22 U.S.C. § 7102 (FOREIGN RELATIONS AND INTERCOURSE)
§ 7102. Definitions
In this chapter:
(1) Abuse or threatened abuse of law or legal process
The term “abuse or threatened abuse of the legal process” means the use or threatened use of a law or legal process, whether administrative, civil, or criminal, in any manner or for any purpose for which the law was not designed, in order to exert pressure on another person to cause that person to take some action or refrain from taking some action.
(2) Appropriate congressional committees
The term “appropriate congressional committees” means the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives.
(3) Coercion
The term “coercion” means—
(A) threats of serious harm to or physical restraint against any person;
(B) any scheme, plan, or pattern intended to cause a person to believe that failure to perform an act would result in serious harm to or physical restraint against any person; or
(C) the abuse or threatened abuse of the legal process.
(4) Commercial sex act
The term “commercial sex act” means any sex act on account of which anything of value is given to or received by any person.
(5) Concrete actions
The term “concrete actions” means actions that demonstrate increased efforts by the government of a country to meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, including any of the following:
(A) Enforcement actions taken.
(B) Investigations actively underway.
(C) Prosecutions conducted.
(D) Convictions attained.
(E) Training provided.
(F) Programs and partnerships actively underway.
(G) Efforts to prevent severe forms of trafficking, including programs to reduce the vulnerability of particularly vulnerable populations, involving survivors of trafficking in community engagement and policy making, engagement with foreign migrants, ending recruitment fees, and other such measures.
(H) Victim services offered, including immigration services and restitution.
(I) The amount of money the government has committed to the actions described in subparagraphs (A) through (H).
(6) Credible information
The term “credible information” includes all of the following:
(A) Reports by the Department of State.
(B) Reports of other Federal agencies, including the Department of Labor’s List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor and List of Products Produced by Forced Labor or Indentured Child Labor.
(C) Documentation provided by a foreign country, including—
(i) copies of relevant laws, regulations, and policies adopted or modified; and
(ii) an official record of enforcement actions taken, judicial proceedings, training conducted, consultations conducted, programs and partnerships launched, and services provided.
(D) Materials developed by civil society organizations.
(E) Information from survivors of human trafficking, vulnerable persons, and whistleblowers.
(F) All relevant media and academic reports that, in light of reason and common sense, are worthy of belief.
(G) Information developed by multilateral institutions.
(H) An assessment of the impact of the actions described in subparagraphs (A) through (I) of paragraph (5) on the prevalence of human trafficking in the country.
(7) Debt bondage
The term “debt bondage” means the status or condition of a debtor arising from a pledge by the debtor of his or her personal services or of those of a person under his or her control as a security for debt, if the value of those services as reasonably assessed is not applied toward the liquidation of the debt or the length and nature of those services are not respectively limited and defined.
(8) Involuntary servitude
The term “involuntary servitude” includes a condition of servitude induced by means of—
(A) any scheme, plan, or pattern intended to cause a person to believe that, if the person did not enter into or continue in such condition, that person or another person would suffer serious harm or physical restraint; or
(B) the abuse or threatened abuse of the legal process.
(9) Minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking
The term “minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking” means the standards set forth in section 7106 of this title.
(10) Nonhumanitarian, nontrade-related foreign assistance
The term “nonhumanitarian, nontrade-related foreign assistance” means—
(A) any assistance under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 [22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.], other than—
(i) assistance under chapter 4 of part II of that Act [22 U.S.C. 2346 et seq.] in support of programs of nongovernmental organizations that is made available for any program, project, or activity eligible for assistance under chapter 1 of part I of that Act [22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.];
(ii) assistance under chapter 8 of part I of that Act [22 U.S.C. 2291 et seq.];
(iii) any other narcotics-related assistance under part I of that Act [22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.] or under chapter 4 or 5 1 part II of that Act [22 U.S.C. 2346 et seq., 2347 et seq.], but any such assistance provided under this clause shall be subject to the prior notification procedures applicable to reprogrammings pursuant to section 634A of that Act [22 U.S.C. 2394–1];
(iv) disaster relief assistance, including any assistance under chapter 9 of part I of that Act [22 U.S.C. 2292 et seq.];
(v) antiterrorism assistance under chapter 8 of part II of that Act [22 U.S.C. 2349aa et seq.];
(vi) assistance for refugees;
(vii) humanitarian and other development assistance in support of programs of nongovernmental organizations under chapters 1 and 10 2 of that Act;
(viii) any support under subchapter II of chapter 103 of this title relating to the United States International Development Finance Corporation;
(ix) other programs involving trade-related or humanitarian assistance; and
(B) sales, or financing on any terms, under the Arms Export Control Act [22 U.S.C. 2751 et seq.], other than sales or financing provided for narcotics-related purposes following notification in accordance with the prior notification procedures applicable to reprogrammings pursuant to section 634A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 [22 U.S.C. 2394–1].
(11) Severe forms of trafficking in persons
The term “severe forms of trafficking in persons” means—
(A) sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age; or
(B) the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.
(12) Sex trafficking
The term “sex trafficking” means the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, obtaining, patronizing, or soliciting of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act.
(13) State
The term “State” means each of the several States of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and territories and possessions of the United States.
(14) Task Force
The term “Task Force” means the Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking established under section 7103 of this title.
