Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Human Trafficking Detection Act of 2015”.
Human Trafficking Detection Act of 2015
AN ACT
To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to train Department of Homeland Security personnel how to effectively deter, detect, disrupt, and prevent human trafficking during the course of their primary roles and responsibilities, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Definitions
In this Act:
Department— The term Department means the Department of Homeland Security.
Human trafficking— The term human trafficking means an act or practice described in paragraph (9) or (10) of section 103 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102).
Secretary— The term Secretary means the Secretary of Homeland Security.
Sec. 3 Training for Department personnel to identify human trafficking
In General— Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall implement a program to—
train and periodically retrain relevant Transportation Security Administration, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and other Department personnel that the Secretary considers appropriate, how to effectively deter, detect, and disrupt human trafficking, and, where appropriate, interdict a suspected perpetrator of human trafficking, during the course of their primary roles and responsibilities; and
ensure that the personnel referred to in paragraph (1) regularly receive current information on matters related to the detection of human trafficking, including information that becomes available outside of the Department’s initial or periodic retraining schedule, to the extent relevant to their official duties and consistent with applicable information and privacy laws.
Training described— The training referred to in subsection (a) may be conducted through in-class or virtual learning capabilities, and shall include—
methods for identifying suspected victims of human trafficking and, where appropriate, perpetrators of human trafficking;
for appropriate personnel, methods to approach a suspected victim of human trafficking, where appropriate, in a manner that is sensitive to the suspected victim and is not likely to alert a suspected perpetrator of human trafficking;
training that is most appropriate for a particular location or environment in which the personnel receiving such training perform their official duties;
other topics determined by the Secretary to be appropriate; and
a post-training evaluation for personnel receiving the training.
Training curriculum review— The Secretary shall annually reassess the training program established under subsection (a) to ensure it is consistent with current techniques, patterns, and trends associated with human trafficking.
Sec. 4 Certification and report to Congress
Certification— Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall certify to the appropriate congressional committees that all personnel referred to in section 3(a) have successfully completed the training required under that section.
Report to Congress— Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act and annually thereafter, the Secretary shall report to the appropriate congressional committees the overall effectiveness of the program required by this Act, the number of cases reported by Department personnel in which human trafficking was suspected and, of those cases, the number of cases that were confirmed cases of such trafficking.
Sec. 5 Assistance to non-Federal entities
The Secretary may provide training curricula to any State, local, or tribal government or private organization to assist such entity in establishing its program of training to identify human trafficking, upon request from such entity.