Binational, Multi-State Survey on Human Trafficking Legislation and Collaboration

1. Binational, Multi-State Survey on Human Trafficking Legislation and Collaboration Phase I Report to the Council of State Governments-WEST, the Conference of Western Attorneys General, the Border Legislative Conference, and the Border Governors Conference

2. Research Team Principal Investigator/Project Lead Erik Lee, Associate Director, NACTS/ASU Research Team • Jonathan Alanis, NACTS Undergraduate Policy Research Assistant, Political Science, ASU • Felicia Cantrell, Second-year law student, Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law, ASU • Zoe Sarabo, Masters Program in Liberal Studies, ASU Project Advisors/Consultants • Gabriella Sánchez, PhD, Justice Studies, School of Social Transformation, ASU • Rick Van Schoik, Director, North American Center for Transborder Studies, ASU

3. Overview of NACTS • Trinational, Multidisciplinary, Public Policy Analysis and Advisory Group • 7 Partner Universities + Board of Advisors • Three Foci: Sustainability, Security, Competitiveness • Member of Border Research Partnership • “North America Next: A Report to President Obama on Building Sustainable Security,” February 2009 • “CANAMEX Economic Profile,” 2008-2010 • “North American Opportunities and the Sun Corridor,” November 2009 • “Assessing Scrap Tire Legislation in the U.S.-Mexico Border States,” November 2009, Border Legislative Conference We work for you and with you!

4. Some General Comments • This report was requested by the BLC, CWAG and the BGC and will be updated fairly regularly. • This is a significant policy priority for both countries federal governments and many states and therefore a good area around which to build collaboration. • Large and active communities of interest exist on this topic in both countries. • In particular, the amount of activity in Mexico on this issue is impressive (and a challenge for researchers). • Precise statistics on the issue of human trafficking are a work in progress. • Much of this legislation, particularly in Mexico, is quite recent.

5. Initial Findings • U.S. state legislation is quite diverse. • Key elements vary from specific focus on trafficking (borrowing some federal language), victim assistance funds, to basiclegislative approaches such as “compelling prostitution.” • Mexican legislation is quite uniform. • All six Mexican border states have a law (or are about to have one) on human trafficking. • Focuses on elements such as more precise definitions of trafficking and state intersecretarial committees. • Broader context includes the Mexican government’s fight against transnational criminal organizations and the shift to oral adversarial systems of justice by 2016.

6. U.S. Overview Conference of Western Attorneys General (CWAG) Member and Associate Member States

7. Federal…and very local • Federal legislation: Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 • Presidential Task Force led by Department of State • 40 metro-area anti-trafficking task forces coordinated by U.S. Attorneys offices working with ICE, DOL, local PD’s, NGOs etc. • County attorneys also pursue trafficking cases…. although NM AG’s Office also pursues cases • Few prosecutions so far.

8. The CWAG States: Lots of Variety • The U.S. states’ laws range from specific human trafficking legislation to related laws such as pandering (examples). • Some states have been actively updating their trafficking legislation. • New Mexico has recently adopted a new human trafficking statute and the state of Washington recently updated its laws in 2010. • Some states have victim assistance funds.

9. The Mexican Border States

10. Mexico Federal Overview • Federal legislation: 2007 Law to Prevent and Sanction Human Trafficking (some states such as Chihuahua or Coahuila have been working on the topic since 2006) • Federal interagency task force (Comisión Intersecretarial) • Federal inter-agency task force are mandated to come out with a plan to prevent and sanction human traffic  • Mexico’s national plan on human trafficking was officially announced on January 6, 2011.

11. The Mexican Border States: “Let’s Stay on the Same Page” • Mexican border states’ anti-human trafficking laws are notable for their uniformity (role of USAID-funded PROTEJA). • The ongoing homogenization of state laws is a specific and widely supported policy objective in Mexico. • Similar to Mexico’s federal legislation, Mexican state human trafficking laws mandate the creation of interagency task forces and in some cases specifically encourage agencies to collaborate.

12. Substantive Recommendations • Consider legislation that incentivizes and funds productive interstate, binational and international collaboration on statutory language and state law enforcement agency collaboration to address both domestic and cross-border aspects of human trafficking in a proactive manner (CWAG and BLC). • Consider legislative approaches that adequately fund programs that train state and local law enforcement officials in the recognition and prevention of human trafficking (CWAG and BLC). • Consider legislative approaches that take a victim-centered approach and prioritize comprehensive approaches to victims of both sex trafficking and labor trafficking through mechanisms such as victims assistance funds (CWAG and BLC). • U.S. states should strongly consider adopting the language of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 to aid in building a more comprehensive approach at the state level (CWAG and BLC).

13. Organizational, Process and Collaboration Recommendations • Create a permanent binational policy review committee made up of representatives from the U.S.-Mexico State Alliance Partnership member organizations, the Border Governors Conference Security Work Table, state and county prosecutors, and the relevant federal agencies. • Conduct regular U.S.-Mexico State Alliance Partnership visits and publication of findings with key U.S. and Mexican border state legislatures’ commissions to discuss human trafficking legislation and a broad range of policy implementation in the U.S.-Mexico border region, with a focus on best practices on issues such as attention to victims and coordination (CWAG and BLC). • Develop partnerships with key Mexican academic and policy organizations to further research and evaluate human trafficking, measures taken to address both the crime and victims of trafficking in Mexico (BGC, BLC and CWAG).

14. Organizational, Process and Collaboration Recommendations (cont.) • Discuss and adopt key medium- and long-term measures that evaluate legislative success on the issue of human trafficking and attention to victims of both sex trafficking and labor trafficking in the U.S. and Mexico (BLC). • Develop or link to innovative programs to recognize state legislatures and legislators for innovative and best legislative practices to combat human trafficking (BLC). • Enable CWAG to offer binational trainings and best practice development on handling human trafficking cases in partnership with key Mexican government and civil society stakeholders as part of its trainings for Mexican judges, prosecutors, forensic workers and police (CWAG).

15. Directions and Ideas for Phase II • State outreach. • Federal outreach. • More emphasis on policy areas victim attention and implementation of state and federal plans (in Mexico). • ?

16. Thank you!For more information on this project: Erik Lee Associate Director North American Center for Transborder Studies Arizona State University Tel. (480) 727-8926 erik.w.lee@asu.edu Website: nacts.asu.edu