Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto made an appearance at the Reno-Tahoe International Airport to speak on the FAA reauthorization, which emphasizes funding towards prevention, education and awareness towards human trafficking. She says we have to continue at all levels to address human trafficking in our community.
Senator Cortez Masto says the first step is the awareness and education piece of the puzzle regarding human trafficking, which she says hasn't been funded at the federal level until now.
She says the majority of trafficking we see is from sexual exploitation, and mentions we need to do a better job at holding perpetrators accountable and make sure there are services for the victims. We also have to do everything possible as a community to share information and collect data on the issue.
"The first step is to ensure that any victim of human trafficking has a safe place to go, and you make that environment safe and then you're putting information out there, like hotlines. Or what to look for if you feel you're a victim or need some help, and who to look for," said Senator Cortez Masto.
She says the goal is when a victim is ready to come forward, resources will be made available to them.
"The intent here is to ensure that this information is everywhere. They can see the hotline numbers, they know where to go, there's a safe place, that there's an education in the community, that when they come into these public spaces, they actually see for themselves that it's a safe place and they know where to go," the Senator adds.
Chief Ricardo Duarte of the Reno-Tahoe International Airport says everyone at the airport is trained to know what to look for as well as having signage everywhere.
"Our team is committed to being a leader in identification and prevention of human trafficking, and we look forward to sharing our best practices with other airports across the country," said Duarte.
If you are a victim of human trafficking, you can tell anyone at the airport, and they will help you.
For airport help and 24-hour assistance for victims you can call (775) 328-6600. The National Human Trafficking Hotline is 1-888-373-7888 or you can click the link here.
