I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1379
To provide for the vacating of certain convictions and expungement of certain
arrests of victims of human trafficking.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY14, 2025
Mr. F
RY(for himself, Mr. LIEU, Mrs. WAGNER, and Mr. GARCIAof Cali-
fornia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary
A BILL
To provide for the vacating of certain convictions and
expungement of certain arrests of victims of human traf-
ficking.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Trafficking Survivors 4
Relief Act of 2025’’. 5
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SEC. 2. FEDERAL EXPUNGEMENT FOR VICTIMS OF TRAF-1
FICKING. 2
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Chapter 237 of title 18, United 3
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-4
lowing: 5
‘‘§ 3771A. Motion to vacate; expungement; mitigating 6
factors 7
‘‘(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section— 8
‘‘(1) the term ‘child’ means an individual who 9
has not attained 18 years of age; 10
‘‘(2) the term ‘covered prisoner’ means an indi-11
vidual who— 12
‘‘(A) was convicted of a level A offense or 13
level B offense; 14
‘‘(B) was sentenced to a term of imprison-15
ment for the offense described in subparagraph 16
(A); and 17
‘‘(C) is imprisoned under such term of im-18
prisonment; 19
‘‘(3) the terms ‘employee’ and ‘officer’ have the 20
meanings given the terms in section 2105 of title 5; 21
‘‘(4) the term ‘Federal offense’ means an of-22
fense that is punishable under Federal law; 23
‘‘(5) the term ‘level A offense’ means a Federal 24
offense that is not a violent crime; 25
‘‘(6) the term ‘level B offense’— 26
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‘‘(A) means a Federal offense that is a vio-1
lent crime; and 2
‘‘(B) does not include a Federal offense 3
that is a violent crime of which a child was a 4
victim; 5
‘‘(7) the term ‘level C offense’ means any Fed-6
eral offense that is not a level A offense; 7
‘‘(8) the term ‘victim of trafficking’ has the 8
meaning given that term in section 103 of the Traf-9
ficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 10
7102); and 11
‘‘(9) the term ‘violent crime’ has the meaning 12
given that term in section 103 of the Juvenile Jus-13
tice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 (34 14
U.S.C. 11103). 15
‘‘(b) M
OTIONSTOVACATECONVICTIONS OR EX-16
PUNGEARRESTS.— 17
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.— 18
‘‘(A) C
ONVICTIONS OF LEVEL A OF -19
FENSES.—A person convicted of any level A of-20
fense (or an attorney representing such a per-21
son) may move the court that imposed the sen-22
tence for the level A offense to vacate the judg-23
ment of conviction if the level A offense was 24
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committed as a direct result of the person hav-1
ing been a victim of trafficking. 2
‘‘(B) A
RRESTS FOR LEVEL A OFFENSES .— 3
A person arrested for any level A offense (or an 4
attorney representing such a person) may move 5
the district court of the United States for the 6
district and division embracing the place where 7
the person was arrested to expunge all records 8
of the arrest if the conduct or alleged conduct 9
of the person that resulted in the arrest was di-10
rectly related to the person having been a vic-11
tim of trafficking. 12
‘‘(C) A
RRESTS FOR LEVEL C OFFENSES .— 13
A person arrested for any level C offense (or an 14
attorney representing such a person) may move 15
the district court of the United States for the 16
district and division embracing the place where 17
the person was arrested to expunge all records 18
of the arrest if— 19
‘‘(i) the conduct or alleged conduct of 20
the movant that resulted in the arrest was 21
directly related to the movant having been 22
a victim of trafficking; and 23
‘‘(ii)(I) the movant was acquitted of 24
the level C offense; 25
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‘‘(II) the Government did not pursue, 1
or the Government moved to dismiss, 2
criminal charges against the movant for 3
the level C offense; or 4
‘‘(III)(aa) the charges against the 5
movant for the level C offense were re-6
duced to an offense that is a level A of-7
fense; and 8
‘‘(bb) the movant was acquitted of the 9
level A offense, the Government did not 10
pursue, or the Government moved to dis-11
miss, criminal charges against the movant 12
for the level A offense, or any subsequent 13
conviction of the level A offense was va-14
cated. 15
‘‘(2) C
ONTENTS OF MOTION .—A motion de-16
scribed in paragraph (1) shall— 17
‘‘(A) be in writing; 18
‘‘(B) describe any supporting evidence; 19
‘‘(C) state the offense; and 20
‘‘(D) include copies of any documents 21
showing that the movant is entitled to relief 22
under this section. 23
‘‘(3) H
EARING.— 24
‘‘(A) M
ANDATORY HEARING .— 25
