Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen declares that human trafficking is "modern-day slavery" and the United States must do more to prevent trafficking across our southern border.
"The key question is, how do we fight it at the border from Latin America?" she says in an exclusive interview with Newsmax TV.
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"You have Mexico and Central America and these porous borders. That's why border security for the immigration bill is very important. It's paramount. That's step one.
"California, Texas, and Florida are the states where you see a lot of girls, especially, and young women being trafficked. Why? Because they're coming from Mexico and Central America. How sad. This is modern day slavery and they're sold into prostitution. These are underage girls or young women at any age.
"It's a horrific practice and internationally it's a blight on humanity because where dictators rule, that's where you see a lot of trafficked girls and young women. For example, Fidel and Raul Castro advertise Cuba as a spot for sex tourism. It is disgusting.
"And you see places like Iran, Syria, and North Korea that have been classified by our State Department, along with Cuba, as a tier three country. That means they don’t even do the most minimum safeguards to make sure that we don’t have human trafficking.
"So domestically we need to do more to enforce the border and help these young girls, and internationally we need to do more to help bring about democracy because where you have democracy and freedom, you don’t have these kinds of problems."
See more of the exclusive Newsmax interview with Rep. Ros-Lehtinen:
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