Senator Cornyn and bipartisan lawmakers introduce bill to combat child exploitation

WASHINGTON (KAMR/KCIT) — A group of lawmakers from both parties has introduced the “Protect Our Children Act,” which would reauthorize and modernize the Internet Crimes Against Children Force Program.

According to officials, U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Reps. Nathaniel Moran (TX-01) and Debbie Wasserman Shultz (FL-25) introduced the bill last week.

“For decades, the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program has played an invaluable role in helping federal, state, and local law enforcement work together to combat child exploitation and put vicious predators behind bars,” said Senator Cornyn. “By expanding and modernizing this program, our legislation would ensure that these task forces can continue to protect our next generation in an increasingly digital world.”

The Protect Our Children Act would:

• Update and modernize the requirements for the National Strategy for Preventing and Suppressing Child Exploitation, including requiring the U.S. Department of Justice to provide meaningful information on efforts to protect children worldwide.
• Provide liability protection for the ICAC Task Force during the conduct of criminal investigations into child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and child abuse material.
• Improve and clarify the legal text of the programs to ensure that it is in line with current technology and needs.
• Focus on both proactive and reactive investigations for the ICAC program.
• Extend the ICAC program until 2027.

Officials note that since 1998, ICAC has assisted state and local law enforcement agencies in developing responses to technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation and Internet crimes against children. ICAC Task Forces have trained more than 826,700 law enforcement officers and have a national network of 61 coordinated task forces representing more than 5,400 federal, state, and local law enforcement and prosecution agencies.