Preventing Trafficking of Minors Act of 2026

Key Points

• The bill expands federal law to criminalize soliciting, patronizing, or paying for commercial sex acts with minors. It adds several new categories of conduct beyond the existing coercion and enticement provisions, including simply entering a place with intent to engage in a commercial sex act with a minor.
• A person accused of these crimes can no longer claim they did not know the victim was under 18. If the accused had a reasonable chance to see the victim, prosecutors do not need to prove knowledge of the victim's age at all.
• The bill removes the requirement to prove force, fraud, or coercion when the victim is a minor, making it easier for prosecutors to secure convictions in child sex trafficking cases.
• Law enforcement sting operations are explicitly protected. A defendant cannot avoid charges by arguing that the person they believed to be a minor was actually an undercover officer or someone working with police.
• The bill increases the mandatory minimum prison sentence from 10 years to 15 years when the victim is under 14 years old. These changes take effect 180 days after the bill becomes law and apply only to offenses committed after that date.