Wolf: Crackdown on Human Trafficking in Virginia

(R-Va., 10th district) is pushing for more federal enforcement of trafficking laws and has asked the Polaris Project, a group that works against human trafficking, to investigate massage parlors in Northern Virginia. 

Many of the massage parlors in Northern Virginia are offering services that go beyond what's legal, and many of the victims are Korean women, who are tricked into a life of virtual slavery, The Washington Post's Tom Jackman reports. Several of these parlors appear to be in the Sully District. 

"I am very disappointed that nearly two years after your human trafficking working group was set up, there has been so little progress, and frankly, I question the commitment to this effort," Wolf wrote in a letter to U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride's office. 

In another letter to FBI director Robert Mueller, Wolf said that MacBride's office had not made enough progress on the issue. "Several months ago I provided him with a list of 82 alleged trafficking operations in Northern Virginia. To date, I do not think that any of these locations have been shut down or the traffickers arrested," he wrote. 

Wolf, who represents Chantilly and part of Centreville, also took issue with the FBI's response, saying that the bureau needed to take the lead in the task force. Both letters are attached to this article.  

A spokesman for U.S. Attorney was not immediately available for comment; however, MacBride told the Post that his office has had a number of successful prosecutions to date.

Human trafficking is explicitly outlawed under federal and international law. In, under state law. 

Update, 4:45 p.m. Peter Carr, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office, emailed a statement on behalf of MacBride:  “We appreciate Rep. Wolf’s interest in fighting trafficking in Northern Virginia. Anti-trafficking efforts are a priority for the Department and for my Office, and that is why we reinvigorated the Northern Virginia Human Trafficking Task Force in June 2010. Prosecutions have risen since then, and we have a number of robust investigations currently underway. We feel like we’re off to a good start.”