Rep. Tom Suozzi, human trafficking survivors rally for congressional legislation to fight the crisis, help victims

Two survivors of human trafficking have teamed up with Rep. Tom Suozzi to pass legislation aimed at helping and protecting other victims.

The Preventing Child Trafficking Act and Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act would fund anti-trafficking programs, including training teachers and school districts to recognize signs of human trafficking.

The bills each have bipartisan support.

"It's happening right here in our backyard, and most of the arrests related to human trafficking for all New York State take place right here on Long Island," Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) said Thursday at a news conference in Williston Park.

Hollie Nadel, 41, of Virginia, who grew up in Searingtown, said she was trafficked across 11 states, starting with a family in New York that first befriended her, then garnished her pay and forced her into labor and sex trafficking.

Nadel said she was initially charged with conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud in Washington, D.C., after her captors exploited her and opened thousands of accounts in her name. She was granted a presidential pardon in January.

"My traffickers befriended me. They gained my trust. Initially, they were very kind," Nadel said. "Traffickers will often fill a void that the victim needs, and then during that time, they're also learning everything that makes a victim vulnerable. They want to turn the tables and pull the rug out from under them and hold all those vulnerabilities against them, and that's what happened in my case. And then initially, it just kept escalating."

Nadel is now an advocate in Washington, D.C., where she lobbied for the passage of the Trafficking Survivors Relief Act, which became law in January and helps survivors clear their criminal records. She is now working with policy groups and lawmakers to pass legislation to protect other survivors.

The Preventing Child Trafficking Act, introduced by Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), passed the Senate unanimously in December but has stalled in the House. 

The Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act was introduced by New Jersey Republican Rep. Christopher Smith but has since stalled in committee. Suozzi is a co-sponsor of the bill. 

Newsday has chronicled the human trafficking crisis on Long Island in its ongoing series "Unprotected" and "Sex Next Door."

Sheena Dume, 33, of Connecticut, said she also survived human trafficking after being lured with promises of a modeling career. She is now an advocacy program manager at the organization Protect All Children from Trafficking.

"The experience showed me how trafficking can exist behind closed doors, in ordinary communities, and [the] involved people, professions or status may not fit the stereotypes we often see in the media," Dume said. "One of the most overlooked barriers survivors face is criminalization. Too often, [victims] are arrested and prosecuted, and left with criminal records for acts they were forced to commit while being trafficked."