Sen. James Lankford Co-Sponsors Legislation Combating Human Trafficking Operations Through Social Media

Bipartisan legislation to hobble human trafficking and smuggling operations at the U.S.-Mexico border through more responsible oversight by social media companies is gaining traction in the United States Senate.

Oklahoma Senator James Lankford (R-OK) and Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) co-sponsored the Combating Cartels on Social Media Act because they say it's become clear that social media companies are currently part of the problem but need to be part of the solution.

"They know who’s actually buying the ad," said Sen. Lankford in an interview Wednesday, "they know what it is actually for and what it’s facilitating."

Lankford says the powerful drug cartels are posting recruitment material -- advertisements -- on TikTok and other social media platforms.

"And they literally offer $5,000 cash to teenagers that are willing to drive and smuggle individuals from the border up into the interior of the country," Lankford stated.

At a Homeland Security Border Management Subcommittee hearing in April, the mayor of Sierra Vista, AZ, a border town south of Tucson, testified that there had been two such incidents just the day before the hearing.

"I haven't seen the numbers for today," said Mayor Clea McCaa, "but It's every day this is happening."

Lankford asked the mayor what he was hoping Congress to do to put a dent in the cartels' operation.

"Attracting these young people on the social media platform is their main--it's how they're doing it," said McCaa. "We need...we need to shut it down, basically."

And that's what Lankford and Sinema are now hoping to do.

Their legislation would implement a national strategy for law enforcement to combat illicit online recruitment by cartels and would require that the Department of Homeland Security set up a process for technology companies to voluntarily report cartel recruitment efforts.

"So, for us, this is not a matter of shutting down social media," explained Lankford, "but it’s holding social media to account for their own terms of service and also engaging DHS to say what are you going to do with counter-messaging to stop this facilitation."

The legislation passed out of committee last week.