A task force on human trafficking on Wednesday walked lawmakers through 19 recommendations that it believes would help Arkansas combat the problem. Proposals include changing the way Arkansas handles undocumented immigrants, particularly children.
The suggestionsfrom the Arkansas Task Force for the Prevention of Human Trafficking include creating a clear line-of-service for taking care of human trafficking victims, training law enforcement and social services, and the lessening or removing of penalties for people forced into activities such as prostitution.
State Senator Bart Hester of Cave Springs said he agrees with a recommendation that would make it easier for some undocumented children to stay in the country permanently.
“I think it’s absolutely necessary. These children, if they’re brought here by human trafficking, they didn’t come here by choice. I think we have to be responsible. I mean, we’re humans first and we have to take care of these children. We have a responsibility,” said Hester.
The Republican from northwest Arkansas said he’d also consider extending services and some form of residency to undocumented adults brought to the country because of human trafficking. In August, Hester sent Democratic Governor Mike Beebe a letter critical of the possibility undocumented immigrants being re-located in Arkansas. Hester's remarks on undocumented immigrants at the hearing were only about people whose arrival in the United States can be linked to human trafficking.
Fellow Republican David Meeks, a state Representative from Greenbrier, said a recommendation to place signs about human trafficking, with a hotline number, at a list of public places and private business is among the most contentious of the task force’s recommendations.
“Everyone has good reasons to put different causes in a restaurant or in a rest area to bring awareness to a certain deal. That’s always going to be the debate. Do we need to require or should we require businesses to do that? With the rest areas, that is state, that is government or whatever, so I think there is probably less of a pushback to be able to do it. But at the same time you do want to be able to create a positive image. If folks are going to a state park or a rest area you don’t want to create that negative image,” said Meeks.
Assistant Attorney General Will Jones chaired the task force – created last year by the legislature – that presented the recommendations. Jones said concerns of business and the state park system were considered but the task force felt the plight of trafficking victims is a higher priority.
Hester, a chair of the Children and Youth subcommittee, pointed to another recommendation requiring licenses for people and institutions interacting with victims of human trafficking as something his fellow conservatives are cautious about. He expressed apprehension about any additional licensure programs or new regulatory bodies.
The legislature is expected to craft legislation based on the recommendations in time for January’s legislative session.
