Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed four bills on May 16 continuing the state’s crackdown on human trafficking—including provisions toughening penalties, expanding public awareness outreach to halfway houses and foster homes, and extending laws to cover businesses such as hotels and strip clubs that may benefit from it.
Arrests for human trafficking, primarily of women and children, were up nationally by 50 percent last year, DeSantis said at a ceremony at Coastal Community Church in Lighthouse Point.
He tied the problem to the troubled southern border and the failed border control policies of President Joe Biden’s administration.
The mugshots of the 21 suspects arrested during a child sex trafficking operation in Arizona in September 2022. (Surprise Police Department)
The governor quoted from the most recent report of a statewide grand jury he asked the Florida Supreme Court to impanel last year….