II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4478 

To amend the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 to ensure adequate 

time for the preparation of the annual Trafficking in Persons Report 

and to require the timely provision of information to the Office to 

Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons and the Bureau of Diplomatic Security of the Department of State regarding the number and 

location of visa denials based on grounds related to human trafficking. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 6, 2020 

Mr. BLUMENTHAL (for himself and Mr. HAWLEY) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To amend the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 

to ensure adequate time for the preparation of the annual Trafficking in Persons Report and to require the 

timely provision of information to the Office to Monitor 

and Combat Trafficking in Persons and the Bureau of 

Diplomatic Security of the Department of State regarding the number and location of visa denials based on 

grounds related to human trafficking. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLES. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Leveraging Informa3 tion on Foreign Traffickers Act’’ or the ‘‘LIFT Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

5 It is the sense of Congress that— 

6 (1) the annual Trafficking In Persons Report 

7 prepared by the Department of State pursuant to 

8 the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (the 

9 ‘‘TIP Report’’) remains one of the most comprehen10 sive, timely, and important sources of information on 

11 human trafficking in the world, and currently in12 cludes 187 individual country narratives; 

13 (2) in January 2019, the statute mandating the 

14 TIP Report was amended to require that each report 

15 must cover efforts and activities occurring within the 

16 period from April 1 of the prior year through March 

17 31 of the current year, which necessarily requires 

18 the collection and transmission of information after 

19 March 31; 

20 (3) ensuring that the Department of State has 

21 adequate time to receive, analyze, and incorporate 

22 trafficking-related information into its annual Traf23 ficking In Persons Report is important to the quality 

24 and comprehensiveness of that report; 

25 (4) information regarding prevalence and pat26 terns of human trafficking is important for underVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:07 Aug 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4478.IS S4478

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1 standing the scourge of modern slavery and making 

2 effective decisions about where and how to combat 

3 it; and 

4 (5) United States officials responsible for moni5 toring and combating trafficking in persons around 

6 the world should receive available information re7 garding where and how often United States diplo8 matic and consular officials encounter persons who 

9 are responsible for, or who knowingly benefit from, 

10 severe forms of trafficking in persons. 

11 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

12 In this Act: 

13 (1) LOCATIONS OF UNITED STATES VISA DENI14 ALS.—The term ‘‘location of United States visa de15 nials’’ means— 

16 (A) the United States diplomatic or con17 sular post at which a denied United States visa 

18 application was adjudicated; and 

19 (B) the city or locality of residence of the 

20 applicant whose visa application was so denied. 

21 (2) RELEVANT CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT22 TEES.—The term ‘‘relevant congressional commit23 tees’’ means— 

24 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations of 

25 the Senate; 


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1 (B) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 

2 Senate; 

3 (C) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 

4 the House of Representatives; and 

5 (D) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 

6 House of Representatives. 

7 SEC. 4. ANNUAL DEADLINE FOR TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS 

8 REPORT. 

9 Section 110(b)(1) of the Trafficking Victims Protec10 tion Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7107(b)(1)) is amended by 

11 striking ‘‘June 1’’ and inserting ‘‘June 30’’. 

12 SEC. 5. UNITED STATES ADVISORY COUNCIL ON HUMAN 

13 TRAFFICKING. 

14 (a) EXTENSION.—Section 115(h) of the Justice for 

15 Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015 (Public Law 114–22; 

16 129 Stat. 243) is amended by striking ‘‘September 30, 

17 2021’’ and inserting ‘‘September 30, 2025’’. 

18 (b) COMPENSATION.—Section 115(f) of such Act is 

19 amended— 

20 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

21 end; 

22 (2) in paragraph (2), by striking the period at 

23 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

24 (3) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(3) may each receive compensation for each 

2 day such member is engaged in the actual perform3 ance of the duties of the Council.’’. 

4 (c) COMPENSATION REPORT.—Not later than 120 

5 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec6 retary of State shall submit a plan to the relevant congres7 sional committees for implementing compensation for 

8 members of the United States Advisory Council on Human 

9 Trafficking pursuant to section 115(f)(3) of the Justice 

10 for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015, as added by sub11 section (b)(3). 

12 SEC. 6. TIMELY PROVISION OF INFORMATION TO THE OF13 FICE TO MONITOR AND COMBAT TRAF14 FICKING IN PERSONS OF THE DEPARTMENT 

15 OF STATE. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 106 of the Trafficking 

17 Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7104) is 

18 amended by adding at the end the following: 

19 ‘‘(l) INFORMATION REGARDING HUMAN TRAF20 FICKING-RELATED VISA DENIALS.— 

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State 

22 shall ensure that the Office to Monitor and Combat 

23 Trafficking in Persons and the Bureau of Diplo24 matic Security of the Department of State receive 

25 timely and regular information regarding United 


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1 States visa denials based, in whole or in part, on 

2 grounds related to human trafficking. 

3 ‘‘(2) DECISIONS REGARDING ALLOCATION.— 

4 The Secretary of State shall ensure that decisions 

5 regarding the allocation of resources of the Depart6 ment of State related to combating human traf7 ficking and to law enforcement presence at United 

8 States diplomatic and consular posts appropriately 

9 take into account— 

10 ‘‘(A) the information described in para11 graph (1); and 

12 ‘‘(B) the information included in the most 

13 recent report submitted in accordance with sec14 tion 110(b).’’. 

15 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 103 of 

16 such Act (22 U.S.C. 7102) is amended by adding at the 

17 end the following: 

18 ‘‘(18) GROUNDS RELATED TO HUMAN TRAF19 FICKING.—The term ‘grounds related to human traf20 ficking’ means grounds related to the criteria for in21 admissibility to the United States described in sec22 tion 212(a)(2)(H) of the Immigration and Nation23 ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(2)(H)).’’. 


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1 SEC. 7. REPORTS TO CONGRESS. 

2 (a) INITIAL REPORT.—Not later than 90 days after 

3 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 

4 State shall submit a report to the relevant congressional 

5 committees that— 

6 (1) describes the actions that have been taken 

7 and that are planned to implement section 106(l) of 

8 the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, as 

9 added by section 6(a); and 

10 (2) identifies by country and by United States 

11 diplomatic and consular post the number of visa ap12 plications denied during the previous calendar year 

13 with respect to which the basis for such denial, in14 cluded grounds related to human trafficking (as de15 fined in section 103 of the Trafficking Victims Pro16 tection Act of 2000, as amended by section 6(b)). 

17 (b) ANNUAL REPORT.—Beginning with the first an18 nual anti-trafficking report required under section 

19 110(b)(1) of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 

20 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7107(b)(1)) that is submitted after the 

21 date of the enactment of this Act, and concurrent with 

22 each such subsequent submission for the following 7 years, 

23 the Secretary of State shall submit a report to the relevant 

24 congressional committees that contains information relat25 ing to the number and the locations of United States visa 

26 denials based, in whole or in part, on grounds related to 


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1 human trafficking (as defined in section 103 of the Traf2 ficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, as amended by 

3 section 6(b)) during the period covered by each such re4 port. 

Æ 


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