Human trafficking group wants to add new voices to help spread message

DUBUQUE, Iowa (KCRG) - Dozens of people gathered at the Shalom Spirituality Center Saturday to listen to speakers discuss how the Tri-State Coalition Against Human Trafficking can better handle human trafficking in the Dubuque area.

“If we can stop the demand, we will be able to ebb the flow of human trafficking,” Casey Klein, a member of the coalition, said.

Klein recently joined the coalition but said she worked closely with survivors.

“One we had before my time, she was groomed as a middle school student that went on through into her high school days,” Klein said. “She was finally able, by the grace of god, to get restoration.”

The coalition has been working in the community for nine years. Co-founder, Marilou Iron said it was time to expand the message by adding voices with inside perspectives.

“We should have survivors and men who have disciplined themselves beyond sex trafficking, buying sex,” Iron said.

Iron said by learning from those voices, they hope to make lasting changes to keep victims safe and eliminate sex trafficking.

“You have to go after their pocketbooks,” Klein said. “If you’re buying and you get caught, I don’t believe in misdemeanors, make it a felony.”

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