IN THE LAST two decades, Congress has passed a number of comprehensive bills designed to bnng the full power and attention of the federal government to the fight against human trafficking. Below are brief summaries of some of the most significant legislation in this area. Given the breadth and depth of these bills, these descriptions are not exhaustive.

THE TRAFFICKING VICTIMS PROTECTION ACT OF 2000

Modem prohibitions of human trafficking in the United States have their roots in the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which barred slavery and involuntary servitude in 1865. With the enactment of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), Pub. L. No. 106—386, in 2000, the U.S. Government was equipped with new tools and resources to mount a comprehensive and coordinated campaign to eliminate modern forms of slavery domestically and internationally.

Critically, the TVPA established the framework for the “3 P’s” of the fight against human trafficking: protection, prevention, and prosecution.

Protection: The TVPA provided increased protections for trafficking victims in the United States in several key ways:

• • By making foreign victims eligible for federally funded or administered health and other benefits and services and by requiring federal agencies to expand the provision of such benefits and services to victims, regardless of their immigration status;

• • By creating immigration protections for foreign national victims of human trafficking including protection from removal for victims of trafficking (the T visa) and victims of certain crimes (the U visa); and by allowing certain nonimmigrant status holders the opportunity to adjust to permanent resident status.

Prosecution: The TVPA sharpened and enhanced the capacity of federal prosecutors to bring human traffickers to justice for their crimes. Prior to the TVPA, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed human trafficking cases under several federal statutes related to involuntary servitude and slavery, but the criminal laws were narrow and patchwork. The TVPA addresses the inadequacy of the legal framework by:

• • Adding new criminal provisions prohibiting forced labor, trafficking with respect to peonage, slavery, involuntary servitude, or forced labor, and sex trafficking of children or by force, fraud, or coercion;

• • Criminalizing attempts to engage in these activities;

• • Mandating that traffickers pay restitution to their victims, and providing for forfeiture;

• • Strengthening penalties for existing trafficking crimes.