WASHINGTON – Following whistleblower protected disclosures regarding the National Human Trafficking Hotline, Empower Oversight is pressing the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to extend the contract deadline for applications to operate the hotline.
The current contractor, Polaris, is the subject of numerous disconcerting allegations by state attorneys general and a whistleblower revealing deep and systemic problems with the organization’s administration of the hotline. Polaris has received millions of dollars in federal funding since 2007 to run the program.
“HSS must assure that it moves forward with the grant process free of any conflicts of interest to ensure program integrity and to see that the best qualified applicant receives the grant going forward. HSS’ administration of the hotline grant is critical to helping local and federal law enforcement to combat the scourge of human trafficking. In your position as Secretary we ask that you make ensuring that the hotline is well run to meet its statutory objectives one of your top priorities,” Empower Oversight President Tristan Leavitt wrote to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley recently wrote to Kennedy highlighting protected disclosures made to Congress by a whistleblower represented by Empower Oversight. The whistleblower’s disclosures identified specific tips made to Polaris through the Human Trafficking Hotline that demonstrated high indicators for trafficking—including of minors—but were not followed up on or shared with law enforcement. The whistleblower’s disclosures corroborate concerns a bipartisan group of state attorneys general wrote to HHS about in 2023 and 2025, expressing dismay that Polaris was not reporting to local law enforcement certain tips received through the Human Trafficking Hotline.
Empower Oversight’s letter also asked for Kennedy to scrutinize the involvement of Katherine Chon, Polaris’s co-founder and the current director of the Office of Trafficking In Persons, in the awarding of the contract.
For a copy of Empower Oversight’s letter to Kennedy, click here.