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‘‘(i) MOTION IN OPPOSITION .—Not 1
later than 30 days after the date on which 2
a motion is filed under paragraph (1), the 3
Government may file a motion in opposi-4
tion of the motion filed under paragraph 5
(1). 6
‘‘(ii) M
ANDATORY HEARING .—If the 7
Government files a motion described in 8
clause (i), not later than 15 days after the 9
date on which the motion is filed, the court 10
shall hold a hearing on the motion. 11
‘‘(B) D
ISCRETIONARY HEARING .—If the 12
Government does not file a motion described in 13
subparagraph (A)(i), the court may hold a 14
hearing on the motion not later than 45 days 15
after the date on which a motion is filed under 16
paragraph (1). 17
‘‘(4) F
ACTORS.— 18
‘‘(A) V
ACATING CONVICTIONS OF LEVEL A 19
OFFENSES.—The court may grant a motion 20
under paragraph (1)(A) if, after notice to the 21
Government and an opportunity to be heard, 22
the court finds, by a preponderance of the evi-23
dence, that— 24
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‘‘(i) the movant was convicted of a 1
level A offense; and 2
‘‘(ii) the participation in the level A 3
offense by the movant was a direct result 4
of the movant having been a victim of traf-5
ficking. 6
‘‘(B) E
XPUNGING ARRESTS FOR LEVEL A 7
OFFENSES.—The court may grant a motion 8
under paragraph (1)(B) if, after notice to the 9
Government and an opportunity to be heard, 10
the court finds, by a preponderance of the evi-11
dence, that— 12
‘‘(i) the movant was arrested for a 13
level A offense; and 14
‘‘(ii) the conduct or alleged conduct 15
that resulted in the arrest was directly re-16
lated to the movant having been a victim 17
of trafficking. 18
‘‘(C) E
XPUNGING ARRESTS FOR LEVEL C 19
OFFENSES.—The court may grant a motion 20
under paragraph (1)(C) if, after notice to the 21
Government and an opportunity to be heard, 22
the court finds, by a preponderance of the evi-23
dence, that— 24
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‘‘(i) the movant was arrested for a 1
level C offense and the conduct or alleged 2
conduct that resulted in the arrest was di-3
rectly related to the movant having been a 4
victim of trafficking; and 5
‘‘(ii)(I) the movant was acquitted of 6
the level C offense; 7
‘‘(II) the Government did not pursue, 8
or the Government moved to dismiss, 9
criminal charges against the movant for 10
the level C offense; or 11
‘‘(III)(aa) the charges against the 12
movant for the level C offense were re-13
duced to a level A offense; and 14
‘‘(bb) the movant was acquitted of the 15
level A offense, the Government did not 16
pursue, or the Government moved to dis-17
miss, criminal charges against the movant 18
for the level A offense, or any subsequent 19
conviction of that level A offense was va-20
cated. 21
‘‘(5) S
UPPORTING EVIDENCE .— 22
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—For purposes of this 23
section, in determining whether the movant is a 24
victim of trafficking, the court shall consider an 25
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affidavit or sworn testimony of a licensed anti- 1
human trafficking service provider or clinician. 2
The court may consider any supporting evi-3
dence the court determines is of sufficient credi-4
bility and probative value, including sworn testi-5
mony from a law enforcement officer detailing 6
the role of the movant in coercing other victims 7
into committing Federal offenses. 8
‘‘(B) A
FFIDAVIT OR SWORN TESTIMONY 9
SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE .—The affidavit or 10
sworn testimony described in subparagraph (A) 11
shall be sufficient evidence to vacate a convic-12
tion or expunge an arrest under this section if 13
the court determines that— 14
‘‘(i) the affidavit or sworn testimony 15
is credible; and 16
‘‘(ii) no other evidence is readily avail-17
able. 18
‘‘(6) C
ONVICTION OR ARREST OF OTHER PER -19
SONS NOT REQUIRED .—It shall not be necessary 20
that any person other than the movant be convicted 21
of or arrested for an offense before the movant may 22
file a motion under paragraph (1). 23
‘‘(7) D
ENIAL OF MOTION.— 24
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‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If the court denies a 1
motion filed under paragraph (1), the denial 2
shall be final, subject to the discovery of any 3
new and compelling evidence or information. 4
‘‘(B) R
EASONS FOR DENIAL.—If the court 5
denies a motion filed under paragraph (1), the 6
court shall state the reasons for the denial in 7
writing. 8
‘‘(C) R
EASONABLE TIME TO CURE DEFI -9
CIENCIES IN MOTION.—If the motion was de-10
nied due to a curable deficiency in the motion, 11
the court shall allow the movant sufficient time 12
to cure the deficiency. 13
‘‘(8) A
PPEAL.—An order granting or denying a 14
motion under this section may be appealed in ac-15
cordance with section 1291 of title 28. 16
