This is a victory for victims and survivors who were exploited, abused and then punished by a system that failed to see them as human beings. The Trafficking Survivors Relief Act finally recognizes a brutal truth that Lynn’s Warriors has long fought to expose. Children and adults trapped by traffickers are often forced to commit crimes under threat violence and control. Those acts were never choices. They were survival.
For too long survivors were victimized twice. First by traffickers and then by a justice system that branded them as criminals blocking access to housing, employment, safety and healing. This legislation begins to correct that injustice by allowing survivors to clear federal charges that were the direct result of their exploitation.
Lynn’s Warriors stands with survivor leaders in saying this plainly. Survivors should never be punished for what was done to them. Justice means protection, accountability for abusers and a clear path to restoration for victims. This bill moves us closer to that standard and we will continue fighting until every survivor is seen believed and defended.