Who Counts As a Victim? a Critical and Interpretive Policy Analysis of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000 and Its Reauthorizations

Background and Purpose: Passed by Congress in 2000, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) is the United States’ foundational anti-trafficking legislation, designed to prevent trafficking, prosecute offenders, and protect both domestic and international victims, including those subjected to labor trafficking. However, the TVPA’s definition of labor trafficking, anchored in the requirement to demonstrate force, fraud, or coercion, has drawn increasing criticism for its narrow scope. While the International Labour Organization estimates that more than 27 million people are subjected to forced labor globally, U.S. federal data reflect a much lower level of identification and response. For example, in fiscal year 2022, the Department of Justice initiated just 89 labor trafficking prosecutions and secured 17 convictions, despite widespread exploitation in sectors such as agriculture, construction, and domestic work. Employing a critical and interpretive policy analysis framework, the aim of this study is to examine how the TVPA constructs limited categories of victimhood that systematically exclude many foreign-national workers in precarious labor conditions.

Methods: We conducted a policy discourse analysis of the TVPA and its reauthorizations, focusing on how labor trafficking is defined, framed, and operationalized in U.S. law. Guided by principles from critical policy analysis such as interrogating power, exposing systemic inequities, and centering the experiences of marginalized populations, and interpretive policy analysis, including analyzing meaning-making, language, and the co-construction of policy categories, we analyzed statutory language and associated federal policy materials to examine how the legal definition of labor trafficking reinforces exclusionary logics.

Results: We found that the TVPA’s individualistic and carceral logic fails to account for structural coercion rooted in immigration policy, economic marginalization, and racialized labor regimes. The core principles of the critical and interpretive policy analysis framework further revealed that the current discourse regarding labor trafficking in the TVPA limits who qualifies as a victim of labor trafficking. These definitional constraints carry significant implications for access to protections, including T Nonimmigrant Status and other forms of social support. As eligibility for federally funded services hinges on a formal determination that a person is a victim of trafficking, as defined by the TVPA, many individuals experiencing severe labor exploitation cannot access critical assistance. To address the under-recognition of victims of labor trafficking, we recommend reimagining labor trafficking policy that reflects the complex realities of exploitation.

Conclusion and Implications: Our findings highlight the importance of examining anti-human trafficking policies through a critical and interpretive policy analysis framework. Labor trafficking is rooted in and sustained by unequal systems that marginalize certain populations, especially immigrant workers whose access to safety, rights, and recognition is shaped by their legal status and economic vulnerability. In order to identify and protect victims of labor trafficking, the US must recognize and address the structural conditions that facilitate coercion, rather than relying solely on prosecutable acts of individual wrongdoing.