The Iowa House has passed a bill supporters say could make it easier to prosecute human traffickers and another that would make human smuggling a state crime.
Legislators cited a lawsuit recently filed by six Guatemalans who say they were recruited to work at an egg processing facility in Clarion, then threatened with a gun and with deportation for complaining about overtime work and their pay. Republican Representative Mark Thompson of Clarion said it happened in his county and it’s time to “hammer” those who exploit vulnerable people.
“We owe it to the people who are less fortunate, we owe it to our law enforcement, we owe it to our county attorneys and our prosecutors to give the tools to, again, hammer these people,” Thompson said Thursday.
The House unanimously passed the bill which removes the requirement an ongoing relationship must be present for someone to be charged with human trafficking. The other bill, which passed on a 75-14 vote, would make it a state crime to hide or shelter someone who is violating federal immigration laws and take something of value, like money, to help them enter or stay in the U-S. Representative Steven Holt, a Republican from Denison guided a similar bill through the House last year, but senators did not consider it.
“Law enforcement has told me that this legislation would provide more tools in the fight not just to prosecute those who are engaged in human smuggling, but also those bad actors engaged in concealing those here illegally in order to coerce them into what amounts to slave labor whether it be on farms or in manufacturing facilities,” Holt said.
Representative Lindsay James, a Democrat from Dubuque, said there are concerns the bill is written too broadly and Iowans offering food or shelter to victims of human smuggling or human trafficking might be charged with a crime.
“Inadvertently penalizing service providers who are trying to provide aid to vulnerable people based out of their religious or humanitarian convictions,” James said.
Despite those concerns, James voted for the bill.