‘‘(c) V
ACATUR OFCONVICTIONS.— 17
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—If the court grants a mo-18
tion to vacate a conviction of a level A offense under 19
subsection (b), the court shall immediately— 20
‘‘(A) vacate the conviction for cause; 21
‘‘(B) set aside the verdict and enter a 22
judgment of acquittal; and 23
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‘‘(C) enter an expungement order that di-1
rects that there be expunged from all official 2
records all references to— 3
‘‘(i) the arrest of the movant for the 4
level A offense; 5
‘‘(ii) the institution of criminal pro-6
ceedings against the movant relating to the 7
level A offense; and 8
‘‘(iii) the results of the proceedings. 9
‘‘(2) L
IMITATION.—Nothing in this subsection 10
requires a court to amend, impose, or remove any 11
fine or restitution order in a criminal or civil pro-12
ceeding. 13
‘‘(3) E
FFECT.—If a conviction is vacated under 14
an order entered under paragraph (1) the conviction 15
shall not be regarded as a conviction under Federal 16
law and the movant for whom the conviction was va-17
cated shall be considered to have the status occupied 18
by the movant before the arrest or the institution of 19
the criminal proceedings related to such conviction. 20
‘‘(d) E
XPUNGEMENT OF ARRESTS.— 21
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—If the court grants a mo-22
tion to expunge all records of an arrest for an of-23
fense under subsection (b), the court shall imme-24
diately enter an expungement order that directs that 25
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there be expunged from all official records all ref-1
erences to— 2
‘‘(A) the arrest of the movant for the of-3
fense; 4
‘‘(B) the institution of any criminal pro-5
ceedings against the movant relating to the of-6
fense; and 7
‘‘(C) the results of the proceedings, if any. 8
‘‘(2) E
FFECT.—If an arrest is expunged under 9
an order entered under paragraph (1) the arrest 10
shall not be regarded as an arrest under Federal law 11
and the movant for whom the arrest is expunged 12
shall be considered to have the status occupied by 13
the movant before the arrest or the institution of the 14
criminal proceedings related to such arrest, if any. 15
‘‘(e) M
ITIGATINGFACTORS.— 16
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The court that imposed 17
sentence for a level A offense or level B offense upon 18
a covered prisoner may reduce the term of imprison-19
ment for the offense— 20
‘‘(A) upon— 21
‘‘(i) motion by the covered prisoner or 22
the Director of the Bureau of Prisons; or 23
‘‘(ii) the court’s own motion; 24
‘‘(B) after notice to the Government; 25
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‘‘(C) after considering— 1
‘‘(i) the factors set forth in section 2
3553(a); 3
‘‘(ii) the nature and seriousness of the 4
danger to any person, if applicable; and 5
‘‘(iii) the community, or any crime 6
victims; and 7
‘‘(D) if the court finds, by a preponderance 8
of the evidence, that the covered prisoner com-9
mitted the offense as a direct result of the cov-10
ered prisoner having been a victim of traf-11
ficking. 12
‘‘(2) R
EQUIREMENT.—Any proceeding under 13
this subsection shall be subject to section 3771. 14
‘‘(3) P
ARTICULARIZED INQUIRY .—For any mo-15
tion under paragraph (1), the Government shall con-16
duct a particularized inquiry of the facts and cir-17
cumstances of the original sentencing of the covered 18
prisoner in order to assess whether a reduction in 19
sentence would be consistent with this section. 20
‘‘(f) A
DDITIONALACTIONS BYCOURT.—The court 21
shall, upon granting a motion under this section, take any 22
additional action necessary to grant the movant full relief. 23
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‘‘(g) NOFEES.—A person may not be required to pay 1
a filing fee, service charge, copay fee, processing fee, or 2
any other charge for filing a motion under this section. 3
‘‘(h) C
ONFIDENTIALITY OFMOVANT.— 4
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—A motion under this sec-5
tion and any documents, pleadings, or orders relat-6
ing to the motion shall be filed under seal. 7
‘‘(2) I
NFORMATION NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUB -8
LIC INSPECTION.—An officer or employee may not 9
make available for public inspection any report, 10
paper, picture, photograph, court file, or other docu-11
ment, in the custody or possession of the officer or 12
employee, that identifies the movant. 13
‘‘(i) A
PPLICABILITY.—This section shall apply to any 14
conviction or arrest occurring before, on, or after the date 15
of enactment of this section.’’. 16
(b) T
ECHNICAL AND CONFORMINGAMENDMENT.— 17
The table of sections of chapter 237 of title 18, United 18
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-19
lowing: 20
‘‘3771A. Motion to vacate; expungement; mitigating factors.’’.
