UNITED STATES
OF AMERICA:  Tier 1 
The United States is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, transgender individuals, and children—both
U.S. citizens and foreign nationals—subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor. Trafficking can occur in both legal and illicit industries, including in commercial sex, hospitality, sales crews, agriculture, manufacturing, janitorial services, construction, shipyards, restaurants, health and elder care, salon services, fairs and carnivals, peddling and begging, and domestic service. Individuals who entered the United States with and without legal status have been identified as trafficking victims, including participants in visa programs for temporary workers who filled labor needs in many of the industries described above. Government officials, companies, and NGOs have expressed concern about the risk of human trafficking in global supply chains, including in federal contracts. Victims originate from almost every region of the world; the top three countries of origin of federally identified victims in fiscal year (FY) 2014 were the United States, Mexico, and the Philippines. Particularly vulnerable populations in the United States include: children in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems; runaway and homeless youth; children working in agriculture; American Indians and Alaska Natives; migrant laborers; foreign national domestic workers in diplomatic households; employees of businesses in ethnic communities; populations with limited English proficiency; persons with disabilities; rural populations; and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals. Some U.S. citizens engage in child sex tourism in foreign countries.
The U.S. government fully complies with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. The federal government continued to investigate and prosecute both sex and labor trafficking, sustaining high prosecution rates. It also continued to provide various types of specialized services to a greater number of trafficking victims, as well as various types of immigration relief for foreign national victims, including a pathway to citizenship. Prevention efforts included amendment of the Federal Acquisition Regulation to strengthen protections against trafficking in federal contracts. Challenges remain: some NGOs continued to express concern that government officials did not consistently take a victim-centered approach. Some trafficking victims, including those under the age of 18 years, were detained or prosecuted by state or local officials for criminal activity related to their being subjected to trafficking, notwithstanding “safe harbor” laws in some states or the federal policy that victims should not be penalized solely for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being subjected to trafficking.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE UNITED STATES:
Encourage the adoption of victim-centered policies at the state and local levels that ensure victims, including children, are not punished for crimes committed as a direct result of being subjected to trafficking; support appropriate housing for child trafficking victims that ensures their physical and mental health and safety; increase screening to identify trafficked persons among at-risk youth, detained individuals, persons with disabilities, and other vulnerable populations; vigorously prosecute labor trafficking; seek input from survivors to improve training, programs, and policies; ensure that criminal restitution is sought for trafficking victims; strengthen prevention efforts, including addressing the demand for commercial sex; engage in culturally based efforts to strengthen coordination among criminal justice and social service systems on behalf of Native American trafficking victims; ensure federal law enforcement officials apply timely for, and state and local law enforcement officials are trained on requesting, Continued Presence for eligible victims; increase training, including in the U.S. insular areas, on indicators of human trafficking and the victim- centered approach for criminal and juvenile justice officials, family court officials, labor inspectors, consular officers, social service and child welfare entities, and first responders; provide links to press releases on federal trafficking cases in a single online location; and support new research on trafficking as it relates to diplomats, military personnel, peacekeepers, and other forms of official complicity.

PROSECUTION
The U.S. government demonstrated progress in federal anti- trafficking law enforcement efforts. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, as amended (TVPA), prohibits all forms of human trafficking. In addition to criminalizing these acts, U.S. law prohibits conspiracy and attempts to violate these provisions, as well as obstructing their enforcement and benefitting financially from these acts. Sex trafficking prosecutions involving children do not require proof of the use of force, fraud, or coercion. A criminal statute on fraud in foreign labor prohibits the use of fraud to recruit workers for work performed in the United States, or elsewhere on a U.S. government contract, U.S. property, or military installation. Penalties prescribed under these statutes are sufficiently stringent and commensurate with penalties prescribed for other serious offenses: penalties ranged up to life imprisonment.The U.S. Congress introduced several bills in 2014 and 2015 that address trafficking, and in September 2014, the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act became law. It amends a federal foster care program to address trafficking, among other things.
The federal agencies responsible for investigating and prosecuting human trafficking offenses remain as described in the 2014 TIP Report U.S. narrative. The reporting period marked the culmination of Phase I of the Anti-Trafficking Coordination Team (ACTeam) Initiative launched in 2011 by the Departments of Justice (DOJ),