Statement of U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao on the President's Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons

The Department of Transportation is working across all modes of transportation and with stakeholders to detect, deter and disrupt Human Trafficking.  America’s roadways, airways and waterways are being used to facilitate trafficking of human beings. We are committed to working with our federal and transportation partners to put an end to this inhumane criminal activity. 

DOT’s Transportation Leaders Against Human Trafficking initiative arms transportation employees and the traveling public with knowledge so that they can report suspicious activity.  

DOT is implementing the No Human Trafficking on Our Roads Act - signed by President Trump - to help ensure that individuals who use a commercial motor vehicle to commit human trafficking permanently lose their commercial driver’s license.   

We are also facilitating the launch of anti-trafficking public awareness campaigns that are running at transportation hubs including Dallas Fort Worth, O’Hare, JFK, LaGuardia and Dulles airports and more than 20 Amtrak stations.

To further demonstrate our commitment, today, we are pleased to announce the appointment of 15 members to the new Department of Transportation Advisory Committee on Human Trafficking.  We look forward to the counsel of these highly-qualified individuals, each of whom has transportation or diplomatic expertise.

DOT continues to work with DHS and other stakeholders to offer anti-trafficking training to our 55,000 employees. The Department’s partners are to be commended, including the airlines that have trained over 100,000 Flight Attendants, as well as Amtrak and Greyhound, which offer their employees training to recognize and respond to human trafficking. 

In addition, the Department will continue to champion the inclusion of human trafficking in ministerial declarations.  More than 50 transportation ministers from the OECD’s International Transport Forum and APEC have committed to tackling this issue.

It will take a sustained, coordinated campaign to make headway against human trafficking.  The U.S. Department of Transportation and its domestic and international partners remain committed to detecting, deterring and disrupting human trafficking networks.