Sen. Richard Blumenthal was in Bridgeport Tuesday to celebrate a $900,000 federal grant from the Justice Department for the Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants.

It will be used to prevent human trafficking and help victims.

Sen. Blumenthal says this is a game changer for the institute, saying it would provide prevention education and more effective “prosecution of the low-life scourge that exploit women in sex trafficking or any kind of human trafficking, whether male or female."

He says that sex trafficking is much more prevalent than people realize in our state and country.