Virignia AG Miyares in Bristow, talks human trafficking: ‘It’s a monstrous crime’

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares was at Youth for Tomorrow, at 11835 Hazel Circle Drive in Bristow, today to call attention to human trafficking.

It’s a crime happening in plain sight, and many think it’s not happening right here in their communities. It’s a monstrous crime,” Miyares told PLN in a phone interview after the event.

Miyares praised Youth for Tomorrow for helping pregnant girls who have been trafficked and sexually abused — some less than 10 years old. Miyares said authorities are now finding that offenders are trafficking family members into the U.S. for financial gain.

Authorities found trafficking victims had access to medical care en route to the U.S. That fact prompted Miyares to warn the staff at Medical Center of Virginia in Richmond and Youth for Tomorrow, during recent speaking engagements, to be on the lookout for victims.

“These folks on the front lines of human trafficking,” said Miyares.

In addition to girls, traffickers are also bringing fentanyl into the U.S. it’s killing, on average, the equivalent of two 727 airliners crashing daily, killing everyone onboard. He said the drug is so prevalent that it’s now being found in everything from marijuana to children’s vitamins.

A bill from Senator Jill Holtzman Vogel (R-Fauquier) aims to require first-year college students to learn the signs of human trafficking during orientation classes. The bill passed unanimously in the Senate and is now in the House of Delegates for consideration.

A bill that would have satisfied prosecutors calls for stricter penalties punishing those who sell fentanyl to users to die from the drug. The bill would have allowed prosecutors to seek a second-degree murder conviction with 40 years in prison.

The bill died in a party-line vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee, with Democrats killing the bill.

“Some of these drug dealers are killing their customers, knowing they’ll just get more,” Miayres said.

Today in Stafford County, the Board of Supervisors recognized National Human Trafficking Month, which falls each year in January. Rock Hill District Supervisor Crystal Vanuch thanked Board Chair Dr. Pamela Yeung for allowing the resolution recognizing the month after the board failed to recognize the annual event last month.