WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp called the arrest of Backpage.com CEO Carl Ferrer a needed step in halting his website’s role in enabling sex trafficking online. The arrest follows months of Heitkamp’s work to hold Ferrer and the website accountable for providing a platform for human trafficking of men, women, and children, which helped lead to the U.S. Senate’s unanimous and historic vote to hold Ferrer in contempt of Congress.

As a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Heitkamp has been working to help the subcommittee gain information on how websites such as Backpage.com contribute to human trafficking and allow perpetrators to advertise their victims.

Last fall, Heitkamp blasted Ferrer for refusing the subcommittee’s subpoena to testify and for his company’s refusal to provide information on its purported use of safeguards to prevent human traffickers from using the site as a platform, and voted unanimously with the subcommittee to hold Ferrer and Backpage.com in civil contempt of Congress. That vote preceded the U.S. Senate’s unanimous vote in March, which Heitkamp joined, to launch civil contempt proceedings against site – the first time in 20 years the U.S. Senate has held anyone in contempt of Congress.

“Human trafficking is among the most insidious crimes our nation has ever seen – in part because websites like Backpage.com provide the anonymity and the platform for them to thrive,” said Heitkamp. “If we’re serious about stopping these crimes, we need to hold Backpage.com accountable – that’s why it’s great news that the website’s CEO Carl Ferrer has been arrested for his role in promoting and profiting from trafficking of women, children and men for sex. For months I’ve been working to pull back the curtain on Ferrer and Backpage, which led to the U.S. Senate’s first vote in 20 years to hold someone in contempt of Congress. But our fight isn’t over. I’ll keep working to halt one of the top mediums for buying and selling victims of trafficking – including minors in North Dakota.”

Long an advocate against human trafficking, Heitkamp led an initial hearing in September 2013 to sound the alarm on the prevalence of human trafficking right in our own backyard, including in North Dakota. Since then, Heitkamp has continued to look at how the federal government can provide better protections for victims, including by holding discussions about liability in civil and criminal cases for companies like Backpage.com, which provide platforms for the trafficking of men, women and children.

Over the past two years, Heitkamp has also teamed up with U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials to hold multiple trainings for North Dakotans, statewide 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 human trafficking in North Dakota and across the nation by:

For the past several years, Heitkamp has been leading the charge to combat human trafficking in North Dakota and across the nation by:

• Raising awareness in the U.S. Senate about human trafficking early on. In September 2013, Heitkamp led a U.S. 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 in Congress on efforts to tackle human trafficking.

• Passing strong bipartisan legislation to fight against human trafficking. Heitkamp helped introduce, and played an integral role in passing in the U.S. Senate’s bipartisan legislation which the president signed into law in May 2015. 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 with Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) to make sure victims are not treated as criminals.

• Pressing for a federal presence to fight crime in Indian Country. After inviting Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James B. Comey to North Dakota last October in calling for lasting solutions to fighting crime like human trafficking on tribal lands, Heitkamp brought Comey to Fort Berthold in June where they joined tribal leaders and law enforcement to discuss the urgent need for a permanent federal law enforcement presence and an improved federal response on the ground in Indian Country.

• Working on bipartisan solutions to engage health care providers. In May 2015, 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. 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.

• Advocating for protections for young people at risk. Heitkamp has been a strong advocate and cosponsor of a bipartisan bill which would help protect runaway and homeless youth, some of the most susceptible targets of human traffickers. She is continuing to push the Senate to pass the bill. In July 2015, Heitkamp successfully secured landmark anti-human trafficking protections for children in schools in the No Child Left Behind reform legislation.

• Addressing human trafficking as a community issue. In September 2014, Heitkamp launched her Strong & Safe Communities Initiative to address emerging challenges throughout North Dakota in the wake of the state’s energy boom, including human and sex trafficking. In June 2015, Heitkamp brought international anti-human trafficking leader Cindy McCain to Bismarck for a Strong & Safe Communities roundtable on the challenges and next steps in North Dakota’s fight against human trafficking.

• Engaging and uniting North Dakotans in the fight against trafficking: In October 2015, Heitkamp brought DHS Blue Campaign Chair Maria Odom – a program within DHS whose agency dedicated solely to eradicating fighting human trafficking across the country – across North Dakota to work with advocates, and law enforcement, and tribal officials to develop potential areas of partnerships to help the state fight these crimes.