Crime & Safety

Heise Addresses FBI Human Trafficking Busts in Michigan, Nationwide

State Rep. Kurt Heise promised to work to implement tougher laws and policies to ensure no child is sexually exploited.

Following the FBI's three-day nationwide enforcement resulting in the arrests of 150 people and saving the lives of 105 children, Rep. Kurt Heise (R-Plymouth) promised on his Facebook page to move forward on on a bi-partisan plan this fall to implement tougher laws and policies to ensure no child is sexually exploited.

Heise is chairman of House Criminal Justice Committee and the co-chair of the Michigan Advisory Commission on Human Trafficking (MACHT) along with Attorney General Bill Schuette.

"Human trafficking is a horrendous criminal underworld that has unfortunately crept into every corner of America," Heise said in a press release. "Today's announcement by the FBI of their successful busts across the country, including 18 arrests in Michigan and 10 children saved, is great news but a bittersweet victory.

"While our children are safer because of this bust and the countless hours and tireless efforts of those committed to eradicating human trafficking, we must not relent," he said. "Human trafficking is a pervasive problem and we must redouble our focus, our attention and our resources at this complex crime."

In all, 76 cities across the United States were investigated by local police and the FBI over the weekend. In the Detroit area, 10 juvenile victims were picked up by police and 18 pimps were arrested, according to a press release from the FBI.
Two 17-year-old girls were rescued from a prostitution ring in Farmington Hills, according to several media outlets. The case was part of a much larger crackdown on child prostitution in metro Detroit.

"Child prostitution remains a persistent threat to children across America," Ron Hosko, assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, said in the release. "This operation serves as a reminder that these abhorrent crimes can happen anywhere and that the FBI remains committed to stopping this cycle of victimization and holding the criminals who profit from this exploitation accountable."


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