Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has targeted human trafficking, and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Miami, who has sponsored his own efforts to curb the international trade, both offered support for President Barack Obama’s executive order aimed at the sex trade. It was signed Tuesday.

"Stopping human trafficking requires efforts at every level of government, and I am pleased that President Obama has issued an executive order that prohibits human trafficking in federal government contracting,” stated Bondi, who pushed for a bill in the 2012 Florida legislative session that increased penalties for trafficking in Florida.

“We must end this modern-day slavery that exploits women, men and children."

Rubio said the president’s order sounds like the bill he has helped sponsor: “S 2234, the End Trafficking in Government Contracting Act of 2012.”

“I commend President Obama for using his platform in New York today to highlight the tragedy of modern-day slavery through human trafficking. Today’s executive order is a welcome step to fight unknowingly U.S. taxpayer-funded human trafficking in government contracts," Rubio stated in a release.

“When Congress returns to work after the election, it should continue to work toward the passage of S 2234 which would make federal efforts to end this practice law instead of an executive order which can be rescinded at any time. Additionally, Congress should re-authorize the Trafficking Victims Protection Act through S 1301. This bill expired last year and it is essential that this cornerstone of human trafficking legislation be renewed.”

Rubio's bill, introduced in March 2012 by Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Rob Portman, R-Ohio, Al Franken, D-Minn., Susan Collins, R-Maine, Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., is to enhance prevention, accountability and enforcement with regard to trafficking abuses.

Obama’s order, in part, prohibits federal contractors from engaging in trafficking-related activities, including misleading or fraudulent recruitment practices.

Obama addressed his executive order while at the Clinton Global Initiative.

“I’m talking about the injustice, the outrage of human trafficking, which must be called by its true name: modern slavery,” Obama stated, according to the White House. “Now I don’t use that word ‘slavery’ lightly. It evokes obviously one of the most painful chapters of our nation’s history. But around the world there’s no denying the awful reality.”


Reach Jim Turner at jturner@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 215-9889.