LANSING — The Michigan Senate unanimously passed a set of bills this week that would increase penalties for human trafficking.
One of the bills in the package doubles the potential penalties for trafficking offenses, from 10 years or $10,000 to 20 years or $20,000.
Another bill in the package would increase penalties for the crime of facilitating prostitution. It would also prevent minors from being charged with that crime, potentially keeping some victims out of legal jeopardy.
State Sen. John Damoose, (R) District 37, Harbor Springs, says he hopes that the bill package is a significant step toward there being fewer instances of human trafficking.
“These bills, by themselves, are not going to eliminate human trafficking — it’s already illegal, and it’s going to be going on,” Damoose said. “But what I said is, whatever the bills do, I want to pass bills that two years from now, there will be a significant number of women, children and men who wake up who would have been trafficked that day, but aren’t being trafficked because of these bills. And I think that’s what we’ve got”
In the nearly 20 years since its creation, the National Human Trafficking Hotline has received close to half a million reports, about a quarter of reports come from trafficking victims themselves.
The National Human Trafficking Hotline is 1-888-373-7888 and can be found online here.
State resources like the Division of Victim Services can be found online here.
In just Michigan, the hotline has received more than 10,000 reports that have led to nearly 7,000 victims being identified.
In 2024, the hotline received 764 signals from Michigan, which led to 585 victims being identified.
Damoose says that Northern Michigan especially can be exploited due to its seasonal tourism booms.
“We’re such a heavily resort area that we see people literally shipping human beings up to be trafficked during the high-tourism season, during big events, these type of things,” he said. “So our law enforcement is really all over this.”
Juliette Schultz is executive director of the Women’s Resource Center in Traverse City.
She says more serious punishments and increased enforcement could serve as deterrents.
“I really think that any time that we can recognize and hold people committing crimes against other people accountable, it’s a positive effect on us and our communities as a whole,” she said.
Schultz says that in addition to passing these proposals into law, lawmakers should continue to prioritize funding for community services.
“We’re looking for lawmakers to do what they’re doing, which is recognizing and prioritizing survivors — and as always, looking ahead toward whether or not we might be at risk of losing funding, which could ultimately impact the services that we’re providing,” she said.
Damoose’s bill package still needs to pass through the Republican-controlled state House before it can go to the desk of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
“If we can’t come together as both chambers, as both parties and with the governor to really crack down on human trafficking, I’m not sure what we can do,” Damoose said before the Senate voted on the bills.