2's "book tv." >> jeff sessions talked about human trafficking efforts and how the part -- department was collaborating with mexico and local law enforcement. this portion includes remarks from rachel brand. it is 20 minutes. >> it is a pleasure today to have the opportunity to gather with so many professionals, business and other partners who work every day to combat human trafficking and make our nation safer, especially for the most honorable among us. collaboration, the exchange of building relationships, is what this summit is all about. it is with great pleasure that i introduce to you the associate attorney general of the united states, rachel brand. she serves as the highest third

ranking official in the -- the third highest ranking official in the this. efforts ton many of combat human trafficking. she was confirmed by the senate last year and she had a public public service before becoming an associate attorney general. during that president bush administration she served at the white house special assistant to the president and associate counsel to the president. from 2005 to 2007, she was nominated by president bush and confirmed that the senate as assistant attorney general for legal policy. served as the chief policy advisor to the attorney general, spearheaded the confirmations of the chief justice of the united states and justice samuel alito, alternating the administrations authorization of the patriot act.

in 2012, president obama nominated her to serve as a member of the premises and civil liberties oversight board. she was confirmed and served board000 1210 2017 on the -- 2012-2017. outside of federal government, she has been an associate professor of law, and georgetown university's antonin scalia a law school and a lawyer in private practice here in washington. we hear the department are grateful for her leadership, combating human trafficking efforts in many important issues. ladies and gentlemen, the associate attorney general of the united states. [applause] >> thank you, pratchett. thanks to all of you for joining us today. others have called human

slavery,ng modern-day slavery, because trafficking victims are denied any dignity. there are often subjected to horrific psychological and physical abuse. they are treated as commodities which can be bought and sold over and over. combating this was one of the top priorities at the department of justice. as you'll hear throughout the are tackling it with our law enforcement tools, our financial resources and our partnerships with state and local law enforcement, industry, and service providers. and last year alone, the doj victims of nearly 500 defendants in sex trafficking. in a single operation last fall we freed it is for children. we are also dedicating the oj grant funding to this effort, over $47 million in 2017. some of these funds allow service providers to help trafficking victims on the long road to recovery.

funding this is not just the right to do for the victim, it also supports our prosecutors, stable victim is more likely to testify against a trafficker. the doj also provides funding and training for local law enforcement on how to identify human trafficking. course, it is not enough for law enforcement to be aware of the problem. we need the eyes and ears of all government agencies and also of the public. we need the help of the media on on humanhe light trafficking. from anyone from flight toendants to hotel clerks, your doctors, if they noticed signs of trafficking, we will rescue the victims and bring more of them to justice. you'll hear from law enforcement, victim services, and industry. our hope is that by bringing together this diverse group, we will show the practices and share them with each other,

helping to fight human trafficking. at department of justice our focus on human trafficking would not be possible without the leadership of the top. i'm delighted the attorney general and deputy attorney general are here today both are continuing to strengthen the efforts. at this time he'd like to introduce the attorney general who is our keynote speaker this morning. attorney general sessions has dedicated his kroocareer to public service. he was the southern district attorney for alabama and served as the chief law enforcement officer of that rate. after serving 20 years as a u.s. senator, he was confirmed as the attorney general of the united states last february. please help me welcome attorney general jeff sessions. [laughter] att. general sessions: good

morning, thank you for being here all of you. thank you rachel, for all of your kind work and more importantly, your strong leadership in command of the department. aree two, rod and rachel harvard graduates, experienced has only seven years in the department, rachel has many as well. they both represent the kind of quality in the leadership that we want at the department. of theforecast and proud work that has been done over a number of years, over the last 10 years. we have seen and increasing forecast -- we have seen bingo and increasing -- we have seen increasing focus on fighting human trafficking. i would like to thank the panelists who are here with us, each of you brings a valuable and interesting perspective that

we will be able to learn from today. i especially want to thank andrea hipwell for showing the courage and strength to share your experience and insight with us. you're channelling your experiences into something positive that can help others and that is commendable. i also want to thank cory parnell, who is a survivor, for being with us today. and to thank all of those who are here, who have dedicated your lives to helping survivor s reclaim their lives, and their freedom. thank you to marry france this, dr. jordan greenbaum jeff rogers , and so many others who have joined with us today. and thank you to all of the victim assistance organizations and survivor advocacy groups who work to bring healing and hope to those who suffered from this terrible crime. we also have congressional staff here with us, and we are proud to have them.

