A Congressional subcommittee is holding a hearing ahead of the Super Bowl aimed to prevent sex trafficking at major sporting events.
The Monday hearing, titled “Lessons Learned from Super Bowl Preparations: Preventing International Human Trafficking at Major Sporting Events,” examines what House Foreign Affairs subcommittee members say is a sex trade problem that has arisen at Super Bowls in years past.
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“One Super Bowl after another after another has shown itself to be one of the largest events in the world where the cruelty of human trafficking goes on for several weeks,” Republican Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey told the AP earlier in January.
Smith, who chairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Organizations, said New Jersey has a significant problem with prostitution and sex trafficking. When MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., was named home of Super Bowl XLVIII, advocates and officials reportedly mobilized to teach local authorities how to identify signs of trafficking.
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Congressmen will hear from the chairwoman of the Department of Homeland Security campaign against human trafficking and the head of a child prostitution advocacy group, as well as transportation officials.