West Virginia law sets penalties for trafficking and human smuggling

A person who knowingly and willfully smuggles an adult or minor, or helps someone do so, commits a felony. The rule covers adults and minors, as well as people who help with smuggling. Smuggling means knowingly and willfully transporting, transferring, receiving, isolating, enticing, or harboring an unlawfully present person to avoid state or federal immigration enforcement. Exceptions cover voluntary transport by an immediate family member, certain government workers, and people providing lawful advocacy or shelter services who are not trying to evade enforcement. A person may not transport an unlawfully present person into West Virginia for permanent placement. The enrolled text says the law takes effect 90 days after passage, on June 4, 2026.

A person convicted of trafficking or smuggling faces a prison sentence; some convictions also bar parole, and property used in the crime may be forfeited. These provisions apply to people convicted of offenses under the human trafficking and smuggling article. Smuggling carries 2 to 10 years for an adult and 3 to 15 years for a minor; trafficking carries 3 to 15 years for an adult and 5 to 20 years for a minor. Other listed offenses have separate penalties. A person convicted of an offense under this article involving a minor is not eligible for parole. For an indeterminate sentence, an aggravating circumstance also bars parole for at least five years. A vehicle, vessel, or aircraft may be seized and sold if its owner knowingly and willfully took part in the crime and is convicted. The text sets these consequences upon conviction; it gives no separate end date.

A court must order restitution for a person convicted of an offense under this article, and certain services for unlawfully present people are exempt from the article. The exemptions cover medical and mental health providers and qualifying attorneys and their support staff serving unlawfully present people. Restitution goes to the victim and may also go to public or private third parties that incurred costs. The court must order it even if the victim cannot collect it; if unclaimed within five years, it goes to the Crime Victims Compensation Fund. The article does not apply to medical or mental health providers serving an unlawfully present person. The legal-services exemption covers licensed attorneys and support staff with an active attorney-client relationship who represent that person in a criminal matter against them or in litigation about their federal immigration or naturalization status. If restitution remains unclaimed five years after the order, it goes to the Crime Victims Compensation Fund.