KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A new team of federal prosecutors and investigators will target human trafficking in Kansas and Missouri, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom announced today.

Kansas and Missouri have been chosen to participate in a nationwide Human Trafficking Enhanced Enforcement Initiative designed to streamline federal criminal investigations and prosecutions of human trafficking offenses. As part of the initiative, a specialized Anti-Trafficking Coordination Team, known as an ACTeam, will be formed in Kansas and Missouri. The ACTeam will focus on developing federal criminal human trafficking investigations and prosecutions to vindicate the rights of human trafficking victims, bring traffickers to justice and dismantle human trafficking networks.

“Freedom from slavery is every person’s most basic human right,” Grissom said. “The anti-trafficking team will give us the tools we need to fight this cruel, despicable practice wherever we find it.”

The departments of Justice, Homeland Security and Labor announced today that Phase I Pilot ACTeams would be housed at Kansas City, Mo., Atlanta, Ga., El Paso, Texas, Memphis, Tenn., Los Angeles and Miami under the leadership of the U.S. Attorneys and the highest ranking federal investigative agents from the FBI, ICE and Department of Labor field offices in each region. The announcement follows the conclusion of a competitive, interagency selection process led by the Federal Enforcement Working Group, a collaboration of the Justice Department’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit, the Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security’s ICE Human Smuggling and Trafficking Unit and the Dept. Of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division and Office of the Inspector General.

On Feb. 1, 2011, Attorney General Eric Holder, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, and Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis jointly announced the launch of the ACTeam Initiative and the competitive interagency selection process.

Each ACTeam, which includes federal prosecutors and federal agents from multiple federal enforcement agencies, will implement a strategic action plan to combat identified human trafficking threats.

The Departments of Justice, Homeland Security and Labor have each launched significant initiatives to combat human trafficking as part of collaborations among federal, state, local and international law enforcement, including governmental and non-governmental partners.

 

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