Tell the House to renew the Frederick Douglass anti-trafficking bill

Trafficking, in fact, often goes unseen. The media, thanks to courageous reporters, have brought to light modern forms of slavery, but the culture of indifference tends to desensitize us. Let us help one another to be more responsive, to open our lives and hearts to our sisters and brothers who even now are being bought and sold as slaves. It is never too late to take action.

—Pope Francis, message for World Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking, 08 February 2024

Tell the House to renew the Frederick Douglass anti-trafficking bill

On November 18, 2025, the United States House of Representatives voted nearly unanimously (427-1) to force the Department of Justice to release the Jeffrey Epstein files. The voice and public advocacy of survivors can be credited with passage in both chambers and then the swift signing into law by President Donald Trump.

In continuing to listen to the voice of survivors of sex and labor trafficking, the Mercy Justice Team joins with the Alliance to End Human Trafficking and the National Advocacy Center of the Good Shepherd Sisters to advocate for the bipartisan H.R.1144, the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2025. Without the passage of this bill, vital funding for anti-trafficking protections will expire at year's end.

The Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2025 (H.R. 1144) includes the following provisions:

Reauthorizes domestic and international provisions of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA)
Reauthorizes International Megan’s Law
Provides education, prevention programs for children, and support for survivors of trafficking with wrap-around social services
Supports and strengthen programs to end human trafficking abroad
Requires that a printed hard copy of annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report be available to the public.

Catherine McAuley, our founder, sought to protect vulnerable young women from dangerous working conditions. Thank you for joining us in advocacy that resonates so deeply with our origins.

Please use the draft email in the grey box at right (below on mobile devices) to urge your federal representative to publicly support, cosponsor, and vote YES on H.R.1144.

Background

H.R. 1144 builds on the landmark Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 and its subsequent reauthorizations. The bill is designed to prevent human trafficking, protect victims, and enhance civil and criminal penalties against traffickers. The TVPA and its follow-up reauthorizations changed the way police departments, the courts, social services and schools interact with survivors. They began to understand that survivors have greater and more specific needs than many other crime victims, and they began to recognize these extenuating circumstances when arresting, processing or moving survivors through the courts and social service systems. The Frederick Douglass TVPRA would reauthorize both domestic and international provisions of the last amended version of the TVPRA along with International Megan’s Law which requires covered sex offenders to have a special warning in their U.S. passports identifying them to foreign governments. Source

Invitation

Consider attending the Alliance to End Human Trafficking Conference April 15–17, 2026, at Hyatt Regency Boston Harbor (Boston, MA), which is co-sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas. Join advocates, practitioners, faith leaders, and partners for three days of learning, collaboration, and planning to advance survivor-centered, prevention-focused responses to human trafficking.