U.S. Attorney Hosts Roundtable on Human Trafficking in Northern Va.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – United States Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger today hosted a virtual law enforcement roundtable aimed at combatting human trafficking in Northern Virginia.

“Human trafficking is modern day slavery,” said Terwilliger. “As someone who personally investigated and prosecuted these cases earlier in my career, there is no more just prosecution than holding accountable those who would sell, sexually and physically exploit, and ultimately discard a human being.”

The roundtable included law enforcement partners from the U.S. Attorney’s Office; FBI; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General; and Department of State, Diplomatic Security Service.

Morris Parker, Assistant U.S. Attorney and Chief of the Major Crimes Unit at EDVA, led the discussion of EDVA’s strategic plan on human trafficking, which primarily focuses on: 1) The identification of human trafficking victims; 2) Identification and prosecution of human traffickers; and, 3) Improving intelligence, information sharing, and coordination amongst law enforcement to ensure that we are rescuing victims, disrupting trafficking schemes, and holding traffickers accountable as quickly as possible.

The discussion of the strategic plan was followed by a presentation on trends in human trafficking investigations led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Maureen C. Cain, EDVA’s Human Trafficking Coordinator and Chair of the Law Enforcement Committee for the Northern Virginia Human Trafficking Task Force. A leading expert, Cain was honored in 2019 with the Top Prosecutor Award by Women in Federal Law Enforcement Foundation for her work in combatting human trafficking.

Specific trends in human trafficking that were discussed included: Law enforcement focus on repeat runaways who are particularly vulnerable and susceptible to human trafficking; targeting of runaway girls by MS-13, and multiple reports to law enforcement of MS-13 sex trafficking young girls and beating them with baseball bats; law enforcement focus on the demand side of human trafficking on the internet, including law enforcement undercover operations involving the advertising of sex with minor victims.

The day concluded with a presentation by Cain and Assistant U.S. Attorney Raizza Ty, EDVA’s Border Security Coordinator, on some of the challenges of forced labor investigations including; identification of particular industries that are susceptible to labor trafficking, such as farming and service-related industries; educating law enforcement to recognize forced labor indicators; victims are often foreign nationals in the country on a work visa, and traffickers have control of the victim’s passport, and use it to control the victim.

Combatting human trafficking, primarily juvenile sex trafficking, has been a priority for EDVA for the last decade. Terwilliger, in his previous capacity as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, was part of an original human trafficking group that specifically targeted and dismantled MS-13 juvenile sex trafficking conspiracies. He also served as an adjunct professor at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs where he taught an advanced course on human trafficking. Terwilliger currently serves as a member of the Law Enforcement Advisory Committee for the world renowned National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). This prior experience has informed Terwilliger and EDVA’s continued prioritization of combatting human trafficking in EDVA.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.