Governor Matt Mead has declared January as slavery and human trafficking prevention month in the state. Last year Wyoming became the last state to pass a human trafficking law. Governor Mead says the law now gives the state a new tool to fight these types of crimes in Wyoming. He says Wyoming officials can now respond directly to local instances of human trafficking instead of relying solely on the federal government to identify and prosecute such cases, decreasing instances of both labor and sex trafficking falling through the gaps.

Cara Chambers, Director of the Division of Victims Services in the Wyoming Attorney General's office says the law is also one of the few in the country to provide strong legal protections and support for survivors of human trafficking. Two cases of human trafficking have been prosecuted in Wyoming by federal prosecutors in the last five years, and Victim Services providers have reported working with human trafficking victims across the state.

 

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