Legislative Bulletin

 

 

Hello all,

The National Immigration Forum's Legislative Bulletin for Friday, March
26, 2021 is now posted.

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

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All the best,

Danilo 

**LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN - Friday, March 26, 2021**BILLS INTRODUCED AND
CONSIDERED

LEGISLATIVE FLOOR CALENDAR

UPCOMING HEARINGS AND MARKUPS

THEMES IN WASHINGTON THIS WEEK

GOVERNMENT REPORTS

SPOTLIGHT ON NATIONAL IMMIGRATION FORUM RESOURCES

**BILLS INTRODUCED AND CONSIDERED****S. 863**

**Asylum Abuse Reduction Act**

The bill would require asylum applicants to go through credible fear
screenings conducted by an asylum officer via telephone or at a U.S.
embassy or consulate before being considered for admittance into the
United States for asylum purposes.

Sponsored by Senator James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) (4

cosponsors - 4 Republicans, 0 Democrats)

03/18/2021 Introduced in the Senate by Senator Inhofe

03/18/2021 Referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary

**S. 884**

**Stopping Border Surges Act**

Among a number of asylum system restrictions, the bill would require
asylum seekers in the U.S. to have already applied for and have been
denied asylum in at least one country they traveled through en route to
the U.S. Those passing through a third country without seeking asylum in
that third country would not be eligible for asylum in the U.S. The bill
would also limit asylum eligibility to those who apply at a port of
entry, and it would allow migrant children to be held with their parents
for longer than the 20-day limit currently set by the Flores settlement
agreement.

Sponsored by Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) (6

cosponsors - 5 Republicans, 0 Democrats)

03/22/2021 Introduced in the Senate by Senator Lee

03/22/2021 Referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary

S. 858

**The Preventing Visa Overstays Act**

The bill would impose criminal penalties on those who overstay their
visas. The bill would require individuals pay a fine of up to $500 per
day that they remain in the U.S. past the expiration of their visas, or
face a jail sentence of up to one year, or both.

Sponsored by Senator John Kennedy (R-Louisiana) (0 cosponsors)

03/18/2021 Introduced in the Senate by Senator Kennedy

03/18/2021 Referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary

**S. 859**

**The Visa Lottery Repeal Act**

The bill would eliminate the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program.

Sponsored by Senator John Kennedy (R-Louisiana) (0 cosponsors)

03/18/2021 Introduced in the Senate by Senator Kennedy

03/18/2021 Referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary

**S. 875**

**Ending Sanctuary Cities Act**

The bill would withhold federal grants from jurisdictions with
"sanctuary" policies. It would also give additional legal protections to
local law enforcement officers who cooperate with federal immigration
officials.

Sponsored by Senator John Kennedy (R-Louisiana) (0 cosponsors)

03/18/2021 Introduced in the Senate by Senator Kennedy

03/18/2021 Referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary

**S. 903**

**The End Child Trafficking Now Act**

The bill would mandate DNA testing for migrants crossing the Southern
border. The bill would require DHS to deport migrant adults if they
refused a DNA test, and would establish criminal penalties, including up
to a 10-year prison sentence, for adults who misrepresent their familial
ties to a minor.

Sponsored by Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) (3

cosponsors - 3 Republicans, 0 Democrats)

03/23/2021 Introduced in the Senate by Senator Blackburn

03/23/2021 Referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary

**S. 959**

**The Secure and Protect Act of 2021**

This bill would modify the Flores settlement agreement to allow for
children to be detained for up to 100 days and would amend the
Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) to allow for
expedited deportations of unaccompanied immigrant children (UACs) from
noncontiguous countries. It would also require asylum seekers to apply
only at refugee processing centers in Northern Triangle and Mexico and
add 500 new immigration judges.

Sponsored by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) (2

cosponsors - 2 Republicans, 0 Democrats)

03/24/2021 Introduced in the Senate by Senator Graham

03/24/2021 Referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary

S. ___

**The Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2021**

This bill would close a loophole in the Child Citizenship Act of 2000
(CCA), which has prevented internationally-adopted children, who are now
adults, from receiving U.S. citizenship despite being raised by American
parents.

Sponsored by Senator Roy Blunt (R-Missouri) (5 cosponsors - 3
Democrats, 2 Republicans)

03/26/2021 Introduced by Senator Blunt

**H.R. 2003**

**Secure the Southern Border Act**

The bill would enact into law several immigration-related executive
orders and actions that were implemented during the Trump
administration. These include actions related to building barriers on
the Southern border, instituting the Migration Protection Protocols, and
implementing restrictions to the asylum system.

