Cuomo signs new law to protect trafficking victims

As reported by Times Ledger:

“These new protections build upon our work to combat human trafficking in New York by providing more tools to help victims escape their circumstances and to get a fresh start,” Cuomo said.

The new law requires that all case records concerning 16- or 17-year-old victims be sealed so that future employers cannot find out about their history. The records can only be unsealed if they are needed in a case against the victim’s trafficker.

Roosevelt Avenue in Queens has been the borough’s epicenter of human trafficking over the years, as many young, foreign-born women migrating to the borough have fallen prey to traffickers, advocates say.

“Putting an end to human trafficking is the moral issue of our time,” he said. “Women are shipped here from around the world and the country. They’re brought right here to my district and enslaved. The standard response is that it’s a victimless crime, which it is not.”

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