I 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6736 

To establish a Department of Homeland Security Center for Countering 

Human Trafficking, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 15, 2022 

Mr. KATKO (for himself, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. GUEST, Mr. 

TORRES of New York, Mr. MEIJER, Mr. CORREA, Mr. HIGGINS of Louisiana, Ms. BARRAGA ́N, Mrs. CAMMACK, Mrs. DEMINGS, Mr. GIMENEZ, 

Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. GARBARINO, Ms. CLARKE of New York, 

Mr. PFLUGER, and Ms. SLOTKIN) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Homeland Security, and Ways and Means, for a period to be 

subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 

of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

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 2022’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

2 It is the sense of Congress that— 

3 (1) the victim-centered approach must become 

4 universally understood, adopted, and practiced; 

5 (2) criminal justice efforts must increase the 

6 focus on, and adeptness at, investigating and pros7 ecuting forced labor cases; 

8 (3) corporations must eradicate forced labor 

9 from their supply chains; 

10 (4) the Department of Homeland Security must 

11 lead by example— 

12 (A) by ensuring that its government supply 

13 chain of contracts and procurement are not 

14 tainted by forced labor; and 

15 (B) by leveraging all of its authorities 

16 against the importation of goods produced with 

17 forced labor; and 

18 (5) human trafficking training, awareness, iden19 tification, and screening efforts— 

20 (A) are a necessary first step for preven21 tion, protection, and enforcement; and 

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

23 effective. 

24 SEC. 3. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER 

25 FOR COUNTERING HUMAN TRAFFICKING. 

26 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 


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

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

3 Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Inves4 tigations, the Center for Countering Human Traf5 ficking (referred to in this Act as ‘‘CCHT’’). 

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

7 to serve at the forefront of the Department of 

8 Homeland Security’s unified global efforts to 

9 counter human trafficking through law enforcement 

10 operations and victim protection, prevention, and 

11 awareness programs. 

12 (3) ADMINISTRATION.—Homeland Security In13 vestigations shall— 

14 (A) maintain a concept of operations that 

15 identifies CCHT participants, funding, core 

16 functions, and personnel; and 

17 (B) update such concept of operations, as 

18 needed, to accommodate its mission and the 

19 threats to such mission. 

20 (4) PERSONNEL.— 

21 (A) DIRECTOR.—The Secretary of Home22 land Security shall appoint a CCHT Director, 

23 who shall— 

24 (i) be a member of the Senior Execu25 tive Service; and 


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1 (ii) serve as the Department of Home2 land Security’s representative on human 

3 trafficking. 

4 (B) MINIMUM CORE PERSONNEL REQUIRE5 MENTS.—Subject to appropriations, the Sec6 retary of Homeland Security shall ensure that 

7 CCHT is staffed with at least 45 employees in 

8 order to maintain continuity of effort, subject 

9 matter expertise, and necessary support to the 

10 Department of Homeland Security, including— 

11 (i) employees who are responsible for 

12 the Continued Presence Program and 

13 other victim protection duties; 

14 (ii) employees who are responsible for 

15 training, including curriculum develop16 ment, and public awareness and education; 

17 (iii) employees who are responsible for 

18 stakeholder engagement, Federal inter19 agency coordination, multilateral partner20 ships, and policy; 

21 (iv) employees who are responsible for 

22 public relations, human resources, evalua23 tion, data analysis and reporting, and in24 formation technology; 


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1 (v) special agents and criminal ana2 lysts necessary to accomplish its mission of 

3 combating human trafficking and the im4 portation of goods produced with forced 

5 labor; and 

6 (vi) managers. 

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

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

9 at a minimum— 

10 (1) support criminal investigations of human 

11 trafficking (including sex trafficking and forced 

12 labor)— 

13 (A) by developing, tracking, and coordi14 nating leads; and 

15 (B) by providing subject matter expertise; 

16 (2) augment the enforcement of the prohibition 

17 on the importation of goods produced with forced 

18 labor through civil and criminal authorities; 

19 (3) coordinate a Department-wide effort to con20 duct procurement audits and enforcement actions, 

21 including suspension and debarment, in order to 

22 mitigate the risk of human trafficking throughout 

23 Department acquisitions and contracts; and 

24 (4) support all CCHT enforcement efforts with 

25 intelligence by conducting lead development, lead 


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1 validation, case support, strategic analysis, and data 

2 analytics. 

3 (c) PROTECTION AND AWARENESS PROGRAMS

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

5 a Protection and Awareness Programs Unit, which shall— 

6 (1) incorporate a victim-centered approach 

7 throughout Department of Homeland Security poli8 cies, training, and practices; 

9 (2) operate a comprehensive Continued Pres10 ence program; 

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

12 of Homeland Security human trafficking training, 

13 screening, and identification tools and efforts; 

14 (4) operate the Blue Campaign’s nationwide 

15 public awareness effort and any other awareness ef16 forts needed to encourage victim identification and 

17 reporting to law enforcement and to prevent human 

18 trafficking; and 

19 (5) coordinate external engagement, including 

20 training and events, regarding human trafficking 

21 with critical partners, including survivors, non22 governmental organizations, corporations, multilat23 eral entities, law enforcement agencies, and other in24 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 4(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. TRANSFER OF OTHER FUNCTIONS RELATED TO 

21 HUMAN TRAFFICKING. 

22 (a) BLUE CAMPAIGN.—The functions and resources 

23 of the Blue Campaign located within the Office of Part24 nership and Engagement on the day before the date of 


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1 the enactment of this Act are hereby transferred to 

2 CCHT. 

3 (b) OTHER TRANSFER.— 

4 (1) AUTHORIZATION.—Not later than 180 days 

5 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec6 retary of Homeland Security may transfer the func7 tions and resources of any component, directorate, 

8 or other office of the Department of Homeland Se9 curity related to combating human trafficking to the 

10 CCHT. 

11 (2) NOTIFICATION.—Not later than 30 days be12 fore executing any transfer authorized under para13 graph (1), the Secretary of Homeland Security shall 

14 notify the Committee on Homeland Security and 

15 Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Com16 mittee on Homeland Security of the House of Rep17 resentatives of such planned transfer. 

18 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

19 In addition to amounts otherwise authorized to be ap20 propriated, there is authorized to be appropriated to the 

21 Secretary of Homeland Security to carry out this Act 

22 $14,000,000, which shall remain available until expended. 

Æ 


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