
As per the bill's summary, Senate Bill 1826 establishes a "privilege of communication between a human trafficking victim advocate or trained volunteer and a human trafficking victim" and regards that communication as "confidential in certain circumstances" unless it will be disclosed to third persons for the purpose of attaining justice for the victim.
The bill explained that "privilege" pertains to respecting the right of the victim to refuse to disclose any information or to prevent that information from being disclosed to anyone else.
But despite the victim's refusal to disclose information or even cooperate with the investigation on the case, the law provides conditions for the case to be pursued by the government.
"The bill provides that the Legislature encourages each state attorney to adopt a pro-prosecution policy for human trafficking offenses, and requires the state attorney to determine whether to file, nonfile, or divert criminal charges even when there is no cooperation from a victim or over the objection of the victim, if necessary," the law said.
Senate Bill 1826 was passed in the Florida House of Representatives last April 23 with a 114-0 vote and in the Florida Senate last April 27 with a 40-0 vote. The bill's main sponsor is Republican Senator Manny Diaz, Jr., who heads the Rules Committee, which was one of those assigned to handle the bill's review.
In February, SHAREtogether Founder Jaco Booyens revealed that former President Donald J. Trump was the only president in the history of the United States who took up the fight against human trafficking and even established an office for it. SHARETogether is a non-profit organization advocating against the sex trafficking of children.
Statistics from the youth-led organization DoSomething show that an estimated "50,000 people are trafficked into the U.S. each year, most often from Mexico and the Philippines" and that 51.6% of the criminal "human trafficking cases active in the U.S." in 2018 "were sex trafficking cases involving only children."
