ICYMI: Beyer, 26 Democratic Colleagues Demand Accountability on Overdue Human Trafficking Report Amid Staffing Purge of Anti-Trafficking Office

On Wednesday, September 10, Representative Don Beyer led 26 of his colleagues in demanding that Secretary of State Marco Rubio release the congressionally mandated 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report, which was due to Congress on June 30 and is critical to combatting the scourge of human trafficking.

The report comes from the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (J/TIP), which recently fired over 70% of the human trafficking prevention staff due to reductions in force (RIFs) and other personnel policy changes. Given this purge of anti-trafficking experts, the lawmakers also requested updated information on the current staffing and resources available to J/TIP to fulfill its statutory duties under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. They emphasized that these significant staff cuts pose serious challenges to the international effort to monitor and combat human trafficking crimes.

Additional news coverage:

NOTUS: Democrats Press Marco Rubio to Release Human Trafficking Report

"The Democratic lawmakers, led by Virginia Rep. Don Beyer and including members of the Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Oversight panel, described the Trafficking in Persons report as 'a key tool used by law enforcement, foreign governments, and nonprofit organizations in the fight against human trafficking.' They asked the department to explain why it hasn't given it to Congress yet...

"The Democratic lawmakers raised concerns about personnel cuts, which they believe delayed this year's report. The Trump administration fired more than 1,300 State Department employees in July, as part of a reorganization of the department that Rubio has argued will streamline its work."

A signed copy of the letter is available here.