(15) United States
The term “United States” means the fifty States of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the territories and possessions of the United States.
(16) Victim of a severe form of trafficking
The term “victim of a severe form of trafficking” means a person subject to an act or practice described in paragraph (11).
(17) Victim of trafficking
The term “victim of trafficking” means a person subjected to an act or practice described in paragraph (11) or (12).
(18) Grounds related to human trafficking
The term “grounds related to human trafficking” means grounds related to the criteria for inadmissibility to the United States described in subsection (a)(2)(H) of section 1182 of title 8.
(Pub. L. 106–386, div. A, § 103, Oct. 28, 2000, 114 Stat. 1469; Pub. L. 108–193, § 8(b)(1), Dec. 19, 2003, 117 Stat. 2887; Pub. L. 110–457, title III, § 304(a), Dec. 23, 2008, 122 Stat. 5087; Pub. L. 113–4, title XII, § 1212(b)(1), Mar. 7, 2013, 127 Stat. 143; Pub. L. 114–22, title I, § 108(b), May 29, 2015, 129 Stat. 239; Pub. L. 115–254, div. F, title VI, § 1470(p), Oct. 5, 2018, 132 Stat. 3518; Pub. L. 115–427, § 2, Jan. 9, 2019, 132 Stat. 5503; Pub. L. 116–283, div. A, title XII, § 1299R(d)(2), Jan. 1, 2021, 134 Stat. 4028; Pub. L. 119–73, § 7, Jan. 23, 2026, 139 Stat. 2009.)
heading: Editorial Notes
heading: References in Text
text: This chapter, referred to in text, was in the original “this division”, meaning division A of Pub. L. 106–386, Oct. 28, 2000, 114 Stat. 1466, known as the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of division A to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 7101 of this title and Tables.
The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, referred to in par. (10)(A), is Pub. L. 87–195, Sept. 4, 1961, 75 Stat. 424, which is classified principally to chapter 32 (§ 2151 et seq.) of this title. Part I of the Act is classified generally to subchapter I (§ 2151 et seq.) of chapter 32 of this title. Chapters 1, 8, and 9 of part I of the Act are classified generally to parts I (§ 2151 et seq.), VIII (§ 2291 et seq.), and IX (§ 2292 et seq.), respectively, of subchapter I of chapter 32 of this title. Title IV of chapter 2 of part I of the Act was classified generally to subpart iv (§ 2191 et seq.) of part II of subchapter I of chapter 32 of this title, and was repealed, except for subsections (g), (l), (m), and (n) of section 2197 of this title, by Pub. L. 115–254, div. F, title VI, § 1464(2), Oct. 5, 2018, 132 Stat. 3513, effective at the end of the transition period, as defined in section 9681 of this title. Chapters 4, 5, and 8 of part II of the Act are classified generally to part IV (§ 2346 et seq.), part V (§ 2347 et seq.), and part VIII (§ 2349aa et seq.), respectively, of subchapter II of chapter 32 of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 2151 of this title and Tables.
Chapters 1 and 10 of that Act, referred to in par. (10)(A)(vii), probably means chapters 1 and 10 of part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, which are classified generally to parts I (§ 2151 et seq.) and X (§ 2293 et seq.), respectively, of subchapter I of chapter 32 of this title. For complete classification of these chapters to the Code, see Tables.
The Arms Export Control Act, referred to in par. (10)(B), is Pub. L. 90–629, Oct. 22, 1968, 82 Stat. 1320, which is classified principally to chapter 39 (§ 2751 et seq.) of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 2751 of this title and Tables.
heading: Amendments
text: 2026—Par. (16). Pub. L. 119–73, § 7(1), substituted “paragraph (11)” for “paragraph (9)”.
Par. (17). Pub. L. 119–73, § 7(2), substituted “paragraph (11) or (12)” for “paragraph (9) or (10)”.
2021—Par. (18). Pub. L. 116–283 added par. (18).
2019—Pars. (5) to (17). Pub. L. 115–427 added pars. (5) and (6) and redesignated former pars. (5) to (15) as (7) to (17), respectively.
2018—Par. (8)(A)(viii). Pub. L. 115–254 amended cl. (viii) generally. Prior to amendment, cl. (viii) read as follows: “programs under title IV of chapter 2 of part I of that Act, relating to the Overseas Private Investment Corporation; and”.
2015—Par. (10). Pub. L. 114–22 substituted “obtaining, patronizing, or soliciting” for “or obtaining”.
2013—Pub. L. 113–4 added par. (1), redesignated former pars. (1) to (14) as (2) to (15), respectively, and substituted “paragraph (9)” for “paragraph (8)” in par. (14) and “paragraph (9) or (10)” for “paragraph (8) or (9)” in par. (15).
2008—Par. (1). Pub. L. 110–457 substituted “Committee on Foreign Affairs” for “Committee on International Relations”.
2003—Par. (7)(A)(i). Pub. L. 108–193 inserted “in support of programs of nongovernmental organizations” before “that is made available”.
heading: Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
heading: Effective Date of 2018 Amendment
text: Amendment by Pub. L. 115–254 effective at the end of the transition period, as defined in section 9681 of this title, see section 1470(w) of Pub. L. 115–254, set out as a note under section 905 of Title 2, The Congress.