The act authorizes $94.5 million over the next two years for enforcement. In addition, a provision of the measure reauthorizes the Violence Against Women Act for five years. President Clinton, a vocal supporter of that provision, is expected to sign the bill into law in the next few weeks.

According to Ann Jordan, a lawyer with the International Human Rights Law Group -- a human rights organization in Washington -- a confluence of factors helped the issue reach critical mass.

"There's been a recognition of trafficking as a crime by both the Department of Justice and the State Department," says Jordan. "The Department of Justice has been pushing for improvements in the law because they've been prosecuting these cases. And the State Department, aware of the international implications and the involvement of organized crime, commissioned a report [from] the CIA on the matter."

The 1999 CIA report has been a wake-up call for many. But knowledge of the trafficking problem was growing even before the report. Sen. Wellstone, for instance, told the Senate during his floor statement on the legislation on Wednesday that his wife Sheila urged him to do something on this matter several years ago. As early as three years ago he submitted a resolution in the Senate regarding the matter.

Wellstone informed his colleagues that both Jewish and evangelical groups supported the bill. "Something important is in the air when such a broad coalition of people including Bill Bennett, Gloria Steinem, Rabbi David Sapperstein, Ann Jordan and [Prison Fellowship Ministries founder] Chuck Colson work together on the passage of legislation," he said.

The bill will offer protection to domestic workers as well as the more visible victims -- the thousands of sex slaves in America's major cities. Just flip to the back of any alternative weekly paper in the country, and ads for "Soothing Oriental Massage" or "Russian Models Offer Full Release" leap out at you. Often they include silhouettes of nude female bodies, in case you somehow missed the point.

According to anti-slavery activists and government agencies, the foreign women who staff such enterprises are often the victims of organized crime groups who recruit them under false pretenses, bring them to the U.S. illegally and force them into prostitution to pay off outrageous debts.

The Los Angeles-based Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST) estimates that as many as 10,000 Asian women from countries like China, Thailand and Indonesia toil as sex workers in Southern California. The CIA believes that upwards of 50,000 women and children are trafficked to this country and coerced to work unpaid as domestic servants, factory workers and prostitutes each year. And the INS has reportedly discovered 250 brothels in 26 U.S. cities -- brothels that likely involve trafficking victims.

"This is the most comprehensive legislation which any country has ever passed regarding trafficking," says Jordan in praise of the proposed statute. "Though it could be better, it does recognize that this is a serious problem in many types of industries in the U.S. -- in restaurants and agriculture, not just in prostitution."

The legislation would provide some succor for victims of trafficking who aid law enforcement in the prosecution of their captors. Formerly, such victims were themselves subject to arrest and deportation, but now they'll be offered the opportunity to stay and work legally in the U.S. and get compensation from those who held them in bondage. Traffickers could face 20 years to life for their activities.

"The law also recognizes that the crime of servitude includes psychological torture, not just physical coercion. Traffickers tell victims that the police will be after them. They threaten them and their families with violence. These are women, and sometimes men, who are in a strange country and do not speak the native language. It's a horrendous crime," Jordan says.

Jordan says that the proposed law would have been even stronger had it not been for the objections of Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, through whose judiciary committee the law had to pass.

"It was my understanding that Sen. Hatch did not want a new law, and he had some provisions removed, including one absolutely guaranteeing that victims of trafficking will not be prosecuted for working illegally. This limited the scope of the bill. But we hope we can come back at a later date and correct this," says Jordan.

Private Life Romance, relationships, and the personal side of Table Talk