MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2011 Regular Session
To: Judiciary B
By: Representative Walley
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTIONS 97-3-54.1 AND 97-3-54.4, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO INCLUDE THE HIRING OF ILLEGAL ALIENS IN THE MISSISSIPPI ANTI-HUMAN TRAFFICKING ACT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 97-3-54.1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-3-54.1. (1) (a) A person who recruits, entices, harbors, transports, hires an illegal alien, provides or obtains by any means, or attempts to recruit, entice, harbor, transport, provide or obtain by any means, another person, intending or knowing that the person will be subjected to forced labor or services, shall be guilty of the crime of human-trafficking.
(b) A person who knowingly subjects, or attempts to subject, another person to forced labor or services shall be guilty of the crime of procuring involuntary servitude.
(c) A person who knowingly subjects, or attempts to subject, or who recruits, entices, harbors, transports, provides or obtains by any means, or attempts to recruit, entice, harbor, transport, provide or obtain by any means, a minor, knowing that the minor will engage in commercial sexual activity, sexually explicit performance, or the production of sexually oriented material, or causes or attempts to cause a minor to engage in commercial sexual activity, sexually explicit performance, or the production of sexually oriented material, shall be guilty of procuring sexual servitude of a minor and shall be punished by commitment to the custody of the Department of Corrections for not more than thirty (30) years.
(2) A person who is convicted of an offense set forth in subsection (1)(a) or (b) of this section, or who benefits, whether financially or by receiving anything of value, from participation in a venture that has engaged in an act described in this section, shall be committed to the custody of the Department of Corrections for not more than twenty (20) years.
SECTION 2. Section 97-3-54.4, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-3-54.4. For the purposes of Sections 97-3-54 through 97-3-54.4, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings ascribed herein unless the context clearly requires otherwise:
(a) "Actor" means a person who violates any of the provisions of Sections 97-3-54 through 97-3-54.4 including a person who hires an illegal alien.
(b) "Blackmail" means obtaining property or things of value of another by threatening to (i) inflict bodily injury on anyone; (ii) commit any other criminal offense; or (iii) expose any secret tending to subject any person to hatred, contempt or ridicule.
(c) "Commercial sexual activity" means any sex act on account of which anything of value is given to, promised to, or received by any person.
(d) "Financial harm" includes, but is not limited to, extortion as defined by Section 97-3-82, Mississippi Code of 1972, or violation of the usury law as defined by Title 75, Chapter 17, Mississippi Code of 1972.
(e) "Forced labor or services" means labor or services that are performed or provided by another person and are obtained or maintained through an actor:
(i) Causing or threatening to cause serious harm to any person;
(ii) Physically restraining or threatening to physically restrain any person;
(iii) Abusing or threatening to abuse the law or legal process;
(iv) Knowingly destroying, concealing, removing, confiscating or possessing any actual or purported passport or other immigration document, or any other actual or purported government identification document, of another person;
(v) Using blackmail;
(vi) Causing or threatening to cause financial harm to any person; or
(vii) Using any scheme, plan or pattern intended to cause any person to believe that, if the person did not perform such labor or services, that person or another person would suffer serious harm or physical restraint.
(f) "Labor" means work of economic or financial value.
(g) "Maintain" means, in relation to labor or services, to secure continued performance thereof, regardless of any initial agreement on the part of the trafficked person to perform such labor or service.
(h) "Minor" means a person under the age of eighteen (18) years.
(i) "Obtain" means, in relation to labor or services, to secure performance thereof.
(j) "Services" means an ongoing relationship between a person and the actor in which the person performs activities under the supervision of or for the benefit of the actor or a third party. Commercial sexual activity and sexually explicit performances shall be considered services under Sections 97-3-54 through 97-3-54.4.
(k) "Sexually explicit performance" means a live or public act or show intended to arouse or satisfy the sexual desires or appeal to the prurient interests of patrons.
(l) "Trafficked person" means a person subjected to the practices prohibited by Sections 97-3-54 through 97-3-54.4 and is a term used interchangeably with the terms "victim of trafficking" and "trafficking victim."
(m) "Venture" means any group of two (2) or more individuals associated in fact, whether or not a legal entity.
(n) "Sexually oriented material" shall have the meaning ascribed in Section 97-5-27, Mississippi Code of 1972.
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2011.