NYCLU on the Survivors of Trafficking Attaining Relief Together (START) Act’s Passage in the NYS Legislature

ALBANY – Today, the New York State Senate joined the Assembly in passing the Survivors of Trafficking Attaining Relief Together (START) Act, a bill that will bring justice to survivors of sex and labor trafficking by vacating their convictions and removing barriers to relief.

In response, the New York Civil Liberties Union issued the following statement from Policy Counsel Jared Trujillo:

“It is past time to ensure that trafficking survivors are able to clear their records in New York State, bringing the barriers to employment, housing, and education that remain with a survivor for a lifetime to an end. New York must join states nationwide and empower courts to clear convictions for all offenses that were a result of being trafficked, protect survivors by ensuring that their information is kept confidential, and offer critical relief to immigrant survivors.

“Current state law only allows survivors to clear prostitution-related offenses and does not address the myriad offenses that traffickers compel labor-trafficking and sex-trafficking survivors to commit. Now is the time for START Act to become law, and Governor Cuomo must sign this legislation without delay.”