N.M. Stat. § 30-52-1 (2026)

A. Human trafficking consists of a person knowingly:

      (1)     recruiting, soliciting, enticing, transporting or obtaining by any means
another person with the intent or knowledge that force, fraud or coercion will be used to
subject the person to labor, services or commercial sexual activity;

      (2)    recruiting, soliciting, enticing, transporting or obtaining by any means a
person under the age of eighteen years with the intent or knowledge that the person will
be caused to engage in commercial sexual activity; or

       (3)    benefiting, financially or by receiving anything of value, from the labor,
services or commercial sexual activity of another person with the knowledge that force,
fraud or coercion was used to obtain the labor, services or commercial sexual activity.

   B. The attorney general and the district attorney in the county of jurisdiction have
concurrent jurisdiction to enforce the provisions of this section.

    C. Whoever commits human trafficking is guilty of a third degree felony; except if the
victim is under the age of:

       (1)    sixteen, the person is guilty of a second degree felony; or

       (2)    thirteen, the person is guilty of a first degree felony.

   D. Prosecution pursuant to this section shall not prevent prosecution pursuant to
any other provision of the law when the conduct also constitutes a violation of that other
provision.
   E. In a prosecution pursuant to this section, a human trafficking victim shall not be
charged with accessory to the crime of human trafficking.

   F. A person convicted of human trafficking shall, in addition to any other
punishment, be ordered to make restitution to the victim for the gross income or value of
the victim's labor or services and any other actual damages in accordance with Section
31-17-1 NMSA 1978.

   G. As used in this section:

      (1)      "coercion" means:

            (a) causing or threatening to cause harm to any person;

            (b) using or threatening to use physical force against any person;

            (c) abusing or threatening to abuse the law or legal process;

           (d) threatening to report the immigration status of any person to governmental
authorities; or

           (e) knowingly destroying, concealing, removing, confiscating or retaining any
actual or purported government document of any person; and

        (2)    "commercial sexual activity" means any sexual act or sexually explicit
exhibition for which anything of value is given, promised to or received by any person.

History: Laws 2008, ch. 17, § 1.

                                      ANNOTATIONS

Effective dates. — Laws 2008, ch. 17, § 4 made this section effective July 1, 2008.

Knowledge of victim’s age is not an element of human trafficking. — Where
defendant was convicted of human trafficking, promoting prostitution, accepting
earnings from a prostitute, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and conspiracy,
and where defendant argued that to convict him, a jury must find that he knew the victim
was under the age of eighteen when the acts giving rise to the human trafficking
conviction occurred, the state was not required to prove the defendant knew the victim’s
age as an element of the offense of human trafficking, because common usage and
generally accepted principles of grammar, as well as the structure and language of the
statute, indicate the legislature intended that a jury determine whether “recruiting,
soliciting, enticing, transporting, or obtaining” was done knowingly rather than whether
the defendant knew the age of the person being recruited, solicited, enticed,
transported, or obtained. State v. Jackson, 2018-NMCA-066, cert. denied.
Knowledge of the victim's age is not an element of the offense of human
trafficking of a minor. — Where defendant was convicted of human trafficking of a
person under the age of eighteen years, and where the relevant jury instruction did not
require the jury to find, as an element of the offense, that defendant knew the victim was
under the age of eighteen years, there was no instructional error because "knowingly",
in Subsection A of this section describes the action of recruiting, soliciting, enticing,
transporting or obtaining, not the age requirement. The state was not required to prove
that defendant knew the victim's age as an element of the offense. State v. Carson,
2020-NMCA-015, cert. denied.

Sufficient evidence to support human trafficking conviction. — Where defendant
was convicted of human trafficking, promoting prostitution, accepting earnings from a
prostitute, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and conspiracy, defendant’s
conviction for human trafficking was supported by substantial evidence where the
evidence presented at trial established that defendant created an advertisement for the
victim on a website commonly used to advertise prostitution services, that defendant
took the victim to a gas station and dropped her off there intending for her to exchange
sex for money, and that the victim was seventeen years old at the time. State v.
Jackson, 2018-NMCA-066, cert. denied.

Sufficient evidence of conspiracy to commit human trafficking. — Where
defendant was convicted of human trafficking, promoting prostitution, accepting
earnings from a prostitute, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and conspiracy,
defendant’s conviction for conspiracy to commit human trafficking was supported by
substantial evidence where the evidence presented at trial established that defendant
instructed his co-conspirator to create an advertisement for the victim on a website
commonly used to advertise prostitution services and that the co-conspirator agreed to
do. State v. Jackson, 2018-NMCA-066, cert. denied.