PORTLAND, Maine — Maine is one of six federal judicial districts designated to participate in the Anti-Trafficking Coordination Team Initiative aimed at streamlining the investigation and prosecution of federal human trafficking crimes, U.S. Attorney Thomas Delahanty announced Friday.
“Maine is a relatively small and rural state, but it is not immune from human trafficking issues,” Delahanty said in a press release.
The team will consist of agents from the FBI, Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, the Office of the Inspector General and federal prosecutors.
“Human trafficking is a modern-day form of slavery that destroys lives and exploits the most vulnerable in our society,” FBI Director James B. Comey said in the press release. “These [Anti-Trafficking Coordination] teams are the most effective way to investigate human trafficking by allowing us to work in a collaborative, victim-oriented manner.”
The teams are aimed at developing high-impact human trafficking investigations and prosecutions involving forced labor, international sex trafficking and sex trafficking of adults by force, fraud and coercion, complementing Project Safe Childhood and related efforts aimed at combating child sexual exploitation, including child sex trafficking, the release said.
The other teams will be located in Cleveland, Minneapolis, Newark, New Jersey, Portland, Oregon, and Sacramento, California.
Last month, Gov. Paul LePage called for a crackdown on human trafficking in Maine, based in part on a report issued by the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault, which estimated 200 to 300 cases a year.