Republican Senator Chuck Grassley (Iowa) praised the Trump administration for overhauling the National Human Trafficking Hotline after a whistleblower came forward to him about the previous contractor’s mismanagement.
National Review first reported on whistleblower disclosures to Grassley in May alleging Polaris Project, the contractor running the human trafficking hotline, failed to report complaints to law enforcement.
The whistleblower disclosed to Grassley specific instances where Polaris’s system led to situations where credible tips were not reported to law enforcement. Empower Oversight, the legal group representing the whistleblower, told Grassley that the person made disclosures internally and to government offices including the HHS inspector general. The whistleblower was put on leave around the time they came forward.
Speaking on the Senate floor Wednesday, Grassley referenced the whistleblower disclosures and subsequent data from the Department of Health and Human Services backing it up.
“However, there’s one topic that we should all agree on, and that is the effectiveness of the National Human Trafficking Hotline. Recently, the Department of Health and Human Services announced they’ve awarded the contract to run the hotline to a new contractor. Very good news!” Grassley said.
“An audit of 294 cases was carried out. According to HHS, of the 294 cases, four trafficking cases weren’t correctly reported because of a clerical error. In 24 trafficking cases, staff managing the hotline didn’t follow reporting protocol. That’s a nearly 10 percent failure rate in a sample of 294 cases,” he added.
Grassley promised to continue conducting oversight of the human trafficking hotline even with the new contractor.
HHS announced last month its decision to award a new company $35 million in federal dollars to manage the human trafficking hotline for at least the next five years. The Administration for Children and Families within HHS will be giving the funds to Compass Connections to run the hotline, replacing Polaris.
Before the whistleblower disclosure, dozens of attorneys general sounded the alarm about Polaris’s alleged mismanagement in a bipartisan letter to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In 2023, the AGs issued a similar warning to congressional leaders about the hotline’s failures during the Biden administration.
The human trafficking hotline is a 24/7 resource for victims to find life-saving assistance and rebuild their lives. It has identified more than 115,000 potential human trafficking situations since 2007 and assisted thousands of victims with gaining access to vital resources.
ACF developed a 90-day transition plan for Polaris to hand over control of the human trafficking hotline to Compass Connections. As part of its new grant, Compass Connections will be required to create a plan for engaging with law enforcement and standardizing the tip sharing process across federal, state, and local jurisdictions. After receiving feedback, ACF is ensuring the hotline will prioritize tips from those facing immediate danger, individuals actively experiencing trafficking, and minors at risk of negligence or abuse.
ACF’s new grant increases the hotline’s annual funding by $1 million to $7 million annually. Its goal with the new program is to improve the hotline’s response capabilities and increase coordination with survivor advocates, law enforcement, child welfare agencies, and service providers.
When announcing the new hotline, ACF acknowledged that it “received and verified” feedback about the hotline’s operations under Polaris. As NR previously reported, an HHS official said Polaris’s failures were taken into consideration during the grant process, which included independent, third-party paneling.