Rep. Miller Joins CPAC Anti-Human Trafficking Summit

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Carol Miller (R-WV) joined the Conservative Political Action Coalition (CPAC) for an anti human trafficking summit. Remarks as prepared are below.

Click here to watch Rep. Miller speak on the panel. 

Thank you for having me today. This is a sobering topic, but not one we should shy away from.

Americans are well aware of the broader crisis at the southern border. The media and politicians are quick to highlight the flood of illegal drugs and illegal immigrants into the United States, but the evil of human trafficking is often overlooked. 

It’s nearly impossible to know the exact statistics of human trafficking. Mexican cartels have found that trafficking people is actually more profitable than drug smuggling. 

Think of the moral repercussions that the open southern border has. Parents are lured to America with the false promise of a better life. They figure that to give them the American dream, they sell their children to the cartels who will transport them to the states, but those children are often trafficked and forced into slave labor and sex slavery.

The American dream becomes a never-ending nightmare for these children. 

House Republicans see the layers of devastation happening at the southern border and I have seen it first-hand. 

I have travelled on Congressional delegation trips to the Border, to Mexico, and to several other Latin American countries. What I learned on all these trips is how important a range of U.S. policies is to protecting women and girls. 

From trade policy to border policy, we must use our full range of options to stop the horror of human trafficking. 

Speaker McCarthy formed the ‘Combatting Mexican Cartels’ taskforce to put legislative solutions in place that will restore integrity back to Americas borders. I am proud to serve on this task force. 

As the taskforce meets and gathers information, it becomes clearer and clearer that human trafficking is a massive problem that will continue to get worse until we take power away from the cartels. By the end of the year, we will suggest policy solutions to many of these issues that can quickly pass Congress and be signed into law. 

We also know that one of our best tools in fighting this crisis is working well with the Mexican government. We want the same results: for the cartels to be disbanded and for these criminal and evil acts to stop. 

An argument I often hear from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle is that closing the southern border is immoral. To that I say, because of the failed border policies from the Biden Administration, more people are dying, and children are being trafficked as a direct result of these policies. 

I am confident the taskforce will produce legislation and results that will protect the innocent from the horrors of the cartels. As a mother, grandmother, and American, this is one of my top priorities in congress.

Background: 

• Congresswoman Miller has been appointed by Speaker McCarthy to the Combatting Mexican Cartels taskforce where legislation is produced to prevent drug cartels from entering the United States and keeping Americans safe from crime and illegal drug substances due to an open southern border.

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