Legislative Bulletin

 

 

Hello all,

The National Immigration Forum's Legislative Bulletin for Friday, May
12, 2023, is now posted.

You can find the online version of the bulletin
here: [link removed]
<[link removed]>
[link removed]


All the best,

Arturo 

**LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN - Friday, May 12, 2023**BILLS INTRODUCED AND
CONSIDERED <#bills-introduced-and-considered>

LEGISLATIVE FLOOR CALENDAR <#legislative-floor-calendar>

UPCOMING HEARINGS AND MARKUPS <#upcoming-hearings-and-markups>

THEMES IN WASHINGTON THIS WEEK <#Themes-In-Washington-This-week>

GOVERNMENT REPORTS <#government-reports>

SPOTLIGHT ON NATIONAL IMMIGRATION FORUM RESOURCES
<#spotlight-on-national-immigration-forum-resources>

**BILLS INTRODUCED AND CONSIDERED**

It can be challenging to keep up with the constant barrage of proposed
legislation in Congress. So, every week, we round up new bills here.

H.R. 2
<[link removed]>Secure
the Border Act of 2023

This sweepingbill
<[link removed]>
package would severely limit asylum eligibility and access, curtail
other humanitarian pathways, restart border wall construction, mandate
employers to verify potential workers' immigration status nationwide,
and make other significant changes to immigration law and practice.

Sponsored by Representative Mario Díaz-Balart (R-Florida) (21
<[link removed]>
cosponsors - 21 Republicans, 0 Democrats)

05/02/2023 Introduced in the House by Representative Mario Díaz-Balart

05/02/2023 Referred to the House Committees on the Judiciary, Homeland
Security, Ways and Means, Education and the Workforce, and Foreign
Affairs

05/11/2023 Passed the House of Representatives after a219-213 vote
<[link removed]>

H.R. 3194
<[link removed]>U.S.
Citizenship Act of 2023

Thebill
<[link removed]>
would expand pathways to citizenship for migrants, address the root
causes of migration, manage the southern border, and reform the
immigrant visa system.

Sponsored by Representative Linda Sánchez (D-California) (100
<[link removed]>
cosponsors - 100 Democrats, 0 Republicans)

05/10/2023 Introduced in the House by Representative Sánchez

05/10/2023 Referred to the House Committees on the Judiciary; Ways and
Means; Armed Services; Education and the Workforce; House
Administration; Financial Services; Natural Resources; Oversight and
Accountability; Foreign Affairs; Homeland Security; Intelligence; and
Energy and Commerce

S. 1479
<[link removed]>Make
the Migrant Protection Protocols Mandatory Act

Thebill
<[link removed]>
would reinstate and codify the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP),
commonly known as the "Remain in Mexico" program.

Sponsored by Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) (3
<[link removed]>
cosponsors - 3 Republicans, 0 Democrats)

05/09/2023 Introduced in the Senate by Senator Blackburn

05/09/2023 Referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary

S. 1494
<[link removed]>Border's
Unused Idle and Lying Dormant Inventory Transfer Act (BUILD IT Act)

Thebill
<[link removed]>
would require the federal government to transfer to any state, upon
request, any unused material associated with the construction of
barriers along the Southwest border.

Sponsored by Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) (4
<[link removed]>
cosponsors - 4 Republicans, 0 Democrats)

05/09/2023 Introduced in the Senate by Senator Ernst

05/09/2023 Referred to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs

S. 1498
<[link removed]>Finish
It Act

Thebill
<[link removed]>
would require the Secretary of Defense to use, transfer, or donate all
excess construction materials intended for the wall on the southwest
border of the United States that are being stored by the Department of
Defense.

Sponsored by Senator Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) (3
<[link removed]>
cosponsors - 3 Republicans, 0 Democrats)

05/09/2023 Introduced in the Senate by Senator Wicker

05/09/2023 Referred to the Senate Committee on Armed Services

S. 1532
<[link removed]>Alan
T. Shao II Fentanyl Public Health Emergency and Overdose Prevention Act

The bill would authorize the Department of Homeland Security to utilize
powers similar to those under Title 42 to expedite the processing and
removal of migrants entering the country between ports of entry in
response to the fentanyl-related public health emergency.

Sponsored by Senator Tim Scott (R-South Carolina) (3
<[link removed]>
cosponsors - 3 Republicans, 0 Democrats)

05/10/2023 Introduced in the Senate by Senator Scott

05/10/2023 Referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary

**LEGISLATIVE FLOOR CALENDAR**

The U.S. Senate will be in session from Monday, May 15, through Friday,
May 19, 2023.

The U.S. House of Representatives will be in session from Monday, May
15, through Thursday, May 18, 2023.

