I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 53 

To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop a database that 

shall serve as a central location for information from investigations 

relating to human trafficking for Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 3, 2017 

Ms. JACKSON LEE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop 

a database that shall serve as a central location for 

information from investigations relating to human trafficking for Federal, State, and local law enforcement 

agencies. 

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 ‘‘Coordinated Assistance 

5 To Catch Human Traffickers Act of 2017’’ or the 

6 ‘‘CATCH Traffickers Act of 2017’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) The scourge of human trafficking persists 

4 and manifests itself in the modern era, whether 

5 termed modern-day slavery, forced labor, involuntary 

6 domestic servitude, sex trafficking, child sex traf7 ficking, bonded labor, forced child labor, or debt 

8 bondage among migrant laborers. 

9 (2) According to the 2013 Trafficking in Per10 sons (TIP) Report of the United States Department 

11 of State, each year an estimated 14,500 to 17,500 

12 foreign nationals are trafficked into the United 

13 States, with the largest number of people trafficked 

14 into the United States coming from East Asia and 

15 the Pacific, and the next highest numbers coming 

16 from Latin America, Europe, and Eurasia. 

17 (3) The majority of victims of modern-day slav18 ery are women and children because traffickers prey 

19 on those who suffer most from gender discrimina20 tion, family violence, and a lack of access to edu21 cation and economic opportunity. 

22 (4) Human trafficking is one of the fastest 

23 growing criminal enterprises in the 21st century, 

24 generating profits for traffickers in excess of 

25 $30,000,000,000, according to the International 


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1 Labor Organization, ranking with drug smuggling 

2 and arms dealing in organized crime activities. 

3 (5) There remains a stark disparity between the 

4 large global problem of trafficking in persons and 

5 the low numbers of prosecutions and convictions of 

6 forced labor trafficking crimes, which accounted for 

7 less than 3 percent of all convictions worldwide as 

8 recently as 2009. 

9 SEC. 3. NATIONAL DATABASE FOR HUMAN TRAFFICKING 

10 INVESTIGATIONS. 

11 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Homeland 

12 Security (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall 

13 establish and maintain a database that shall serve as a 

14 central location for information from investigations relat15 ing to human trafficking for Federal, State, and local law 

16 enforcement agencies. 

17 (b) CONTRIBUTION OF INFORMATION.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—The head of a Federal, 

19 State, or local law enforcement agency conducting 

20 an investigation related to human trafficking shall 

21 ensure that such information relating to that inves22 tigation as the Secretary determines appropriate is 

23 entered into the database established pursuant to 

24 subsection (a). 


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1 (2) STATE AND LOCAL INCENTIVE.—In the case 

2 of a State or unit of local government that received 

3 a grant award under subpart 1 of part E of title I 

4 of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act 

5 of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3750 et seq.), the law enforce6 ment agency of which does not substantially comply 

7 with the requirement under paragraph (1), the At8 torney General shall reduce the amount that would 

9 otherwise be awarded to that State or unit of local 

10 government under such grant program by 20 per11 cent. 

12 (c) ACCESS TO DATABASE.—Federal, State, and local 

13 law enforcement agencies may only access the database 

14 established pursuant to subsection (a) in connection with 

15 an investigation related to human trafficking. 

16 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

17 authorized to be appropriated $20,000,000 for fiscal year 

18 2018 to carry out this Act. 

Æ 


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