Washington DC – Recognizing Jennie Williamson of Courage to be You, who recently received the FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award, Congressman Dan Lungren (R-Gold River-CA)  released the following statement commending  Jennie and her team for their tireless work in creating a safe and compassionate environment for victims of human trafficking:

“I have been working on legislation to protect women and children from sexual predators for much of my career.  As the Attorney General of California, I helped ensure passage of California’s Megan’s Law, which created a statewide sex offender registry allowing parents to protect their children from threats in their own neighborhoods.  More recently, I worked with my colleagues in the House to pass the International Megan’s Law, which will keep high risk predators away from children both at home and abroad.  My work on this legislation piqued the interest of law enforcement officials in Baja California who are now working on enacting a Megan’s Law registry in their community. 

“In September of this year, the Judiciary Committee’s Crime Subcommittee held a hearing focusing on the problem of sex trafficking of minors in this country, which is a huge problem in the Sacramento region.  I was thrilled to be able to invite Truckee Police Chief Nicholas Sensley, a renowned expert on anti-trafficking task forces, to testify at the hearing.  I had been introduced to Chief Sensley by Jennie Williamson about a year ago through a series of forums on the issue of human trafficking we held in Rancho Cordova.  We had thirteen witnesses testify at that hearing, including four sitting Members of Congress and one former Member, and every single one of them said that the key to getting girls away from traffickers and other predators is providing safe housing with comprehensive services.  Jennie is exactly on target in her approach.

“I am convinced that with Jennie’s boundless energy combined with her passion to rescue girls who are victims of sex traffickers, we will soon see her vision for Courage House come to fruition.  It has been a privilege to work with Jennie on this issue.  Earlier this year, she helped my office put together a series of forums on human trafficking in Rancho Cordova during which we informed the community as to the extent of this problem in our region.  I am pleased to report that we now have a regional law enforcement task force headed up by Chief Sensley working on deterrence and prevention.  But in our efforts to deal with traffickers and sexual predators, we cannot forget the victims.  That is where Jennie’s work is so valuable.  She always reminds us that the crime of trafficking leaves real victims in its wake and that we have a responsibility to protect them, to rescue them, and to help them heal. “

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Congressman Dan Lungren serves as Ranking Member on the House Administration Committee in addition to serving on the Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees