During Wednesday's House Foreign Affairs Committee Wednesday, Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA) questioned Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
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00:00Thank you, Mr. Quigley.
00:02Ms. Letlow.
00:03Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
00:05And thank you, Secretary Rubio, for being with us today.
00:08And I wanted to start with a topic that is very important to me personally, but also
00:13to my constituents.
00:14And we've been battling it at a national level, but unfortunately, it's a worldwide issue,
00:19and that's human trafficking.
00:21It remains an urgent and devastating human rights issue worldwide.
00:25It disproportionately targets women and children, trapping them in cycles of forced labor,
00:30sexual exploitation, and modern-day slavery.
00:33Combating this crisis requires sustained commitment to prevention, prosecution, and survivor support.
00:39An anti-human trafficking group recently shared with me that although this takes place overseas,
00:44it has a direct impact on our own citizens.
00:47I've learned that human traffickers have forced victims to work in scam call centers,
00:51where they are made to target vulnerable Americans, particularly the elderly, with the intent
00:56to steal money and commit identity theft.
00:59Secretary Rubio, what strategies is the department employing to ensure that anti-trafficking efforts
01:04remain effective and targeted, particularly in high-risk regions where women and children
01:09are most vulnerable?
01:11And what steps is the department taking to strengthen international cooperations and enforcement mechanisms
01:16to disrupt and expose trafficking networks and safeguard survivors?
01:20Yeah, thank you for the question.
01:21First of all, that's one of the reasons why we've preserved and actually advanced one of the bureaus
01:27under the Office of Coordinator for Foreign Assistance in Humanitarian Affairs.
01:31We have a new division, or not a new division, but moved under that branch of Population, Refugee, and Migration.
01:37And the key is, we're not in the business, in many cases, some of these programs in the past
01:42were about, frankly, accelerating migration.
01:45Helping people along the migratory path as they came towards the United States.
01:49And we want to prevent mass migration because mass migration lends itself to human trafficking.
01:54I would argue, in many cases, mass migration, frankly, is human trafficking because you are getting people,
01:59you are charging them money, promising to bring them to the border of the United States,
02:02and then committing horrifying atrocities along the way, including, in many cases,
02:07handing those people over at the border to traffickers inside our own country
02:11who then tell them they have to pay off their debt by working for them.
02:14And this was happening, and it was happening on a consistent and horrifying basis.
02:18There's nothing humanitarian, there's nothing compassionate about mass migration.
02:22The only people who benefit from mass migration are the traffickers.
02:25And so that is one of the things that we want to be able to prevent.
02:28I think you also see, obviously, the opportunity to disrupt it at the ground level.
02:32I'm very concerned about Haiti, a country that we have seen a long history of not just the abduction of children and young girls,
02:39but of people writ large into trafficking networks.
02:42And so that's what instability creates in places like that.
02:46And I think all of our missions around the world already have a mandate,
02:49but will have an increased mandate in our view, not just to prevent mass migration,
02:53but to identify networks that are preying on vulnerable individuals for purposes of human trafficking.
02:58And I would say that there are many countries around the world that have a willingness to tackle it,
03:03but don't have the capacity.
03:05And then there are other countries, frankly, who look the other way because it's an industry
03:09or it's run by people who have ties to the government, and that needs to be called out as well.
03:14Thank you so much.
03:16My constituents will appreciate that response.
03:18I appreciate the administration's continued commitment to protect life
03:22and ensuring that U.S. taxpayer dollars are used responsibly.
03:25I also understand the desire to refocus State Department funding towards core priorities
03:29like safeguarding our own national security by addressing the spread of infectious diseases abroad
03:34that could impact the U.S. and its citizens.
03:36As the budget priorities evolve, it may be worth considering how the U.S. health investments align
03:41with the broader objective of supporting effective programs that address preventable infectious diseases,
03:46improve health outcomes, and save lives, and reduce long-term dependence on external assistance.
03:51Programs such as GAVI and PEPFAR, which you discussed earlier, have contributed to these types of goals.
03:57Secretary Rubio, with the adjustments in the proposed budget, how is the department planning to reorganize
04:02or reprioritize its health resources in a way that reflects the original intent behind these initiatives?
04:07Yes. Well, I mentioned on the question of PEPFAR already where we have preserved it.
04:1285 percent of recipients are now receiving PEPFAR services, and we want to build on the program and improve it,
04:17because it's one that a strong bipartisan commitment has been successful, but it needs to be measured not just by how much money we spend,
04:24but by the success of empowering local government, the host governments to eventually build their capacity and graduate from the program.
04:31In the case of vaccines, we continue to provide vaccine services.
04:34What we have problems with is a number of these international organizations like GAVI and others in the way they've conducted themselves.
04:40I would extend to that the way the World Health Organization behaved during the pandemic, where frankly I think they did not just a poor job,
04:47but an outrageous job of covering up for China and the irresponsibility on the Chinese end when that started.
04:53So we are looking actively at alternatives to multinational organizations like GAVI to provide the same service,
05:00but in a better way, in a way that actually ensures our purpose, which is to prevent disease and instability in other countries.
05:07That's encouraging news. Thank you so much. I yield back.
05:10Thank you very much.