Forced Labor in the US: Laws, Penalties, and Victim Remedies

Forced labor is a federal crime in the United States. Under 18 U.S.C. § 1589, obtaining someone’s work through force, threats, or coercion is punishable by up to 20 years in prison per offense, and up to life if the victim dies or the case involves kidnapping or aggravated sexual abuse.¹ Forced labor laws in the US also require offenders to pay restitution to victims, allow victims to sue in civil court, and provide immigration relief so that people trapped in exploitative work can come forward without losing their status.

What Counts as Forced Labor

The central statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1589, defines forced labor by the method used to obtain someone’s work rather than the type of work itself. Four categories of coercion trigger the statute.¹

The first is physical: force, threats of force, or physical restraint against the worker or someone the worker cares about. The second is psychological coercion, meaning a deliberate scheme or pattern designed to make the worker believe that not working would bring serious consequences to themselves or another person.

The third category, threats of “serious harm,” reaches beyond violence. The law defines serious harm broadly enough to include financial, reputational, and psychological injury severe enough to make a reasonable person in the same situation keep working against their will. The fourth is abuse of the legal process, where an employer uses the law itself as leverage. Threatening to call immigration authorities to avoid paying wages, or filing a fabricated criminal accusation to keep a worker in line, both qualify.

Who Can Be Prosecuted

Direct coercion is not the only way to earn charges. Under 18 U.S.C. § 1589(b), anyone who knowingly benefits financially from a forced-labor venture, or does so in reckless disregard of the fact that forced labor is involved, faces the same penalties as the person doing the coercing.² That sweeps in business owners, corporate officers, and investors who profit from operations they know are exploiting workers.

Prison Time, Fines, and Restitution

A forced-labor conviction carries up to 20 years in federal prison per count. When the offense causes death or involves kidnapping or aggravated sexual abuse, the maximum rises to any term of years up to life.¹ Under the general federal fine statute, individuals can be fined up to $250,000 and organizations up to $500,000.³

Restitution is not optional. Under 18 U.S.C. § 1593, federal courts must order the defendant to pay the “full amount of the victim’s losses.” That figure is the greater of two calculations: the gross income the defendant earned from the victim’s labor, or the value of that labor computed at Fair Labor Standards Act minimum wage and overtime rates.⁴ A trafficker who profited far above minimum wage from a worker’s labor pays back at the higher rate.

Taking a Worker’s Documents Is Its Own Crime

Confiscating or destroying someone’s passport, immigration papers, or government-issued ID to restrict their movement and keep them working is separately criminalized under 18 U.S.C. § 1592, with penalties of up to five years in federal prison.⁵ Document seizure is one of the most common ways traffickers prevent victims from leaving or seeking help, and the statute exists to reach that specific tactic on its own terms.

The Prison-Labor Exception

The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in 1865, with one written exception: labor imposed as punishment for a criminal conviction.⁶ Federal courts have held that incarcerated workers are not covered by minimum wage laws, overtime protections, or the right to organize, and correctional institutions can enforce work requirements through consequences like loss of good-time credits or restrictive housing.⁷ So the federal forced-labor protections described above do not apply to work performed as part of a criminal sentence.

How to Recognize Forced Labor

Forced labor rarely looks dramatic. It usually hides inside something that appears to be an ordinary job. Common indicators include:

An employer holding a worker’s passport, visa, or ID and refusing to return it. This alone is a federal crime under 18 U.S.C. § 1592.⁵
Debt bondage, where a worker supposedly owes a large sum for recruitment, travel, or housing, structured so it can never realistically be repaid.
Controlled communication or movement: no personal phone, no leaving without supervision, all transportation controlled by the employer.
Overcrowded or unsafe employer-provided housing with inflated rent deducted from pay, leaving little or no take-home income.
Threats tied to immigration status, warning that any complaint will end in deportation or arrest, regardless of the worker’s actual legal status.

One indicator warrants concern. Several together usually mean the situation has crossed from a bad job into criminal exploitation.

Civil Lawsuits by Victims

Victims are not required to wait for prosecutors. Under 18 U.S.C. § 1595, a victim can sue in federal district court, either the person who exploited them or anyone who knowingly benefited from the trafficking venture, and recover compensatory damages and reasonable attorney’s fees.⁸

The statute of limitations is ten years from the wrongful conduct, or ten years after a minor victim turns 18, whichever is later.⁸ If a criminal prosecution is underway on the same facts, the civil case is paused until the criminal case reaches a final decision at the trial court level. State attorneys general may also bring civil actions on behalf of their residents against sex trafficking operations under the same statute.

Immigration Protections for Victims

Fear of deportation is one of the main reasons trafficking victims stay silent, and traffickers rely on it. Federal law provides two forms of relief that address this directly.

T Nonimmigrant Status

The T visa lets victims of a severe form of trafficking, which includes forced labor, remain in the United States. To qualify, you must be physically present in the U.S. on account of the trafficking, comply with reasonable law-enforcement requests to help investigate or prosecute the crime, and show that removal would cause extreme hardship. Victims under 18 and those who cannot cooperate due to trauma are exempt from the law-enforcement cooperation requirement.⁹

T visa applications are fee-exempt at every stage, and the information a victim provides is kept confidential. The government cannot deny an application based solely on evidence supplied by the trafficker. Up to 5,000 T visas are available to principal applicants each fiscal year; family members granted derivative status do not count against the cap.

Continued Presence

Before a T visa is filed, law enforcement can request Continued Presence for a trafficking victim who may serve as a witness. This temporary designation allows the victim to remain in the country legally while the investigation proceeds. Any federal, state, or local law enforcement agency with authority to investigate trafficking can initiate a request, though state and local agencies must have theirs sponsored by a federal agency.¹⁰ No charges need to be filed and no prosecution needs to be pending for Continued Presence to be granted.

Reporting Forced Labor

Two federal channels handle reports. The National Human Trafficking Hotline operates 24 hours a day at 1-888-373-7888 in multiple languages, and specialists there can help assess the situation, connect victims with local services, and route tips to law enforcement.¹¹ Tips can also go directly to Homeland Security Investigations at 877-4-HSI-TIP.¹²

Specific information helps investigators act faster: the exact location of the worksite or residence, the number of people involved, and the specific behaviors observed. Reports can be anonymous, though leaving a contact method for follow-up questions can strengthen the case. Federal agencies use these reports to coordinate multi-agency task forces that handle criminal prosecution and victim stabilization at the same time.¹³

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1589 – Forced Labor
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 US Code 1589 – Forced Labor
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3571 – Sentence of Fine
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1593 – Mandatory Restitution
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 US Code 1592 – Unlawful Conduct With Respect to Documents in Furtherance of Trafficking, Peonage, Slavery, Involuntary Servitude, or Forced Labor
6
Congress.gov. US Constitution – Thirteenth Amendment
7
U.S. Government Accountability Office. Prisoner Labor: Perspectives on Paying the Federal Minimum Wage
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1595 – Civil Remedy
9
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Victims of Human Trafficking: T Nonimmigrant Status
10
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Continued Presence: Temporary Immigration Designation for Victims of Human Trafficking
11
National Human Trafficking Hotline. National Human Trafficking Hotline
12
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Human Trafficking – ICE
13
Department of Justice. Human Trafficking – Special Programs and Initiatives