Cornyn and colleagues introduce bill to combat online child abuse and protect survivors

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and U.S. Representatives Laurel Lee (FL-15) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25) today announced their Renewed Hope Actwhich would enhance the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s ability to better identify, rescue, and protect victims of online child sexual exploitation and bring perpetrators to justice:

“Tens of thousands of children are being exploited by vicious predators who steal their innocence and post abusive images of them online, often leaving scars that linger long after the photo or video is deleted,” said Senator Cornyn. “This bipartisan legislation would better protect and identify these children, rescue survivors, and end the heinous crime of online child sexual abuse.”

“Over the past decades, I have met parents and loved ones whose children’s lives have been decimated and sometimes lost to the scourge of online child abuse material,” said Senator Blumenthal. “The Internet can be a powerful force for good, but we have seen time and time again how it can be exploited for evil and malicious purposes. These depictions of children – the exploitation of children and far too often the loss of children – are absolutely unacceptable. This legislation will provide resources to combat child abuse material, giving law enforcement and investigators – the troops on the ground – the tools and resources they need to identify and rescue victims and to deter and prosecute these cases.”

“The internet platforms we use every day are being used to distribute and collect child sexual abuse material (CSAM),” said Rep. Lee. “CSAM and child exploitation are increasing at alarming rates, and Congress must ensure that the men and women fighting these crimes have the tools and resources they need. The Renewed Hope Act will provide much-needed resources in the fight against online child abuse and help protect our nation’s children.”

“Our children deserve to be protected from the ever-increasing number of digital predators seeking to harm them, which means we must expand our efforts to identify and support children who are victims of this online abuse and exploitation,” said Rep. Wasserman Schultz. “As reports of predatory behavior against children continue to rise, I am proud to join my colleagues in introducing this bipartisan, bicameral legislation that will expand our ability to identify victims of child sexual exploitation by investing in the frontline workers working to find and save these innocent lives.”

“For too long, hundreds of thousands of girls and boys have endured horrific abuse, often at the hands of adults who should be protecting them,” said Tim Tebow. “Children across our country are now living in the darkest of circumstances and crying out for help. Their pain must galvanize us to action. That’s why we’re calling on Congress to pass legislation to strengthen our nation’s response to identify and rescue these boys and girls. Because even with law enforcement and organizations working around the clock to save these children, it’s simply not enough. I’m so grateful to our leaders for shining a light on this bipartisan issue so we can build a stronger rescue team of analysts, investigators and law enforcement as we unite to find and protect every child in our country who is suffering at the hands of this great evil.”

Background:

In 2015, Congress passed the Rescue operations for human exploitation (HERO) Actionwhich established the Cyber ​​Crimes Center (C3) and a Child Exploitation Investigations Unit within U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). The Unit is charged with coordinating HSI’s investigations into child exploitation, child pornography, and child victim identification.

The Renewed Hope Act would:

• Expand HSI’s resources to hire, train, and assign computer forensics and criminal analysts to the Child Exploitation Investigations Unit and field offices to support victim identification and rescue efforts;
• Clarify the role of the Child Exploitation Investigations Unit in coordinating child exploitation investigations within the Department of Homeland Security; and
• Enhance training in new and advanced victim identification technology for HSI personnel and their partners at the federal, state, local, military, and foreign levels.

This comes after groundbreaking legislation to protect children online recently passed the U.S. Senate in July. Senator Cornyn co-sponsored both the Children’s Internet Safety Actled by Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and the Children’s and Teenagers’ Online Privacy Protection Actled by Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Ed Markey (D-MA). Senator Cornyn has also led several bills as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee to improve the investigation and prosecution of child sexual exploitation.

This legislation is endorsed by the Tim Tebow Foundation, the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, ChildFund International, Child Rescue Coalition, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), the National Child Protection Task Force, the International Justice Mission, PACT, the Major County Sheriffs of America, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE), Rights4Girls and the National District Attorneys Association.