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State Sen. John Sabini (D-Corona) introduced legislation Monday that seeks to severely punish those who engage in human trafficking and also provide assistance to the victims of these appalling crimes.

Standing near the apartments used by the Carreto family prostitution ring with Christine Dickinson, Assistant Counsel to the New York State Senate Minority, Sabini made reference to numerous human trafficking cases that found roots in the Jackson Heights community and also pointed out that currently, New York State has no human trafficking laws.

The announcement of this bill, which Sabini has been working on for some time and which was initially introduced to the state senate on Aug. 4, comes on the heels of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials completion of a 15-month human trafficking operation that began when a couple who owned and operated a chain of brothels in Queens tried to bribe an undercover New York City Police Department detective.

Just last week, officials arrested 31 people, closed down 20 brothels in six states and freed more than 70 suspected Korean sex slaves from a large human trafficking organization.

“The size of this operation is shocking,” Sabini said. “But now that the arrests have been made, it’s time to think about what will become of the victims, the young women who were tricked and forced into slavery.”

Competing human trafficking bills that passed in the Republican Senate and Democratic Assembly this year have resulted in gridlock over the issue. Sabini’s bill combines elements of the two bills into a third. Sabini consulted with the City Bar Justice Center, which has experience working on high-profile human trafficking cases, in the drafting of this new bill.

“The victims of human trafficking are most often young women and children, forced into prostitution and drug use, subjected to violence and unspeakable acts in a foreign land far from their families,” Sabini said. “It is essential that we increase the penalties for the perpetrators of these horrific crimes, but we must also consider that the victims of these crimes often have nowhere to go and no one to turn to once they have been rescued. It is incumbent upon us to help them as they try to rebuild their lives and regain their dignity.”

Sabini also noted that victims’ services should be handled by people who know how to provide services rather than state or city run bureaucracies that most victims have no knowledge about. Some of the services needed by these victims are food stamps, money available for refugees, medical and mental health facilities, HIV/AIDS counseling, and job placement and training.

Sabini’s measure also creates new felony crimes to punish those who engage in human trafficking and promote sex tourism, as well as those who patronize trafficking victims for prostitution.

“Human trafficking is the modern equivalent of slavery,” Sabini said. “The punishment should be as severe as the crime.”