H.R. 1379 — Trafficking Survivors Relief Act of 2025

This section provides that the Act may be cited as the “Trafficking Survivors Relief Act of 2025.”

This section adds a new federal procedure allowing victims of trafficking to move to vacate certain convictions and expunge certain arrests in federal court. It defines a “victim of trafficking” by reference to section 103 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102), and applies the new relief to three categories of federal offenses: level A offenses, which are nonviolent federal offenses; level B offenses, which are violent federal offenses except violent offenses involving a child victim; and level C offenses, which are all federal offenses not classified as level A offenses. A “child” is defined as an individual under 18 years old. As background, the provision creates a trafficking-related post-conviction remedy for people whose criminal conduct or arrest was directly caused by their trafficking victimization. A person convicted of a level A offense may move to vacate the conviction if the offense was committed as a direct result of trafficking victimization. A person arrested for a level A offense may move to expunge the arrest record if the conduct leading to the arrest was directly related to trafficking victimization. A person arrested for a level C offense may move to expunge the arrest record if the conduct was directly related to trafficking victimization and the person was acquitted, the government did not pursue or moved to dismiss the charges, or the charges were reduced to a level A offense and the resulting level A charge was acquitted, dismissed, not pursued, or later vacated. The section requires a written motion that describes supporting evidence, states the offense, and includes documents showing eligibility. It sets a 30-day period for the government to file an opposition, requires a hearing within 15 days after an opposition is filed, and permits a hearing within 45 days if the government does not oppose. The court may grant relief by a preponderance of the evidence after notice to the government and an opportunity to be heard.

This section requires reporting on the new vacatur and expungement process for human trafficking survivors and on United States attorney training. Not later than 1 year after enactment, each United States attorney must report to the Attorney General the number of motions for vacatur or expungement filed under new 18 U.S.C. § 3771A in that district, along with the underlying offense, the United States attorney’s response, and the court’s final determination for each motion. Not later than 1 year after enactment, the Attorney General must report to Congress on all professional training received by United States attorneys on indicators of human trafficking during the preceding 12-month period. Not later than 3 years after enactment, the Comptroller General of the United States must report to Congress on the impact of 18 U.S.C. § 3771A, including the number of human trafficking survivors who filed motions under that section, the final determination in each case, recommendations to increase access to post-conviction relief for survivors with Federal criminal records, and recommendations to improve implementation and tracking of United States attorney training on human trafficking indicators.

This section limits the Office of Justice Programs and the Office on Violence Against Women from prohibiting a grant recipient from using grant funds for legal representation for post-conviction relief when the grant may be used for legal representation. (Thus, recipients may use eligible grant funds to represent clients seeking post-conviction relief, such as appeals, motions to vacate, or other collateral challenges to a conviction.)

This section states that the Act is a first step toward addressing human traffickers’ use of forced criminality as a form of force, fraud, and coercion in human trafficking enterprises and expresses Congress’s commitment to continue developing solutions to thwart traffickers and protect survivors of human trafficking.

This section establishes a human trafficking defense for certain federal crimes by adding a new 18 U.S.C. § 28. It defines a “covered Federal offense” as a level A offense or level B offense under 18 U.S.C. § 3771A and creates a rebuttable presumption of duress in a prosecution for such an offense if the defendant proves by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant was a trafficking victim when the offense was committed. It also requires related records or proceedings to be sealed on motion until a conviction is entered, permits a convicted person to raise trafficking victimization and duress as a mitigating factor at sentencing or in post-conviction proceedings even if the defense was not asserted earlier, and prohibits the failure to assert that defense from being used to disqualify the person from federally funded programs that aid victims of human trafficking.

This section establishes that nothing in the act, or in the amendments made by the act, may be construed to conflict with the crime victims’ rights set forth in 18 U.S.C. § 3771.