An appeal "to work together to put an end to the practice of human being trafficking": it was made "to the government, the general public and the Catholic Church" by United States bishops, through a note signed by the bishop of San Bernardino (California), Gerald R. Barnes, who is also president of the US Episcopal Committee on Migrations. By calling the trafficking of human beings a "horrible crime against fundamental human dignity and the people’s rights", the bishop, in the name of his brothers, asked the Congress to validate the Trafficking Victim Protection Act (TVPA), expiring in October. "This law should be validated again. It should be adequately financed and massively applied". Moreover, in the note, Barnes asked the government for "measures for hospitalizing and treating victims", the children, above all, "the most vulnerable, suffering from the horrors of this crime in the long run". Furthermore, the bishop recalled that the Catholic Church "plays a key role in educating Catholics and the others to fight this crime". Therefore, here is the conclusion of the note: "We must work together the Church, the State and the community to eliminate the radical causes and the markets allowing the development of human being trafficking", and "to make it vanish off the face of the earth forever, and as soon as possible".
