Congressman Chris Smith is the author of the Nation’s first ever anti-human trafficking legislation, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000 (P. L. 106-386), enacted into law on Oct. 28, 2000 and which to date has led to the federal convictions of more than 2,225 human traffickers of the serious crime of force, fraud, or coercion of victims, who are mostly women and children The number of those convicted and doing serious jail time gives us just a small indication of the thousands more survivors who have been freed from the bondage and torture they endured at the hands of trafficker who have since been brought to justice.
Congressman Chris Smith as authored four additional comprehensive laws expanding and building upon the successful program both here at home and internationally. Congressman Smith has also chaired dozens of congressional hearings with expert witnesses and human trafficking survivors and authored 17 international resolutions at parliamentary forums aimed at combating the scourge of human trafficking and coordinating efforts in the United States and around the world.
Rep. Smith has written and fought for passage of five acts of Congress to fight human trafficking that have been signed into law most recently by President Trump, and previously by other presidents.
Most recently, in July 2025, Rep. Smith's The Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Act of 2025 (H. R. 1144), named in honor of Frederick Douglass, a famed abolitionist and outspoken critic of slavery, passed out of committee and was sent to the full House.
The bill reauthorizes Smith’s landmark 2002 TVPRA and was developed in close collaboration with Frederick Douglass’ great-great-great grandson, Kenneth B. Morris Jr., . This new bill was especially influenced by insights and input from survivors of trafficking.
When enacted, the bill—which passed the House with broad bipartisan support in the last two Congresses, but was blocked in the Senate—will:.
Reauthorize and strengthen anti-human trafficking programs across numerous federal agencies, including the State Department, Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, and Department of Health and Human Services;
Continue funding the Angel Watch Center, a program mandated by Smith’s International Megan’s Law (P. L. 114-119) that helps to prevent convicted child sex predators from sexually abusing and trafficking children abroad; and
Promote anti-trafficking strategies and situational awareness training for instructors and students within elementary and secondary schools.
Reporting suspected human trafficking in N.J., U.S.
To report human trafficking in New Jersey, call the NJ Office of the Attorney General NJ Human Trafficking Task Force, launched via's Smith's trafficking laws, at its toll-free hotline (855) 363-6548 (855-END-NJHT) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
To report human trafficking anywhere in the U.S., call the national human trafficking hotline, which also was created and maintained via Smith's laws, through its toll free hotline (888) 373-7888, or texting 233733, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Smith’s Laws to Combat Human Trafficking
President Trump signs Rep. Chris Smith's (R-NJ) Frederick Douglass
Trafficking Victim's Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) into law on
January 9, 2019. Congressman Smith (right)and other congressional leaders
from the House and Senate, gather in the Oval Office to see the bipartisan
bill enacted.
H.R. 4506 – “International Child Labor Relief Act of 1998” (105th Congress) H.R. 5138– “International Megan's Law of 2010” (111th Congress) H.R. 4573 – “International Megan’s Law to Prevent Demand for Child Sex Trafficking” (113th Congress) H.R. 2283 – “Human Trafficking Prioritization Act” (113th Congress) H.R. 514 – "Human Trafficking Prioritization Act" (114th Congress) H.R. 6552 – "Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention & Protection Reauthorization Act of 2022" (117th Congress) H.R. 5856 – "Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention & Protection Reauthorization Act of 2023 (118th Congress)
Resolutions/Amendments at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE-PA)
Ken Morris (right), direct descendant of abolitionist Frederick Douglass,
was invited by Rep. Smith (left) to address the 2019 OSCE-PA in
Luxembourg on educating children to avoid being victims of human
traffickers.
At any given time in 2021, an estimated 27.6 million people are in modern slavery, including at least half of them being women and children.
There are 3.5 victims of modern slavery for every 1,000 people in the world.
63 percent are exploited in the private sector such as domestic work, construction manufacturing and agriculture; 23 percent are in forced commercial sexual exploitation, and; 14 percent are in state-imposed human trafficking.
6.3 million people are trapped in forced sexual exploitation, with four out of five of them being women and girl
Notably, ILO describes forced labor to include commercial sexual exploitation; the U.S. law does not include it as forced labor. Instead, it is considered sex trafficking and is under severe forms of trafficking in persons.
Congressman Smith unveils his International Megan's Law in April
2008 alongside Megan's Parents, Richard and Maureen Kanka. After years
of advocating for the proposed legislation, it was signed into law in 2016.
Chairing a July 2024 hearing on Human Trafficking:
Bipartisan House Press Conference on Ending Human Trafficking:
Addressing the 2020 Voices of Trafficking 2020 Forum:
Congressman Smith with Katie Couric in 2014 on Sex Trafficking and the Super Bowl:
US Department of State Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Reports
As a part of Congressman Smith’s landmark Trafficking Victims Protection Act the U.S. Department of State's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons publishes an annual report on every country’s governmental human trafficking efforts and categorizes each country on three tiers based on their efforts to comply with “minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.”
