Sponsors (4)
The bill increases schools' capacity to identify and connect trafficking victims to services and to inform prevention policy, but it creates real cost, privacy, and survivor‑engagement risks if funding and safeguards are inadequate.
K–12 students, teachers, and school staff will receive expanded training so more trafficking victims are identified earlier and school personnel can better prevent and respond to trafficking.
Survivors and at‑risk youth (including homeless youth, migrant laborers, Native/tribal youth, and LGBT youth) are more likely to be referred to appropriate social and survivor services because the program prioritizes high‑need areas and calls out vulnerable groups for targeted outreach.
Standardized data collection, annual reporting, and explicit identification of recruitment methods (intimate partners, family, false job offers, social media) will produce evidence to better target prevention campaigns, allocate funding, and shape policy decisions.
Implementing training, reporting, and related program requirements will impose costs and administrative burdens on schools, nonprofits, and local agencies, and the federal appropriation ($15M/year) may be insufficient to sustain a nationwide rollout.
Collecting demographic data, highlighting numerous high‑risk groups, and emphasizing social media recruitment risks privacy breaches, overbroad screening, digital surveillance, and misidentification of students or marginalized groups.
Mandatory coordination with law enforcement as part of school-based programs could deter survivors or families—particularly immigrant or undocumented students—from engaging with services for fear of reporting or legal consequences.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Establishes a demonstration grant program to train K–12 students, teachers, and school staff to identify, prevent, and respond to human trafficking, with vetted nonprofit vendors and privacy-preserving data collection.
Introduced February 11, 2025 by Vernon G. Buchanan · Last progress February 11, 2025
Creates a federal demonstration grant program to train K–12 students, teachers, and school personnel to recognize, prevent, and respond to human trafficking and child exploitation. The program funds vetted nonprofit vendors, requires privacy-preserving data collection and reporting on identified survivors and students at risk, and helps schools develop protocols for reporting to law enforcement and referring survivors to services.