President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday at the White House to combat human trafficking.
The president’s order increases inter-agency cooperation to battle human trafficking, while also establishing a task force that focuses on missing and murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives, which tend to suffer higher rates of sexual abuse compared to the rest of the general population. The event at the White House’s East Room was attended by Vice President Mike Pence, Attorney General Bill Barr, among others, and Ivanka Trump. (RELATED: Bill Barr Says Epstein’s Death ‘Raises Serious Questions’)
“My Administration is 100 percent committed to eradicating human trafficking from the earth,” the president said.
The Trump Administration is putting unprecedented pressure on perpetrators of exploitation at home and abroad—including a task force on missing and murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives. pic.twitter.com/03HX4uVjBY
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 31, 2020
Despite the president’s stated commitment to ending human trafficking, several anti-human trafficking groups boycotted the White House’s event over the Trump Administration’s immigration policies, according to a report published Friday by The Washington Post.
“This administration is undermining protections carefully built for trafficking victims over two decades,” Martina Vandenberg, founder of the Human Trafficking Legal Center told The Post. “I don’t think any of us have the desire to be a part of a photo op.”