Senator and McCain Met with Tribal Leaders on MHA Nation, Professionals & Advocates in Williston, and Community Leaders in Watford City

WATFORD CITY, N.D. – U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp and international anti-human trafficking leader Cindy McCain today visited Watford City to talk with local officials, community leaders, law enforcement, victim’s advocates and the business community about how to combat the rising problem of human trafficking in their rapidly growing city. The visit concludes Heitkamp and McCain’s three-day tour of western North Dakota to help communities work to defeat these crimes.

Yesterday, Heitkamp and McCain, who serves as co-chair of the Arizona Governor’s task force on human trafficking, met with tribal leaders, victim’s advocates, the tribal judge and federal and tribal law enforcement for the MHA Nation, as well as local law enforcement and victims’ services and health professionals in Williston to discuss the unique challenges tribal and local communities face in the fight against human trafficking in the oil patch.

“Over the past three days Cindy McCain and I toured the western part of our state to better understand the complex challenges with human trafficking tribal and western communities face as part of some of the unforeseen circumstances of our state’s energy boom,” said Heitkamp. “There isn’t one solution to stopping human trafficking, so we need to work together to stop these terrible crimes, in Indian Country and across our state. Cindy’s feedback throughout this trip will help our communities as we work to stop human trafficking altogether. We need to have the infrastructure in place in our state so North Dakota and our Indian reservations are prepared to not only unmask and diffuse these crimes – but to anticipate and blunt future threats. Protecting our children and families means evolving with the shifting face of human trafficking – from expanding Williston’s successful preparation of health workers to identify and help trafficking victims, to shielding our vulnerable runaway and homeless youth from falling prey to traffickers – we must keep engaging and reinventing within our communities.”

“Part of the challenge in tackling the global threat of human trafficking is engaging and strengthening the local networks that help us deflect these crimes,” said McCain. “Senator Heitkamp and I have seen tremendous work on the part of western North Dakota leaders and advocates to communicate and fight back against human trafficking, where traffickers have gained massive headway in the wake of the state’s energy boom. And I hope that through our discussions over the past three days, we have made needed progress in helping communities come up with new ideas and practices for steps forward to stop these crimes. Thanks to Senator Heitkamp for her leadership against these crimes in the Senate, and I look forward to continuing to combine forces in the battle against human trafficking.”

McCain and Heitkamp’s human trafficking tour of western North Dakota continues their longstanding work to build a global and national network of support against these crimes. Heitkamp and McCain have traveled across the nation, as well as across the border to Mexico last spring with Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), to meet and speak with leaders about creating a network of support against these hideous crimes. They also participated in a panel discussion together on human trafficking at the McCain Institute’s annual Sedona Forum in 2014.

During their visit to MHA Nation on Saturday, Heitkamp and McCain spoke with tribal leaders on the challenges human trafficking crimes raise within their criminal justice system, and on their efforts to make sure that the tribe’s victims’ services best encompass the needs of survivors. They also heard about the proliferation of human trafficking across Indian Country from state and federal law enforcement officials. McCain, who serves as co-chair of the Arizona Governor’s task force on human trafficking, discussed the specific dangers Native American women face not just in the U.S. but around the world. Heitkamp discussed the need to build strong, lasting partnerships with tribal communities to help them not only combat the immediate threat of human trafficking, but to make sure their sovereign governments have the infrastructure in place to anticipate and respond to the unique threats they face – particularly on the Fort Berthold reservation in the heart of North Dakota’s oil country.

Today in Watford City, Heitkamp and McCain met with community leaders who discussed with them how their city ballooned to more than 10,000 people in 2014 – up from 1,400 people just six years earlier – and how this massive population increase has brought about severe strains to their infrastructure, as well as crimes related to human trafficking which are often difficult to recognize and deflect. Prior to their visit to Watford City, Heitkamp and McCain spoke with local leaders, law enforcement and health care officials about the complexities of taking on human trafficking, as well as how to boost best practices in Williston – where a successful federal pilot program trained health care workers to identify and help protect victims. Heitkamp recently introduced legislation to expand this pilot program across the nation through her bipartisan Stop, Observe, Ask and Respond (SOAR) to Health and Wellness Act.

On Friday, Heitkamp brought McCain to Bismarck for a roundtable discussion with more than 30 community leaders and advocates from across the state about their efforts to build a strong support network for law enforcement and victims to resist these crimes.

Heitkamp has rapidly become a champion in Congress in the fight against human trafficking – from sounding early alarm bells in the Senate by leading a 2013 Senate Committee of Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs hearing on tackling human trafficking as a law enforcement issue, to leading multiple sessions in North Dakota with U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials to train North Dakotans, women leaders, and law enforcement and victims service providers on how to identify, report, and investigate incidents of human trafficking.

Background:

Heitkamp has been leading the charge to combat and raise awareness about human trafficking in North Dakota and across the nation by:

• Raising Awareness in the Senate about Human Trafficking Early on: In September 2013, she led a Senate hearing on efforts underway at the federal, state, and local levels to combat human trafficking, including in Indian Country. Before this hearing, there had been little discussion on tackling human trafficking.
• Building Progress in the Fight Against Human Trafficking From the Middle Out: Heitkamp helped introduce, and played an integral role in passing in the Senate’s bipartisan Justice for Victims of Human Trafficking Act which the President signed into law just last month. Working across the aisle with Republican Senator Susan Collins, Heitkamp helped reignite the politically stalled legislation by offering a bipartisan, compromise path forward. The final bill provides greater assistance to victims of human trafficking, increased resources to law enforcement and victims services organizations, and secures greater punishments for perpetrators of these horrific crimes. The package also contains provisions Heitkamp fought for and won – including stricter punishments against traffickers who transport victims across state lines, and legal protections from her Safe Harbor bill to make sure victims are not treated as criminals.
• Working Across the Aisle on Bipartisan Solutions: Last month, Heitkamp and Collins introduced bipartisan legislation to give health care providers – including doctors, nurses, and social workers – training to help identify and protect victims of human trafficking. Heitkamp and Collins’ Stop, Observe, Ask and Respond (SOAR) to Health and Wellness Act would build on a pilot program taking place in Williston and New Town to give health providers across the country needed training on how to recognize, report, and potentially intervene when they see patients who are possible human trafficking victims. Recent studies suggest that nearly one-third of women trafficked in America saw a health care professional while they were still captive to these crimes.

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