18 U.S.C. § 1590
Section 1590 · Trafficking with respect to peonage, slavery, involuntary servitude, or forced labor
This is § 112 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 44 court decisions — leading case United States v. Alvarado-Casas (2013)
Most recently applied in United States v. William Godoy (July 2025)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) Whoever knowingly recruits, harbors, transports, provides, or obtains by any means, any person for labor or services in violation of this chapter shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both. If death results from the violation of this section, or if the violation includes kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse, or the attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, the defendant shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for any term of years or life, or both.
(b) Whoever obstructs, attempts to obstruct, or in any way interferes with or prevents the enforcement of this section, shall be subject to the penalties under subsection (a).
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
2008—Pub. L. 110–457 designated existing provisions as subsec. (a) and added subsec. (b).