**UPCOMING HEARINGS AND MARKUPS**

Here, we round up congressional hearings and markups happening in the
field or in Washington. 

**Hearing: To examine economic cooperation for a stronger and more
resilient Western Hemisphere**
<[link removed]>

**Dates:** Tuesday, May 16, 2023, at 3:00 pm ET (Senate Committee on
Finance)

**Location:** 215 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.

**Witnesses:**

**Jonathan Fantini Porter**, Partnership for Central America, CEO

**Eric Farnsworth**, Council of the Americas, Vice President

**Margaret Myers**, Asia and Latin America Program, Inter-American
Dialogue, Woodrow Wilson Center, Director

**THEMES IN WASHINGTON THIS WEEK**

Immigration policy is a dynamic field subject to constant change. Here,
we summarize some of the most important recent developments in
immigration policy on the federal, legal, state, and local levels. 

Content warning: This section sometimes includes events and information
that can prove disturbing. 

****Federal ****

****Title 42 Ends, Biden Administration Revamps Border
Enforcement ****On May 11 at 11:59 p.m. EST, the Title 42 public health
order expired after more than three years of the United States swiftly
expelling migrants en masse - often to danger
<[link removed]>
- without even the opportunity to ask for asylum. 

Hours into the policy shift, officials at the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) said
<[link removed]>late
on Friday morning that their personnel "did not see a substantial
increase overnight" of migrants trying to cross into the U.S. In fact,
reports indicated a tense silence
<[link removed]>
and calm
<[link removed]>
hanging over U.S. border cities as pandemic-era expulsions were
immediately replaced by new restrictions
<[link removed]>
that would render many ineligible for asylum. 

This relative and unexpected quiet follows several days where border
authorities recorded a higher-than-usual number of crossings
<[link removed]>,
as migrants grappled with misinformation and mixed messaging over
whether they faced better odds crossing before or after Title 42's
end. In El Paso, officials responded to thousands of migrants sleeping
on the streets by launching an operation that actively invited people to
turn themselves in for processing. 

That strategy seemed to work,reports suggested
<[link removed]>:
by Wednesday, only about 135 people remained in the city's major
congregation spots. 

These moves come even as more clarity emerges - and key questions
remain - over how the Biden administration plans to respond to
migration at the U.S.-Mexico border post-Title 42. 

Earlier this week, the Department of Homeland Security and the Executive
Office for Immigration Review finalized their "Circumvention of Lawful
Pathways" rule
<[link removed]>,
which took effect as soon as the Title 42 policy ended. The new asylum
restrictions - which subject migrants to a rebuttable presumption of
asylum ineligibility unless they can meet limited exceptions
- largely mirrored the agencies' initial proposal from February,
despite many thousands of organizational and individual comments
expressing concerns about its contours. 

The administration also providedgreater detai
<[link removed]>l
around other policies it had already previewed, such as plans for
regional processing centers across the Western Hemisphere, a deployment
of military personnel for administrative support, increased detention
and removal flights, and changes to the CBP One App. 

But a series of court developments on Thursday could derail some of
those plans. In Florida, Judge T. Kent Wetherell, II blocked the
implementation of a new "parole with conditions" policy memorandum that
would have allowed Border Patrol agents to more efficiently process
migrants. Under the would-be practice
<[link removed]>,
Border Patrol would have been able to expedite releases for those who
did not represent a risk to public safety or national security, with
instructions for how to later check in with immigration authorities. 

"This is a harmful ruling that will result in unsafe overcrowding at CBP
facilities and undercut our ability to efficiently process and remove
migrants, and risks creating dangerous conditions for border patrol
agents and migrants," U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said in a
statement, according to CBS News
<[link removed]>. 

At the same time, immigration advocates also filed a legal challenge
<[link removed]>
against the Biden administration's "Circumvention of Lawful Pathways"
rule, arguing that it violates U.S. law - which stipulates that people
have a right to seek asylum no matter how they entered the country. The
filing also decries the federal regulation as arbitrary, capricious, and
procedurally flawed. 

****Secure the Border Act Passes House, Senate Ponders Detain-and-Expel
Mechanism Amid Title 42 End****On May 11, the Secure the Border Act of
2023
<[link removed]>passed
the U.S. House of Representatives
<[link removed]>,
as a majority of Republican lawmakers backed the enforcement-only
approach to border security and immigration reform mere hours before the
Title 42 public health order was set to expire. 

The proposed legislation advanced by a final vote of 219-213
<[link removed]>, with Republican Reps. Thomas
Massie (Kentucky) and John Duarte (California) defecting from the rest
of their party. But the bill is unlikely to move forward as drafted in
the Democratic-controlled Senate, given its provisions that would
severely restrict asylum, curtail other existing humanitarian pathways,
create new criminal penalties, and impose onerous restrictions on key
industries and small businesses. 

