H.R. 3887, The William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2007
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H.R. 3887 would authorize appropriations for fiscal years 2008 through 2011 for the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, and it would enhance measures to combat forced labor.
Detailed Summary
William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2007 - Amends the the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 to direct the Secretary of State (Secretary) to establish within the Department of State an Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking. (Current law authorizes such Office's establishment.)
Directs the President to: (1) carry out programs to prevent and deter trafficking in persons; and (2) implement an anti-trafficking program monitoring system.
Authorizes the President to establish the Presidential Award for Extraordinary Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons.
Sets forth consular officer responsibilities respecting anti-trafficking and related information to be given at nonimmigrant alien visa interviews.
Sets forth protections for aliens: (1) who may be trafficking victims or who may testify against traffickers (including parole entry for certain family members); and (2) work-based nonimmigrants or alien workers recruited abroad.
Sets forth provisions respecting: (1) assistance for trafficking victims, including child victims and U.S. citizens; (2) penalties for trafficking, unlawful compelled service, sex tourism, and aliens in prostitution.
Directs: (1) the Attorney General establish within the Office of the Deputy Attorney General a Coordinator to Combat Human Trafficking; and (2) the Secretary of Labor to establish within the Department of Labor a Coordinator to Combat Human Trafficking.
Directs the Secretary to develop: (1) policies and procedures to ensure that unaccompanied alien children in the United States are safely repatriated to their country of nationality or of last habitual residence; and (2) a safe repatriation pilot program for alien children.
States, with specified exceptions, that the care and custody of unaccompanied alien children in the United States shall be the responsibility of the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Sets forth related provisions and authorizations of appropriations.
Child Soldier Prevention Act of 2007 - Prohibits, with a national interest waiver, funds for specified military and related areas from being made available to the government of a country identified by the Department of State as having governmental armed forces or government supported armed groups that recruit or use child soldiers.
Authorizes the President to reinstate assistance upon certifying to Congress that a government is implementing: (1) compliance measures; and (2) mechanisms to prohibit future use of child soldiers.
Authorizes the President to provide assistance to a country for international military education and training otherwise prohibited under this Act upon certifying to Congress that such assistance is for implementation of measures to demobilize child soldiers and for programs to support professionalization of the military.
Requires a report on child soldiers in Burma.
Status of the Legislation
Latest Major Action: 12/5/2007: Referred to Senate committee. Status: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Points in Favor
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Points Against
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Visitor Comments
Paul Apollonio
April 21, 2008, 8:40pm (report abuse)By making sex tourism illegal, this bill will not protect the Americans going abroad for sex. IT WILL increase their odds of using street walkers as opposed to women who are medically supervised in houses. The result will be the Sex Tourist will be in more danger of contracting HIV from his "adventures". Now, if one contracts for a sex tour and becomes sick, there is someone on US Soil to sue. With the passage of this law, all the business will NOT dissapear, it will simply move off shore making sueing unscrupulous operators out of the reach of the law. This bill, if passed, will kill American men.
Ngoc Nguyen
July 10, 2008, 7:32pm (report abuse)Several provisions in H.R. 3887 would endanger trafficked victims.
Anti-human trafficking organizations oppose the provisions contained in H.R. 3887. These groups include the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking and the Freedom Network, two respected organizations that have fought for years for trafficked victims.
Under H.R. 3887, trafficked victims risk losing money, legal assistance, and support services. The bill negatively changes the definition of what constitutes human trafficking. It proposes changes that would overtax the U.S. Department of Justice’s crime fighting resources. It unconstitutionally federalizes sex crimes. It would impede states’ efforts to fight local sex crimes. And it mislabels all prostitutes as sex trafficked victims.
The Heritage Foundation (www.heritagefoundation.org) recently wrote a paper discussing the major problems of H.R. 3887.
I encourage the Senate to oppose the provisions of H.R. 3887 found in the Heritage.org paper.