Orphanage Trafficking Prevention and Protection Act

This bill, titled the Orphanage Trafficking Prevention and Protection Act, would amend the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 to explicitly classify the trafficking of under-18 children living in public or private residential facilities (such as orphanages, institutions, children’s homes, boarding schools, or group homes) as a severe form of trafficking in persons. The new provision expands the existing category of offenses to include recruitment, harboring, transportation, transfer, or receipt of these children when done through fraud, coercion, force, or abuse of a position of vulnerability for exploitation and profit (including forced labor and sex trafficking). The bill’s findings emphasize the vulnerability of children in residential care and note prior U.S. reports identifying “orphanage trafficking” as a real concern tied to international travel and donations. The overall aim is to strengthen accountability, victim protection, and U.S. anti-trafficking efforts by explicitly recognizing this practice as a severe form of trafficking under law.