II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2991 

To establish a Department of Homeland Security Center for Countering 

Human Trafficking, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 18, 2021 

Mr. PETERS (for himself and Mr. PORTMAN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To establish a Department of Homeland Security Center 

for Countering Human Trafficking, and for other purposes. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Countering Human 

5 Trafficking Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 It is the sense of Congress that— 

8 (1) the victim-centered approach must become 

9 universally understood, adopted, and practiced; 


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1 (2) criminal justice efforts must increase the 

2 focus on, and adeptness at, investigating and pros3 ecuting forced labor cases; 

4 (3) corporations must eradicate forced labor 

5 from their supply chains; 

6 (4) the Department of Homeland Security must 

7 lead by example— 

8 (A) by ensuring that its government supply 

9 chain of contracts and procurement are not 

10 tainted by forced labor; and 

11 (B) by leveraging all of its authorities 

12 against the importation of goods produced with 

13 forced labor; and 

14 (5) human trafficking training, awareness, iden15 tification, and screening efforts— 

16 (A) are a necessary first step for preven17 tion, protection, and enforcement; and 

18 (B) should be evidence-based to be most 

19 effective. 

20 SEC. 3. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER 

21 FOR COUNTERING HUMAN TRAFFICKING. 

22 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Homeland 

24 Security shall operate, within U.S. Immigration and 

25 Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security InvesVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Oct 19, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2991.IS S2991

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1 tigations, the Center for Countering Human Traf2 ficking (referred to in this Act as ‘‘CCHT’’). 

3 (2) PURPOSE.—The purpose of CCHT shall be 

4 to serve at the forefront of the Department of 

5 Homeland Security’s unified global efforts to 

6 counter human trafficking through law enforcement 

7 operations and victim protection, prevention, and 

8 awareness programs. 

9 (3) ADMINISTRATION.—Homeland Security In10 vestigations shall— 

11 (A) maintain a concept of operations that 

12 identifies CCHT participants, funding, core 

13 functions, and personnel; and 

14 (B) update such concept of operations, as 

15 needed, to accommodate its mission and the 

16 threats to such mission. 

17 (4) PERSONNEL.— 

18 (A) DIRECTOR.—The Secretary of Home19 land Security shall appoint a CCHT Director, 

20 who shall— 

21 (i) be a member of the Senior Execu22 tive Service; and 

23 (ii) serve as the Department of Home24 land Security’s representative on human 

25 trafficking. 


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1 (B) MINIMUM CORE PERSONNEL REQUIRE2 MENTS.—Subject to appropriations, the Sec3 retary of Homeland Security shall ensure that 

4 CCHT is staffed with at least 45 employees in 

5 order to maintain continuity of effort, subject 

6 matter expertise, and necessary support to the 

7 Department of Homeland Security, including— 

8 (i) employees who are responsible for 

9 the Continued Presence Program and 

10 other victim protection duties; 

11 (ii) employees who are responsible for 

12 training, including curriculum develop13 ment; 

14 (iii) employees who are responsible for 

15 stakeholder engagement, Federal inter16 agency coordination, multilateral partner17 ships, and policy; 

18 (iv) employees who are responsible for 

19 public relations, human resources, evalua20 tion, data analysis and reporting, and in21 formation technology; 

22 (v) special agents and criminal ana23 lysts necessary to accomplish its mission of 

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1 portation of goods produced with forced 

2 labor; and 

3 (vi) managers. 

4 (b) OPERATIONS UNIT.—The CCHT Director shall 

5 operate, within CCHT, an Operations Unit, which shall, 

6 at a minimum— 

7 (1) support criminal investigations of human 

8 trafficking (including sex trafficking and forced 

9 labor)— 

10 (A) by developing, tracking, and coordi11 nating leads; and 

12 (B) by providing subject matter expertise; 

13 (2) augment the enforcement of the prohibition 

14 on the importation of goods produced with forced 

15 labor through civil and criminal authorities; 

16 (3) coordinate a Department-wide effort to con17 duct procurement audits and enforcement actions, 

18 including suspension and debarment, in order to 

19 mitigate the risk of human trafficking throughout 

20 Department acquisitions and contracts; and 

21 (4) support all CCHT enforcement efforts with 

22 intelligence by conducting lead development, lead 

23 validation, case support, strategic analysis, and data 

24 analytics. 


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1 (c) PROTECTION AND AWARENESS PROGRAMS

2 UNIT.—The CCHT Director shall operate, within CCHT, 

3 a Protection and Awareness Programs Unit, which shall— 

4 (1) incorporate a victim-centered approach 

5 throughout Department of Homeland Security poli6 cies, training, and practices; 

7 (2) operate a comprehensive Continued Pres8 ence program; 

9 (3) conduct, review, and assist with Department 

10 of Homeland Security human trafficking training, 

11 screening, and identification tools and efforts; 

12 (4) operate the Blue Campaign’s nationwide 

13 public awareness effort and any other awareness ef14 forts needed— 

15 (A) to encourage victim identification and 

16 reporting to law enforcement; and 

17 (B) to prevent human trafficking; and 

18 (5) coordinate external engagement, including 

19 training and events, regarding human trafficking 

20 with critical partners, including survivors, non21 governmental organizations, corporations, multilat22 eral entities, law enforcement agencies, and other in23 terested parties. 


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1 SEC. 4. SPECIALIZED INITIATIVES. 

2 (a) HUMAN TRAFFICKING INFORMATION MOD3 ERNIZATION INITIATIVE.—The CCHT Director, in con4 junction with the Science and Technology Directorate Of5 fice of Science and Engineering, shall develop a strategy 

6 and proposal to modify systems and processes throughout 

7 the Department of Homeland Security that are related to 

8 CCHT’s mission in order to— 

9 (1) decrease the response time to access victim 

10 protections; 

11 (2) accelerate lead development; 

12 (3) advance the identification of human traf13 ficking characteristics and trends; 

14 (4) fortify the security and protection of sen15 sitive information; 

16 (5) apply analytics to automate manual proc17 esses; and 

18 (6) provide artificial intelligence and machine 

19 learning to increase system capabilities and enhance 

20 data availability, reliability, comparability, and 

21 verifiability. 

22 (b) SUBMISSION OF PLAN.—Upon the completion of 

23 the strategy and proposal under subsection (a), the Sec24 retary of Homeland Security shall submit a summary of 

25 the strategy and plan for executing the strategy to— 


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1 (1) the Committee on Homeland Security and 

2 Governmental Affairs of the Senate; and 

3 (2) the Committee on Homeland Security of the 

4 House of Representatives. 

5 SEC. 5. REPORTS. 

6 (a) INFORMATION SHARING TO FACILITATE RE7 PORTS AND ANALYSIS.—Each subagency of the Depart8 ment of Homeland Security shall share with CCHT— 

9 (1) any information needed by CCHT to de10 velop the strategy and proposal required under sec11 tion 5(a); and 

12 (2) any additional data analysis to help CCHT 

13 better understand the issues surrounding human 

14 trafficking. 

15 (b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 1 year 

16 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the CCHT 

17 Director shall submit a report to Congress that identifies 

18 any legislation that is needed to facilitate the Department 

19 of Homeland Security’s mission to end human trafficking. 

20 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

21 In addition to amounts otherwise authorized to be ap22 propriated, there is authorized to be appropriated to the 

23 Secretary of Homeland Security to carry out this Act 

24 $14,000,000, which shall remain available until expended. 

Æ 


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