Committee passes human trafficking bill

Legislation sets tougher penalties for offenders

After hearing emotional testimony from victims of human trafficking, members of the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee unanimously voted to support a bill enacting tougher penalties for the crime.

House Bill 56 also broadens the definition of human trafficking, expands protections for victims and gives law enforcement more clarification on what they can do to identify and arrest people engaged in the offense.

It also requires those convicted of human trafficking to register as sex offenders in the state.

“The goal of this bill is to provide more effective means against traffickers,” Assistant Attorney General Mark Probasco told committee members Tuesday (Jan. 26).

Several women testifying in favor of the bill — all via Zoom — said passage will give voice and hope to victims whose lives have been upended by the crime.

“We need this bill passed,” said Ebony Archie Quintana, who said she was caught up in a human trafficking ring at the age of 18.

“No one knows the struggles we go through after being a victim,” she said. “The pain never ends. Not just the mental pain, the emotional pain, the physical pain. People don’t understand how much of a toll it takes on your life and how much less it makes you feel as a woman.

“Nobody really cares, to be honest,” she added.

Dallas Grassbaugh painted a harrowing picture of victims’ plight.

“It is multiple rapes a day, assault, assault with a deadly weapon, stripping freedom and civil rights,” Grassbaugh said. “And that is just the beginning.”

The Human Trafficking Institute ranks New Mexico 23rd in the nation for the number of human trafficking cases per year. The institute’s New Mexico hotline reported 64 calls of human trafficking cases in 2019.

Human trafficking involves the use of force, bribery, coercion and even romance to force victims to work into labor or sexual exploitation, and sometimes both.

Kathleen Burke, a victims’ advocate and member of the New Mexico Human Trafficking Task Force, said the crime is “never as simple as the sale of forced labor.”

She said it can often involve traffickers using a branding iron to mark their victims like livestock.

She said the victims can be children, teens or adults, and the crimes can occur in truck stops, massage parlors, online and “at man camps in the oil and gas industry.”

Among other measures, the bill would increase the criminal penalty of those found guilty of trafficking someone 16 years of age or under from a second-degree to first-degree felony.

For victims 18 and over, it would increase the charge from a third- to second-degree offense.

If the bill becomes law, victims of human trafficking could no longer be charged for prostitution or for being accessories to the crime. It also provides a minimum restitution to the victim.

The bill, co-sponsored by Reps. Elizabeth “Liz” Thomson and Georgene Louis, both Democrats from Albuquerque, next moves to the House Judiciary Committee for consideration.