Elsewhere in Congress, a bipartisan group of more moderate lawmakers led
by Sen. Krysten Sinema (I-Arizona) have continued to push for a
legislated replacement for Title 42, through proposed legislation that
would establish a two-year detain-and-expel system at the U.S.-Mexico
border. 

It's unclear whether the bill, S.1473
<[link removed]>,
would achieve its desired effect of deterring irregular migration,
though the record number of migrant encounters under Title 42 suggest it
might not. Meanwhile, the proposal would largely end the U.S.'s
commitment to asylum and likely place vulnerable migrants in harm's
way. 

Even so, a bipartisan group in the House led by Rep. Jared F. Golden
(D-Maine) introduced a similar version of the bill - H.R.3234
<[link removed]>
- on Thursday. 

****Migrants Killed Outside Shelter in Brownsville Car Crash ****On May
7, an SUV driver ran into a group
<[link removed]>
waiting at a bus stop outside a migrant shelter in Brownsville, Texas on
Sunday morning, killing eight and severely injuring 10 others.

Authorities believe the driver, George Alvarez, lost control of the car
after running a red light and are still determining if the crash was
intentional. He has been charged with eight counts of manslaughter and
ten counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. 

The driver has refused
<[link removed]>
to cooperate with investigators and has not submitted to a breathalyzer
test or fingerprinting, although a preliminary toxicology report found
Alvarez had cocaine, benzodiazepines and marijuana in his system at the
time of the crash. 

The identities of the eight victims have not been released, however,
most of them were men from Venezuela. Authorities are working with
Venezuelan consular officials to identify the victims and reunite them
with loved ones.

****Return Flights to Colombia Temporarily Suspended After Alleged
Degrading Treatment, Last-Minute Cancellations****A program to return
Colombian nationals found by immigration officers at the US-Mexico
border has been temporarily suspended
<[link removed]>
by Colombia's migration agency citing cruel and degrading treatment
and last-minute cancellations.

The pilot plan expected to return around 1,200 migrants in flights
programmed to depart from the US during the first week of May, according
to the migration agency. 

As expulsions of migrants increase before COVID-19 restrictions are
lifted, Colombian authorities state the plan saw expulsion flights to
Colombia rise to around 20 per month. However, the plan was suspended
after flights programmed for May 1 and May 2 were canceled. 

Fernando Garcia, head of Colombia's migration agency, said some
migrants were subjected to cruel and degrading treatment before boarding
and during the flights, including the use of cuffs for hands and feet.

"There are recurring complaints about the poor conditions in detention
centers and mistreatment during flights, which represented a determining
factor in the decisions adopted in the last few hours," Garcia said. 

The US embassy in Bogota declined to comment and ICE did not immediately
respond to a request for comment.

****DHS Announces New Family Reunification Parole Programs for El
Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Colombia****On April 27, the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS)announced
<[link removed]>
a new family reunification parole process for El Salvador, Guatemala,
Honduras, and Colombia. In addition, DHS announced the modernization of
the existing family reunification parole processes for Cuba and Haiti.
These processes, once finalized, will allow vetted individuals with
already approved family-based petitions to be paroled into the United
States, on a case-by-case basis, while they wait for their immigrant
visas.

On May 10, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)announced
<[link removed]> that it would provide additional information
on these programs - which are still not in operation - in mid-June
2023.

****Legal****

****U.S. Supreme Court Clears Path For Guatemalan Transgender Asylum
Seeker to Appeal Deportation****On May 11, the U.S. Supreme Court
unanimouslyruled
<[link removed]>
that noncitizens can appeal Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) decisions
before federal courts without having to exhaust all administrative
remedies first.

The case,Santos-Zacaria v. Garland
<[link removed]>, stems
from the government's attempt to deport a transgender Guatemalan woman
who had been the victim of rape in Guatemala. When Santos-Zacaria
entered the United States, she applied for a type of humanitarian relief
known as "withholding of removal
<[link removed]>."
Pursuant to current immigration laws, a withholding-of-removal applicant
must show they are likely to be persecuted in the country to which the
government will send them due to their membership in a particular social
group, including the LGBTQ+ community. The immigration judge denied
Santos-Zacaria's application and ordered her deportation. She appealed
the decision before the BIA, which upheld the judge's decision arguing
that Santos-Zacaria's past sexual abuse did not mean she'd continue to
face the same abuse in the future if returned. Santos-Zacaria appealed
to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, where a divided panel
upheld the BIA's decision.

