Stop Trafficking Louisiana

Did you know that 88% of human trafficking victims seek medical care during their trafficking experience? Earlier this week, First Lady Donna Edwards and the Governor’s Office of Human Trafficking Prevention hosted a Healthcare Systems’ Response to Human Trafficking meeting. The meeting brought together healthcare professionals from healthcare systems across Louisiana to discuss best practice response and strategies. We look forward to sharing out our next steps very soon!

If you’re a healthcare professional and interested in adapting a human trafficking badge buddy for your center (see an example on the last slide), please email the OHTP at [email protected].

The Office of Human Trafficking Prevention and Office of the First Lady Edwards hosted the 1st Annual Louisiana Survivor Retreat yesterday at the Governor’s Mansion! Survivor Leaders gathered to discuss unleashing their survivor leadership potential with presentations from national and international experts. Survivor experts shared key insights on compensating survivor leaders, ethical storytelling, public advocacy, leveraging survivor skillsets, and more! Information learned will be used to develop a guide of best practices when engaging and collaborating with survivors and other lived experience experts.

Louisiana continues to be a leader in anti-trafficking legislation! This year, Louisiana was recognized by Polaris as one of the top states in the nation for criminal record relief for trafficking survivors! In 2022, the Legislature passed Act 130, also known as the Michelle Johnson Act, to provide survivors with broad criminal record relief for offenses committed as a result of their trafficking. Visit https://polarisproject.org/criminal-records-relief/ to learn more!

A T Visa, also called T nonimmigrant status, provides temporary immigration status to noncitizen victims to remain in the United States for an initial period of up to four years. T nonimmigrant status is also available to certain qualifying family members of trafficking victims.

T nonimmigrants are eligible for employment authorization, certain federal and state benefits and services, and those who qualify may also qualify to become lawful permanent resident. T Visas offer protection to victims and strengthen the ability of law enforcement agencies to detect, investigate, and prosecute human trafficking.

To apply for the T nonimmigrant status, should seek the advice of a qualified immigration attorney to aid in the forms and submission process. Learn more on the T Nonimmigrant Status and how to apply by going to https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/victims-of-human-trafficking-t-nonimmigrant-status.