The Current

On Thursday, April 5, West Virginia became the 49^th state to pass a criminal law against human trafficking (read the press release from our friends at Polaris Project).

The bill, which was signed by Governor Earl Ray Tomblin last Thursday, criminalizes both labor and sex trafficking and authorizes the training for law enforcement officers to help them identify and investigate trafficking cases.

Over the past few months, advocates throughout West Virginia have been laying the groundwork for the bill’s passage, including two IJM advocates, Travis Wirt and Kendra Rogers, who worked to educate their state legislators about the bill and got to attend the bill signing on Thursday.

“I was apprehensive at first [about the bill being passed],” Kendra said. “There are so many people who believe human trafficking doesn’t happen here, so they might not have believed this bill was necessary.”

“Legislators seemed very impressed that residents were concerned about this issue,” said Travis, after attending the signing last Thursday. “So many grassroots activists, from college students to young professionals and retirees, joined the celebration at the signing.”

Both Kendra and Travis have been advocates at the national level with IJM in support of federal bills like the TVPRA, but this was their first foray into state legislation.

“Working on the state level was so different than working on the federal level. The state process was much more personal,” said Travis, who was in frequent communication with his state legislators as the bill moved through the legislature. “Delegate Snuffer was one of the most conscientious, friendly, hard-working delegates I’ve ever met. He returned all of my emails and calls personally! And he was a huge help in communicating the importance of the bill to other legislators.”

“I think that's the best part of it,” Kendra said, “knowing your representative is actually listening and reading up on an issue that’s important to you.”

Kendra listened to many of the legislative sessions online. “When I started to go online and listen to the whole process—that’s when it really hit me. There were a few times I was almost in tears because the bill had passed unanimously. I was just so happy.”

Both Kendra and Travis attended the bill signing last Thursday to witness the historic occasion.

“It was incredible to attend the bill signing with Kendra and celebrate the victory of several month's worth of work,” said Travis. “All of the phone messages, letters and conversations were definitely worth the effort!”

“Travis had to talk me into going up to stand next to the Governor,” said Kendra (pictured second from the right above). Governor Tomblin gave Kendra one of the pens he used to sign the bill into law as a memento of the occasion.

Kendra and Travis agree that this is just the beginning of what could be accomplished both in West Virginia’s state legislature and with the West Virginia delegation at the federal level—but right now, they’re celebrating.

“I’ll always remember this year,” said Kendra. “It’s off to a great start.”

Erica Boonstra is an organizer for Justice Campaigns and helps manage IJM's grassroots efforts around the country and abroad. Justice Campaigns mobilizes people around the country in support of U.S. policies that will lead to the abolition of human trafficking and modern-day slavery.