Santos-Zacaria thenappealed
<[link removed]> the 5th Circuit
decision before the U.S. Supreme Court, which granted certiorari on
October 3, 2022, and held oral arguments on January 11, 2023. 

****State and Local ****

****DeSantis Signs Sweeping Immigration Law, Florida Already Feeling the
Consequences****On May 10, Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) signed
<[link removed]> an
anti-immigration bill in hopes of deterring undocumented migration.
"People are gonna come if they get benefits," Governor DeSantis
explained during the signing of the bill. The law will mandate
businesses with 25 or more employees or more to implement E-Verify, a
web-based system that allows employers to confirm the immigration status
of their employees. The law will also make it a third-degree felony to
"knowingly and willingly" transport undocumented immigrants and prohibit
municipalities from issuing government identification cards.

According to the Migration Policy Institute, nearly 800,000 undocumented
migrants
<[link removed]>
live in Florida. Many of them work in agriculture and construction. 

Though the law goes into effect on July 1st, Florida is already
experiencing the chilling effects of these harsh provisions. Recent
reports
<[link removed]>
show how some construction and agriculture sites have emptied in the
past couple of days because workers fear deportation. The future of both
industries in Florida is precarious.

****Texas Border Protection Unit Plans Move Forward as Abbott Tests
Federal Immigration Enforcement Authority****On May 10, the Texas House
approved HB 7
<[link removed]>,
a border protection bill that could establish the state's own border
protection unit. The bill borrows language from HB 20, which was
initially killed by Democrats three hours earlier. The bill's
amendment, which was adopted 90-51, will authorize the use of non-deadly
force to arrest and apprehend migrants illegally crossing the
Texas-Mexico border. The potential unit would mark a shift from federal
to state immigration enforcement.

Officials have not yet determined the fiscal implications of the bill
because the "size and scope" of the border protection unit remain
unknown. Still, the sweeping border legislation has significant support,
with more than 50 representatives signing on to the bill. 

Representatives who oppose the legislation warn of the consequences
<[link removed]>
the bill's rhetoric could bring. If signed into law, the bill could
embolden individual civilians to act as vigilantes and target anyone
they believe to be a migrant. Rep. Victoria Neave Criado (D-Dallas) and
Rep. Erin Gámez (D-Brownsville) argued that the unit would racially
profile Hispanic communities close to the border.  Criado asserts that
the "statewide bill" could be "devastating whether you are new Texans or
your family has been here for generations."

**GOVERNMENT REPORTS**

Reports by bodies such as the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the
Congressional Research Service, and the Department of Homeland
Security's Office of Inspector General provide invaluable information on
immigration policy and practice. Here, we give brief summaries of new
immigration-related reports, with links to the resources themselves in
case you want to learn more. 

There were no immigration-related government reports this week.

**SPOTLIGHT ON NATIONAL IMMIGRATION FORUM RESOURCES**The Forum is
constantly publishing new policy-focused resources that engage with some
of the most topical issues around immigration today. Here are a few that
are particularly relevant this week: 

**Bill Analysis: The Secure the Border Act of 2023**
<[link removed]>The
bill package would severely restrict the right to seek asylum in the
U.S., curtail other existing lawful pathways, place unnecessary pressure
on border communities, intensify labor shortages faced by small
businesses and essential industries, establish new criminal penalties,
and make other significant changes to U.S. immigration law.

**Q&A: What to Know About the Biden Administration's New Asylum
Restrictions**
<[link removed]>This
explainer provides an overview of the "Circumvention of Lawful Pathways"
rule. It explains in simple terms what the rule does, how it will affect
asylum seekers, and where it will interact with other border enforcement
policies post-Title 42.

**The Implications of the Biden Asylum Rule in Mexico, Costa Rica,
Colombia, and the Northern Triangle Nations**
<[link removed]>This
paper analyzes the implications of the Biden asylum rule in Mexico,
Costa Rica, Colombia, and the Northern Triangle nations. It highlights
that the asylum systems in these countries are already overstretched and
underfunded. We argue that these countries do not represent efficient,
functional, and viable alternatives for migrants to seek asylum.

**Eliminating the Naturalization Backlog**
<[link removed]>This
report provides a general overview and analysis of USCIS naturalization
backlogs looking at historic trends, contributing factors, and staffing
levels, as well as examining USCIS's record on responding to past
backlogs. It concludes by providing proposals to make the processing of
naturalization applications more efficient and setting a goal to timely
reduce and eliminate the naturalization backlog.

* * *

*This Bulletin is not intended to be comprehensive. Please contact
Arturo Castellanos-Canales, Policy and Advocacy Manager at the National
Immigration Forum, with comments and suggestions of additional items to
be included. Arturo can be reached [email protected].
Thank you.

 

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