Since the TIP Report’s inception, more than 120 countries have enacted anti-trafficking laws and many countries have taken other steps required to significantly raise their tier rankings—citing the TIP Report as a key factor in their increased anti-trafficking response.
Tier 1: Countries whose governments fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.
Tier 2:
Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards.
Tier 2 Watch List: Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards, and for which:
a) the absolute number of victims of severe forms of trafficking is very significant or is significantly increasing;
b) there is a failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons from the previous year, including increased investigations, prosecution, and convictions of trafficking crimes, increased assistance to victims, and decreasing evidence of complicity in severe forms of trafficking by government officials; or
c) the determination that a country is making significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with minimum standards was based on commitments by the country to take additional steps over the next year.
Tier 3: Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so.
More Information and Resources State Department Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons The Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons leads the United States' global engagement against human trafficking, an umbrella term used to describe the activities involved when someone obtains or holds a person in compelled service.
The U.S. DOJ's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) supports several programs to increase the availability of direct support services for children and youth who are victims of commercial sexual exploitation, facilitate outreach efforts, and develop organizations' capacities to identify and respond to this vulnerable population.
The Blue Campaign is the unified voice for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) efforts to combat human trafficking. Working in collaboration with law enforcement, government, non-governmental and private organizations, the Blue Campaign strives to protect the basic right of freedom and to bring those who exploit human lives to justice.
The National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) is a national, toll-free hotline, available to answer calls from anywhere in the country, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year in more than 200 languages.
Call: 1-888-373-7888 | Text: HELP to BeFree (233733)
The State of New Jersey Office of the Attorney General’s Human Trafficking Task Force falls under the Office of the Attorney General’s Division of Criminal Justice and is committed to combating the crime of Human Trafficking through education collaboration and prosecution. Report Human Trafficking in NJ toll free 24/7 Hotline 855-END-NJHT (855-363-6548)
The mission of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Anti-Trafficking Program (ATP) is to educate on the scourge of human trafficking as an offense against fundamental dignity of the human person; to advocate for an end to modern day slavery; and to provide training and technical assistance on this issue. How To Identify a Human Trafficking Victim
Airline Ambassadors International (AAI) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization affiliated with the United Nations and recognized by the US Congress. It began as a network of airline employees using their pass privileges to help others and has expanded into a network of students, medical professionals, families and retirees who volunteer as “Ambassadors of Goodwill” in their home communities and abroad. It provides a way for members to share their unique skills and talents to care for others and bring compassion into action.
When an Airline Ambassador humanitarian team rescued an abandoned little girl in Cambodia in 2009, they also learned about the issue of human trafficking and determined to get involved. Inspired by the initiative of Innocents at Risk, they determined to discuss this on the next month’s mission to the Dominican Republic. Amazingly, they correctly identified trafficking incidents on two different airlines, leaving the Dominican Republic, (in one case leading to the bust of a human trafficking ring of 82 children) and on two more airlines the following month.
Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives (FDFI) is an Abolitionist and AntiRacist non-profit organization founded by direct descendants of Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington. Headquartered in Rochester, NY, it's focused on the struggle for racial equity and an end to human exploitation.
Since 2007, FDFI has been a leader in implementing innovative human trafficking prevention education curricula in K-12 classrooms nationally. It educates youth about human trafficking and all forms of modern-day slavery, and states it does it within the context of history.
3Strands Global Foundation was founded in response to an event that shook a small, tight-knit California community. A young girl was trafficked for 8 days before she was recovered by law enforcement. This would later spark the creation of PROTECT prevention education, which has gone on to educate hundreds of thousands of students on how to stay safe from human trafficking.
The 3SGF team then recognized that there needed to be more resources available to survivors and those who face barriers to sustainable economic opportunities. With this in mind, 3SGF launched the Employ + Empower program, which has helped support and economically empower hundreds of individuals.
Covenant House is the largest, primarily privately funded charity in North and Central America providing immediate and long-term support for young people facing homelessness and survivors of trafficking.
Covenant House doors are open all day and night, every day of the week. Since 1972, it's opened its doors to more than 1.5 million young people. More than 2,400 young people wake up in a Covenant House bed every day.
Founded in 1991, Protect All Children from Trafficking was the first U.S. organization to focus on the commercial sexual exploitation of children. In 2023, it changed its name to PACT and renewed a commitment to Protect All Children from Trafficking.
It is a member of ECPAT International, a network of organizations in over 100 countries working together toward the elimination of the sexual exploitation of children.
House passes sweeping overhaul of law to combat human trafficking