thank you for your attention to this issue. congress has been supportive, indeed, there appears to be a unique bipartisan interest in this subject. which, i would suggest means that we have an opportunity, may be in an few years, to do more than we have done in the past. i want to welcome members of the business community, a number who are here, who are taking important steps to prevent trafficking. i want to thank them as well. dave mccleary of the rotary club. nicole clifton of ups and davis of facebook and audra jenkins of randstad north america. nicole clifton of ups and davis richard perry of delta and brent wilson of coca-cola. a good list of people, and we appreciate your attention to this issue. i also want to thank secretary kirstjen nielsen of homeland

, and all of our prosecutors and law enforcement officers who are here with us today. i will try to be brief, mention so that we can get to some of the leaders who will be talking with us later. my friend, kurtis hill, attorney general and indiana erin neelie , cox and robert from the civil rights division and united states attorney in texas. i want to thank each of them for their hard work putting traffickers behind bars. human trafficking is a violent crime. trafficking victims are often threatened, beaten, drugged, isolated, deceived, and manipulated psychologically in order to make them to tenant and control them, to keep them captive. it is hard to comprehend this level of cruelty.

human trafficking remains far too common. the fbi estimated at one point third largestthe criminality in the world, after drugs and counterfeiting. there are signs it's changing, that is not uncommon, and law enforcement has to change with it. that is just the way the world works. from 2010 to 2015, the national center for missing and exploited children reported a nine-fold increase in reports of suspected child sex trafficking, an increase which they think is related to the internet. these numbers should be a wakeup call for all of us. it's easy to overlook the problem because human trafficking victims are often hidden in plain sight. they're just not on street corners or dark alleys. they are in hotels where we stay, at truck stops, sold at

nightclubs, massage parlors, and they are compelled to perform the mastech service, janitorial jobs or formwork. human trafficking is a crime that law enforcement has to look out for in any major event that occurs. today, that is not enough, we now face the problem of human trafficking, traffickers in using the internet. every day in america, criminals use on-line advertisement to sell trafficking victims for sex. the websites that hosts the advertisements act with near impunity and i'm pleased that congress is focused on this problem and congratulate them for working to find a solution to the scourge that is on-line sex trafficking.

this department is taking action against all forms of human trafficking. i'm proud of what they have accomplished. we've been aggressively pursuing traffickers and recovering their extends. all 94 of our offices throughout the country have designated human trafficking coordinators who have developed customized anti-trafficking strategies for each of their districts. united taket attorneys in advanced enforcement strategies, build strong partnerships and making sure that we use our resources as effectively as possible to identify victims and investigate and prosecute traffickers. stopping trafficking is a priority of each one of our officers. the criminal division, child exploitation and affinity section does terrific work to

stop those who traffic children for sex. just a few weeks ago, along with the united states attorney's office in the eastern district of virginia, they secured convictions of two men in virginia for trafficking three underage girls. this section also helps train thousands of prosecutors, investigators, and state, local and tribal police throughout the country. the department provides anti-trafficking grant funding, as rachel mentioned, to the 85% of law officers in america who serve at the state, local and tribal level, who are not federal officers. we support them and we know their importance. we understand that they bring unique capabilities and on the ground intelligence that most federal agencies just don't have. they are indispensable partners in our efforts and i'm sure that many of you work with them and have great respect for state and local officers.

