Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that expands the official state definition of "human smuggling" to include harboring and assisting an undocumented immigrant in West Virginia.

Highlights:

• Exempts the physical restraint of a minor by a parent or guardian for lawful purposes from the definition of “coercion” (Sec. 1).

• Defines “human smuggling” as knowingly transporting, transferring, receiving, isolating, enticing, or harboring an undocumented immigrant to avoid enforcement of the laws of West Virginia, another state, or the United States (Sec. 1).

• Exempts instances in which an undocumented immigrant is voluntarily transported by an immediate family member (Sec. 1).

• Expands the definition of “human trafficking” to include any instance of knowingly recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, receiving, providing, obtaining, isolating, maintaining, or enticing an individual to travel to a location (Sec. 1).

• Classifies the human smuggling of an adult as a felony and establishes a mandatory sentence of two to 10 years imprisonment upon conviction (Sec. 2).

• Classifies the human smuggling of a minor as a felony and establishes a mandatory sentence of three to 15 years imprisonment upon conviction (Sec. 2).

• Requires any vessel, vehicle, or aircraft involved in a conviction described above to be subject to seizure, forfeiture, and sale (Sec. 2).

• Increases the minimum and maximum sentences for conviction of human trafficking involving the use of forced labor, debt bondage, or sexual servitude, and for conviction of patronizing a victim of sexual servitude (Sec. 3-6).

• Prohibits individuals convicted of an offense under this Act in which the victim is a minor from eligibility for parole (Sec. 7).

• Expands the definition of an “aggravating circumstance,” for the purpose of this Act, to include the use of a deadly weapon, bodily injury or disfigurement, any sexual offense, or sexual servitude (Sec. 7).

• Exempts individuals providing medical or mental health services to an undocumented immigrant, and any licensed attorney whose client is an undocumented immigrant, from the provisions of this Act (Sec. 10).

Full Bill Text