America UnCanceled: Combating Human Trafficking Panel at CPAC in DC 2024

America Uncanceled

This episode of America Uncanceled features the Combating Human Trafficking panel discussion hosted by Mercedes Schlapp at CPAC in DC 2024.

The panel brought together Ohio Attorney General David Yost, founder of Latisha’s House Elizabeth Ameling, and trafficking survivor and advisor in the office of the Virginia Attorney General Tanya Gould. The panel discussed the variety of solutions to trafficking at the state level from Ohio’s measures to make the purchasing of sex illegal to the Virginia’s One Hundred Percent Back program that trains business owners to spot trafficking victims. As Ameling elucidates, survivors are often the ones criminalized, trapping them in cycles of trauma, addiction, and crime. Thus, solutions need to be victim-oriented and focused on reforming the justice system to hold traffickers accountable while supporting their victims in regaining control of their lives.

“We want to be intentional about making sure we have a trauma-informed response, person-centered,“ said Gould of the approach Virginia is taking.

Yost in Ohio is also concerned with solving the issue of human trafficking at its root by supporting border security measures.

For more, visit CPAC.org or follow @CPAC on social media. You can also follow Matt Schlapp @MSchlapp or Mercedes Schlapp @MercedesSchlapp to keep up with current events.