many of them are highly talented and dedicated to this effort. our human trafficking prosecution unit, or htpu, partners with the united states attorney's offices to prosecute labor trafficking, sex trafficking of adults, and trans - national sex trafficking. hcpu leads our act team initiative which brings together federal agents and prosecutors in competitively selected districts. brooker whoey is with us today is a valuable teams, and hee will be presented today on some of the successes he has had in his district, including obtaining substantial restitution for survivors. we also work in partnership with the department of homeland teams security and our partners in mexico through a bilateral, anti-trafficking initiative aimed at dismantling trans national trafficking networks - because human trafficking, of

course, is often a trans -national crime. the day i was sworn in as attorney general, president trump sent me a memo to -- an executive order to these transnational criminal organizations. it is a high priority of ours. you can be sure that this includes human trafficking rings. these this is another reason why we must finally secure our borders. see ourers and coyotes border as an opportunity that he can exploit often for great prophet, and they exploit this weakness in our security all two to been easily. in meeting and talking with the united states attorney's office in minnesota that had a massive

case, i think you'll hear about today, the amount of money that can be made through this illegal enterprise is far larger, i think, than most people realize. they suggest even larger than drug trafficking. our important partnership with mexico has resulted in the federal prosecutions in this country of more than 50 defendants, multiple cases in georgia, new york, florida and texas. in addition to the numerous prosecutions in mexico of s.cialized sex offender i remember a case several years ago, how two mexican nationals who were trafficking mexican and -- mexican girls in georgia and in my home state of alabama. they convinced them to cross our border into the country, used violence, threats, intimidation, sexual and psychological abuse to control them. thanks to the hard work of people at this department, one man received a 15-year sentence. another a 22-year sentence. that's good work.

that kind of sentence ink those kinds of investigations can and one of these organizations. our efforts are continuing to produce even greater results, and under rachel's leadership in all of those in the department, we expect to get better in the future. last year, through our bilateral work with mexico, we secured guilty pleas from eight members of the reyes sex trafficking organization, a trafficking ring that forced young women and girls from mexico and latin america into prostitution. they did this for a decade. we worked tirelessly with our mexican counterparts to successfully extradite five of the defendants to stand trial in the united states. we appreciate their help in that regard. we sent a clear message that the united states will pursue criminals to the end of the

earth in the name of justice. thanks to the men and women of this department, we need no longer fear this barbaric trafficking ring. last fall, the fbi and our state and local partners arrested 120 traffickers and recovered 84 miners in a major nation-wide operation. one operation. victims were as young as 12. and just a couple of weeks ago, just ten miles from here, a sex trafficker from northern virginia was sentenced to 30 years in prison, his two co-conspirators received 10-year sentences. in fiscal year 2017 the department of justice secured convictions of nearly 500 traffickers. we brought a record number of cases last year, charging more than 550 defendants, some of those are still pending. these cases involved all forms of human trafficking.

labor trafficking, sex trafficking, exploiting mineors and adults. u.s. citizens, legal guest workers and illegal aliens. we have seen increases in cases filed, defendants charged and defendants convicted and we're going to keep working at it, but when we lock away a trafficker, our work is not over, as you well know. we just don't stop there. you don't stop there. we also fund survivor-centered programs that help trafficking victims walk the long road to recovery. you're going to hear this afternoon's panel about how we can make those grants as effective as possible. that is a priority for us. every dollar needs to receive maximum benefit. so i'm hopeful that today's summit will help us build on the efforts that i've just described and you will discuss and make us more effective than we've ever

been. recovery. you're going to hear this i hope that it will shine a light on a problem that is all too often kept in the shadows. i want to thank you, once again, for being here, for participating in today's summit. i want to thank you all for your work to protect our communities and ensure that victims and survivors are valued and protected. thank you all, have a great day. [applause] announcer: homeland security secretary kristin nelson also spoke about what her department was doing to combat human trafficking. she was introduced by the deputy attorney general, rod rosenstein. this is 15 minutes.