Human Trafficking: A Strategic Framework Could Help Enhance the Interagency Collaboration Needed to Effectively Combat Trafficking Crimes
GAO-07-915
Published: Jul 26, 2007. Publicly Released: Jul 26, 2007.
Skip to Highlights
Highlights
Human trafficking is a transnational crime whose victims include men, women, and children and may involve violations of labor, immigration, antislavery, and other criminal laws. To ensure punishment of traffickers and protection of victims, Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), which is subject to reauthorization in 2007. The Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Homeland Security (DHS) lead federal investigations and prosecutions of trafficking crimes. As requested, this report discusses (1) key activities federal agencies have undertaken to combat human trafficking crimes, (2) federal efforts to coordinate investigations and prosecutions of these crimes, and (3) how the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) supported federally funded state and local human trafficking task forces. GAO reviewed strategies, reports, and other agency documents; analyzed trafficking data; and interviewed agency officials and task force members.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Homeland Security | To help ensure that the U.S. government maximizes its ability to enforce laws governing trafficking in persons, the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security should, in conjunction with the Secretaries of Labor, State, and other agency heads deemed appropriate, develop and implement a strategic framework to coordinate U.S. efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking in persons. At a minimum this framework should define and articulate a common outcome; establish mutually reinforcing or joint strategies; agree on roles and responsibilities; and establish compatible policies, procedures, and other means to operate across agency boundaries. | In fiscal year 2007, we reviewed and reported on actions taken by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate and prosecute human trafficking crimes, including coordinating with the Departments of Homeland Security (DHS), Labor (DOL), and State, among others. We found that federal agencies coordinated successfully on individual cases of human trafficking. However, senior agency officials also identified the need for additional proactive approaches (e.g., expanding outreach to additional law enforcement agencies and nongovernmental organizations and pursuing multijurisdictional and international trafficking investigations and prosecutions), requiring strategic collaboration among... agencies, to enhance agency efforts to investigate and prosecute these crimes. Accordingly, we recommended that the Attorney General and Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), in conjunction with the Secretaries of Labor, State, and other agency heads deemed appropriate, develop and implement a strategic framework to coordinate U.S. efforts to address these crimes to ensure that the U.S. government maximized its ability to enforce the laws governing trafficking in persons. Subsequently, DOJ has undertaken or participated in initiatives, indicative of a strategic approach, to enhance U.S. efforts to investigate and prosecute human trafficking crimes. According to DOJ-provided documentation, DOJ spearheads a federal law enforcement working group on human trafficking, which includes the FBI, Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, DHS, and DOL. DOJ has led or participated in interagency training efforts for Assistant U.S. Attorneys, agents, and representatives of nongovernmental organizations; worked with DHS to rollout the local law enforcement curriculum for its "Blue Campaign"; coordinated with the Department of Human Services and DHS on the interagency Minor Victims Working Group, which helps agencies overcome unique challenges presented by unaccompanied foreign minors caught in human trafficking investigations; and participated in meetings on DOL's guest worker program to identify trafficking victims. DOJ and DHS have also worked with the Mexican government on prosecutions of sex traffickers in the United States and Mexico. In October 2010, DOJ established the Interagency Anti-Trafficking Coordination Team (ACTeam) Initiative to enhance coordination among the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, U.S. Attorney's Offices, and DOJ's Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit and Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section. Subsequently, in February 2011, DOJ, DHS, and DOL launched an interagency human trafficking enhanced enforcement initiative. In Phase I, specialized ACTeams, composed of prosecutors and agents from multiple federal enforcement agencies, convene in select pilot districts around the country to implement a strategic action plan to combat identified human trafficking threats. Developed through DOJ, DHS, and DOL interagency collaboration to streamline rapidly expanding federal human trafficking efforts, the ACTeam structure is to enhance coordination among federal prosecutors and agents on the front lines of federal human trafficking investigations and prosecutions and between front-line enforcement efforts and the specialized units at DOJ and federal agency headquarters. The agencies also published a 2011 ACTeam field operations guide. In October 2010, the head of DOJ's Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit told us that GAO's 2007 recommendation directing DOJ to work with DHS to develop a strategic approach to human trafficking investigations and prosecutions was part of the groundswell that helped the DOJ/DHS prosecutors and investigators convince their respective leadership of the need for these initiatives. The actions taken by DOJ in partnership with other federal agencies, to enhance interagency coordination to investigate and prosecute human trafficking crimes, are consistent with our recommendation.
View More |
| Office of the Attorney General | To help ensure that the U.S. government maximizes its ability to enforce laws governing trafficking in persons, the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security should, in conjunction with the Secretaries of Labor, State, and other agency heads deemed appropriate, develop and implement a strategic framework to coordinate U.S. efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking in persons. At a minimum this framework should define and articulate a common outcome; establish mutually reinforcing or joint strategies; agree on roles and responsibilities; and establish compatible policies, procedures, and other means to operate across agency boundaries. | In fiscal year 2007, we reviewed and reported on the actions taken by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), especially Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), to investigate human trafficking crimes, including coordinating with the Departments of Justice (DOJ), Labor (DOL), and State. We found that federal agencies coordinated successfully on individual cases of human trafficking. However, senior agency officials also identified the need for additional proactive approaches (e.g., expanding outreach to additional law enforcement agencies and nongovernmental organizations and pursuing multijurisdictional and international trafficking investigations and prosecutions), requiring...
|
| Office of the Attorney General | To better support the federally funded state and local human trafficking task forces, the Attorney General should direct the Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance to develop and implement a plan to help focus technical assistance on areas of greatest need. | In fiscal year 2007, we reviewed and reported on how the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) supported federally funded state and local human trafficking task forces and whether these efforts might be improved. We found that although BJA reported taking steps to help it respond to the technical assistance needs of these task forces, DOJ officials and task force members pointed to continued and additional technical assistance and training needs. Moreover, while recognizing the need for a technical assistance plan to address these needs, BJA did not have such a plan in place at the time of our review. Accordingly, we recommended that the Attorney General direct the Director of BJA to...
|
Full Report
GAO Contacts
Public Inquiries
Topics
CrimesFederal aid to statesFederal lawstate relationsInvestigations by federal agenciesLaw enforcementLaw enforcement agenciesPolice trainingStrategic planningTraining utilizationHuman traffickingPolicies and proceduresProgram goals or objectives