The Obama administration is weeks away from escalating the war on human trafficking, reports the Kansas City Star. “In January we are going to be announcing a major set of initiatives,” Janet Napolitano, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, told the newspaper, which this week is publishing the results of a six-month investigation exposing failures in the U.S. anti-trafficking battle.
Advocates and other experts are cautiously optimistic that this is the best chance in years to address many problems. They're hopeful that the administration, which has reached out to them and asked what changes are needed, will correct structural flaws in the broken system. Some say it is time to centralize an anti-trafficking effort that is thinly spread across a vast bureaucracy plagued by inter-agency wrangling and a lack of coordination. Others advocate a top-to-bottom overhaul of ineffective immigration policies that infuriate those on both sides of the debate.