For the Reporter

U.S. Congressman Dave Reichert (R-WA, District 8) has been named to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s House Trafficking Task Force to address the problem of human trafficking.

“Our job is to protect people,” Reichert said on being appointed to the task force. “That is what I have dedicated my life to, and I thank Leader Cantor for inviting me to join in this extremely critical effort to combat sex trafficking and all its associated horrors.

“The fact that many of these young victims have been in foster care and were not protected from these dangers is immensely disturbing. It is time to correct that failure and protect our nation’s youth and the other victims of these atrocities.”

Reichert comes from a long, experienced background of dealing first-hand with this issue. He spent 33 years in law enforcement, including seven years as King County Sheriff.

At the beginning of the 113th Congress, Reichert was selected as the chairman of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources, which has oversight over the nation’s foster care system. Tragically, a large number of sex trafficking victims come from this system.

Of the children reported missing to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children who were also identified as likely sex trafficking victims, 60 percent were in foster care or group homes before running away.

After holding a series of hearings and receiving extensive public input from experts and former victims on ways to strengthen the system, Reichert introduced H.R. 4058, the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Improving Opportunities for Youth in Foster Care Act to address this problem head on. The bill would require states to identify child victims of sex trafficking and put in place a plan to help them. This legislation passed out of the Ways and Means Committee with unanimous support on April 29.