Survivor Speaks, Cracking Down on Human Trafficking in Montana

You've probably seen the recent headlines about Mexican drug cartels and Tren de Aragua operatives arrested in Montana, but the reality is that human trafficking has been a big problem here in Montana for quite some time now.

Montana's Attorney General Austin Knudsen is in the middle of a big conference focused on stopping human trafficking- the GRIT conference taking place in Bozeman this week.

One of the keynote speakers is Jenna McKaye, a survivor of human trafficking who sits on the board of the Worthy Ranch based in the Billings, Montana area.

AG Knudsen: "I've never seen anything as evil as this kind of sex slavery, because that's what it is. I actually don't like the term human trafficking. For the most part, what we're talking about is sex slavery, and it typically involves young, underage, teenage girls. It's vile. It's disgusting to see what people will do to each other to make $1, but that's what this is. This is not a victimless crime."

While promoting the GRIT conference on the radio with us last week, AG Knudsen talked about some of the new ways Montana is combatting human trafficking.

AG Knudsen: "Going clear back to my time in the legislature, we were trying to pass anti human trafficking legislation, but frankly- we had a hard time convincing the Montana Legislature for a lot of years that this was actually happening in the state and then that we needed to do something about it. And so it really wasn't until 2019 that we had any any meaningful anti human trafficking legislation passed in Montana.

Knudsen then talked about the work his office put into House Bill 112 that was carried by a Billings legislator, JoDee Etchart (R-Billings).

AG Knudsen: "That was a 100 and some page bill that rewrote and added some real teeth to our anti human trafficking statutes in Montana, because before it was a slap on the wrist. I tell people, prior to 2023, someone could get online and order illegal sex with a minor child up to five times in the state and never face a felony. I mean that was the state that we were in up until just two years ago, so that's no longer the case. It's a first time felony. We're taking this much more seriously now. We've got actual resources at the Department of Justice, we've got agents dedicated to just fighting human trafficking."