SEC. 3. REPORTS.
21
(a) U
NITEDSTATESATTORNEYMOTIONS FOR 22
V
ACATUR OREXPUNGEMENT.—Not later than 1 year 23
after the date of enactment of this Act, each United States 24
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attorney shall submit to the Attorney General a report 1
that details— 2
(1) the number of motions for vacatur or 3
expungement filed under section 3771A of title 18, 4
United States Code, as added by section 2, in the 5
district of the United States attorney; and 6
(2) for each motion described in paragraph 7
(1)— 8
(A) the underlying offense; 9
(B) the response of the United States at-10
torney to the motion; and 11
(C) the final determination of the court 12
with respect to the motion. 13
(b) U
NITEDSTATESATTORNEYTRAINING ON 14
H
UMANTRAFFICKINGINDICATORS.—Not later than 1 15
year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney 16
General shall submit to Congress a report that details all 17
professional training received by United States attorneys 18
on indicators of human trafficking during the preceding 19
12-month period. 20
(c) G
OVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITYOFFICE.—Not 21
later than 3 years after the date of enactment of this Act, 22
the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit 23
to Congress a report that— 24
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(1) assesses the impact of the enactment of sec-1
tion 3771A of title 18, United States Code, as added 2
by section 2; and 3
(2) includes— 4
(A) the number of human trafficking sur-5
vivors who have filed motions for vacatur or 6
expungement under such section 3771A; 7
(B) the final determination of each court 8
that adjudicated a motion described in subpara-9
graph (A); 10
(C) recommendations to increase access to 11
post-conviction relief for human trafficking sur-12
vivors with Federal criminal records; and 13
(D) recommendations for improving the 14
implementation and tracking of professional 15
training of United States attorneys on indica-16
tors of human trafficking. 17
SEC. 4. USE OF GRANTS FOR POST-CONVICTION RELIEF 18
REPRESENTATION. 19
The Office of Justice Programs or the Office on Vio-20
lence Against Women, in awarding a grant that may be 21
used for legal representation, may not prohibit a recipient 22
from using the grant for legal representation for post-con-23
viction relief. 24
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SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 1
It is the sense of Congress that— 2
(1) this Act is a first step to address the chang-3
ing tactics of human traffickers, who are using 4
forced criminality as a form of force, fraud, and co-5
ercion in their human trafficking enterprises; and 6
(2) Congress is committed to continuing to find 7
solutions as needed to thwart human traffickers and 8
protect survivors of human trafficking. 9
SEC. 6. HUMAN TRAFFICKING DEFENSE. 10
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Chapter 1 of title 18, United 11
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-12
lowing: 13
‘‘§ 28. Human trafficking defense 14
‘‘(a) D
EFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘covered 15
Federal offense’ means a level A offense or level B offense, 16
as those terms are defined in section 3771A. 17
‘‘(b) P
RESUMPTION OF DURESS.—In a prosecution 18
for a covered Federal offense, a defendant who establishes 19
by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant was 20
a victim of trafficking at the time at which the defendant 21
committed the offense shall create a rebuttable presump-22
tion that the offense was induced by duress. 23
‘‘(c) R
ECORD ORPROCEEDINGUNDERSEAL.—In 24
any proceeding in which a defense under subsection (b) 25
is raised, any record or part of the proceeding related to 26
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the defense shall, on motion, be placed under seal until 1
such time as a conviction is entered for the offense. 2
‘‘(d) P
OST-CONVICTIONRELIEF.—A failure to assert, 3
or failed assertion of, a defense under subsection (b) by 4
an individual who is convicted of a covered Federal offense 5
may not preclude the individual from asserting as a miti-6
gating factor, at sentencing or in a proceeding for any 7
post-conviction relief, that at the time of the commission 8
of the offense, the defendant was a victim of trafficking 9
and committed the offense under duress. 10
‘‘(e) F
EDERALAID.—A failure to assert, or failed as-11
sertion of, a defense under subsection (b) by an individual 12
who is convicted of a covered Federal offense may not be 13
used for the purpose of disqualifying the individual from 14
participating in any federally funded program that aids 15
victims of human trafficking.’’. 16
(b) T
ECHNICAL AND CONFORMINGAMENDMENT.— 17
The table of sections for chapter 1 of title 18, United 18
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-19
lowing: 20
‘‘28. Human trafficking defense.’’.
SEC. 7. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.
21
Nothing in this Act, or the amendments made by this 22
Act, may be construed to conflict with any of the crime 23
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victims’ rights described in section 3771 of title 18, United 1
States Code. 2
Æ
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