President Trump in February promised America would “do more” to fight human trafficking. Last month, presidential adviser and first daughter Ivanka Trump pledged to make this fight a “major priority.”
But last week, the Trump administration released a 2018 budget that does not live up to the first family’s commitments. The proposed budget eliminates vital anti-slavery programs. The radical cuts would surrender ground to human traffickers and open America’s borders to cheap slavery-tainted products.
The Trump budget zeros-out the End Modern Slavery Initiative, an innovative public-private partnership program run by the State Dept., designed to scale-up anti-trafficking projects worldwide. The budget also zeros-out grants for front -line anti-trafficking work from the International Labor Affairs Bureau (ILAB) at the Labor Dept., the agency that publishes annual lists of goods made by forced labor and child labor. The (ILAB) lists and field programs are critical to understanding slavery in product supply chains, and help interdict the import of products made by slaves.
We need your help. Federal funding for Free the Slaves programs is in jeopardy. We need grassroots supporters like you to ensure that the momentum we have built together against human traffickers does not falter. We are liberating entire villages from slavery, and there are many more communities that need assistance. Their freedom should not have to wait for the next U.S. election.
I hope that you will consider renewing or increasing your contribution to Free the Slaves today.
