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Continued Presence is meant specifically
for foreign nationals who are victims of human trafficking,
and may be applied to all foreign national victims
associated with the case.
The key requirements are that federal, state,
or local law enforcement must identify a foreign national as
1) a victim of a severe form of trafficking in persons
and 2) a potential witness in an investigation
or prosecution of the trafficker.
How do you determine this?
Let's break it down.
The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000,
as amended, defines a victim of a severe form of trafficking.
For sex trafficking, this means the recruitment, harboring,
transportation, provision, obtaining, patronizing,
or soliciting of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex
act, in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud,
or coercion, or in which the person induced
to perform such an act is under 18 years of age.
For labor trafficking, a severe form of trafficking
is defined as the recruitment, harboring, transportation,
provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services
through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose
of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage,
debt bondage, or slavery.
Continued Presence is therefore applicable to victims
of either sex or labor trafficking.
Although the crime needs to be a severe form of trafficking
as defined by the aforementioned federal statute,
it does not necessarily need to include violence.
Traffickers employ a wide range of nonviolent measures
to hold victims against their will,
including threats of deportation,
psychological coercion, and control
of documents such as passports.
Whether victims were held by means of force, fraud,
or coercion, they have still been held against their will,
and they are still eligible for Continued Presence.
Continued Presence should be requested as soon
as practicable after the individual is
determined to be a victim of a severe form of trafficking.
You do not need to have charges, an indictment,
or a prosecutor involved.
In some cases, you may only have the victim's account
of what happened.
If you believe the victim is credible,
and if you will be taking any next steps to investigate,
then requesting Continued Presence is appropriate.
In some cases, after you have determined
the individual is a victim of a severe form of trafficking,
you may recognize that he or she is too traumatized
to work with you immediately.
However, after receiving services,
they could be stable enough to provide evidence.
It is still appropriate to request Continued Presence
in such cases.
You should request Continued Presence
for every eligible victim who may
be a potential witness in a case so
that he or she is available, if necessary,
for the investigation.
For example, if the case involves 20 eligible victims
who may be potential witnesses in the case,
you may request Continued Presence for all 20 victims.
Continued Presence is also available to victims
who pursue a civil case against their traffickers
in federal court.
Victims who have filed a federal civil action under 18 USC
Section 1595 are eligible to receive Continued Presence
until the action is concluded.
Please direct those victims to the nearest Homeland Security
Investigations (HSI) Victim Assistance Specialist.