A Brief Summary of the TVPA and Each Reauthorization 2000-2019

In 2000, Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). This was the first legislation of its kind: “the purposes of this division are to combat trafficking in persons, a contemporary manifestation of slavery whose victims are predominantly women and children, to ensure just and effective punishment of traffickers, and to protect their victims” (sec. 102. (a)).

Originally, the TVPA was passed with the Violence Against Women Act of 2000, alongside other miscellaneous provisions casting protections on women who are susceptible to abuse and men, women, and children who are trafficking victims. The TVPA created resources to combat human trafficking domestically and internationally. A task force was created to implement the TVPA, alongside the creation of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, which is responsible for analyzing other countries efforts to combat trafficking and publishes a report each year. One of the most notable parts of this act is the creation of the T visa, which provides immigration relief for victims of trafficking. If granted, this allows a pathway to citizenship and eligibility to apply for green card status.

Since 2000, the TVPA has been reauthorized five times. The most recent was passed in a four-part installment in 2019. Each of these reauthorizations are dense and difficult to understand without having knowledge of the previous reauthorizations. Therefore, this document was created with the intention to provide brief summaries of each reauthorization that any person may be able to easily understand. Each reauthorization is packed with provisions aiming to protect human trafficking victims, which should be easily understood and accessible to anyone wanting to be involved in the fight against trafficking.

Read more here.

Read a compilation of all the reauthorizations in their legal format here.

Read our recent blog post about the T visa here.