Washington, DC -- International Justice Mission today delivered more than 5,000 “Abolition Pledge” postcards, signed by Willow Creek Community Church members, to the office of Illinois Senator Richard Durbin. The postcards urge the Senator to ask President Obama to support strong anti-trafficking and anti-slavery diplomacy and foreign policies, to provide generous funding for the U.S. Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (G/TIP), and to support U.S. trade legislation that encourages governments and producers to eliminate forced labor and child labor from exports to the U.S. IJM met with Senator Durbin’s entire foreign policy team to discuss the recommendations, which were well received.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On December 23, 2008, President George W. Bush signed the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act into law. President Bush was joined in the Oval Office by anti-trafficking leaders including IJM President and CEO Gary Haugen; Congressman Bobby Scott; Congressman Chris Smith; Attorney General Michael Mukasey; Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff; Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte; Dr. Kevin Bales, President of Free the Slaves; and Bradley Myles, Deputy Director, Polaris Project.