Sponsored by Representative Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado) (10

cosponsors - 10 Republicans, 0 Democrats)

03/18/2021 Introduced in the House by Representative Boebert

03/18/2021 Referred to the House Committees on Homeland Security, Armed
Services, Oversight and Reform, Foreign Affairs, and on the Judiciary

**H.R. 2004**

**No Amnesty Act**

The bill would seek to defund a series of immigration-related executive
orders and actions taken by the Biden administration in its first months
in office. These actions include the February 18 Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) memorandum setting agency priorities, the January 25
DHS memorandum expressing support for Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals (DACA), and the February 5 executive order establishing a plan
to create a regional framework for addressing the root causes of
migration

Sponsored by Representative Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado) (10

cosponsors - 10 Republicans, 0 Democrats)

03/18/2021 Introduced in the House by Representative Boebert

03/18/2021 Referred to the House Committees on Foreign Affairs, Armed
Services, Intelligence, Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means, Homeland
Security, and on the Judiciary

**H.R. 2064**

**The bill would provide for certain protections for aliens granted
temporary protected status or deferred enforced departure, and for other
purposes.**

Sponsored by Representative Chris Smith (R-New Jersey) (0 cosponsors)

03/18/2021 Introduced in the House by Representative Smith

03/18/2021 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary

**H.R. 2086**

**The bill would simplify and rename the H-2C worker program.**

Sponsored by Representative Rick Crawford (R-Arkansas) (2

cosponsors - 2 Republicans, 0 Democrats)

03/19/2021 Introduced in the House by Representative Crawford

03/19/2021 Referred to the House Committees on Energy and Commerce,
Education and Labor, and the Judiciary

**H.R. 2162**

**The Criminalize Fleeing from Immigration Enforcement Act**

The bill would make it a federal crime to flee from law enforcement
officials when being pursued for improper entry and other immigration
related infractions.

Sponsored by Representative Matthew Rosendale (R-Montana) (9

cosponsors - 9 Republicans, 0 Democrats)

03/23/2021 Introduced in the House by Representative Rosendale

03/23/2021 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary

**H.R. 2180**

**Redirecting Resources to the Border Act**

The bill would redirect materials and personnel currently dedicated to
protecting the U.S. Capitol building to be used at the Southern border.
The bill would also require the Secretary of Defense to reassign members
of the National Guard deployed to the U.S. Capitol to be moved to the
southern border.

Sponsored by Representative Randy Weber (R-Texas) (12

cosponsors - 12 Republicans, 0 Democrats)

03/24/2021 Introduced in the House by Representative Weber

03/24/2021 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary

**LEGISLATIVE FLOOR CALENDAR**The U.S. Senate and the U.S. House will
not be in session the week of March 29, 2021.

**UPCOMING HEARINGS AND MARKUPS**There are no immigration-related
hearings or markups currently scheduled for the week of March 29, 2021.

**THEMES IN WASHINGTON THIS WEEK**

**Federal**

****Bipartisan Group of Senators Meet to Discuss Immigration
Reform****According to a March 24 report in Politico
,
Senate Democrats and Republicans met for the first significant
bipartisan meeting on immigration reform this Congress. Senator Dick
Durbin (D-Illinois) organized the meeting to assess

bipartisan support for immigration legislation, with senators on both
sides of the aisle acknowledging that comprehensive reform is unlikely.
Democrats advocated for bringing up two pieces of bipartisan legislation
recently passed by the House of Representatives that would provide
relief to Dreamers, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients, and
workers and farmers in the agriculture industry. Republicans reportedly
requested that increased border security funding be included in any
reform efforts.

Following the meeting, Senator Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) said
,
"It was a good first discussion, nobody's taken themselves out. I
thought they were all genuinely interested."

In addition to Senators Durbin and Tillis, attendees at the meeting
included Republican Senators John Cornyn (R-Texas), Susan Collins
(R-Maine), Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and
Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota), joined by Democratic Senators Alex Padilla
(D-California), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Arizona), Chris Coons (D-Delaware),
Michael Bennet (D-Colorado), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nevada) and Ben
Ray Lujan (D-New Mexico).

According to the report, the group plans to meet again to continue
negotiations and discuss specific proposals.

****Biden Administration Plans Additional Intake Facilities to House
Unaccompanied Children****The week of March 22, the Biden administration
announced a series of additional measures it is taking to respond to the
continued arrival of unaccompanied children at the southern border.

On March 23, the administration announced it plans to open a second
influx facility

in Carrizo Springs, Texas to care for unaccompanied kids, with an
initial capacity of 500 beds but with the possibility of adding
semi-permanent additional space. The shelter would be run under the
Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office of Refugee
Resettlement (ORR). According to a March 24 report, HHS officials also
requested the use of space
in two
Texas military bases, Fort Bliss and Joint Base San Antonio, to
temporarily house an additional 5,300 children.

According to a March 20 report, the Biden Administration is also working

with a Texas nonprofit called Endeavors to house children in private
hotels. Private hotels were previously controversially used by the Trump
administration to detain and quickly expel children without providing
access to lawyers or family members. The Biden administration has stated
that children who are moved on to influx facilities or hotels under HHS
care will be treated according to applicable state standards of care.
However, legal service providers, press, and other nongovernmental
organizations have largely been denied access
 to
the CBP facilities.

In addition to increasing ORR capacity by making use of additional
intake facilities and hotels, the Biden administration has also
announced it will begin expediting the process

to release certain minors to family members in the U.S. Under the
expedited process, which will free up space in shelters, ORR will allow
sponsors who are direct parents or guardians of migrant children to
submit photos of required documents and paperwork via text messaging,
instead of requiring hard copies to be provided in person.

When children at the border are determined to be unaccompanied, they are
required by law to be transferred within 72 hours from CBP holding cells
to ORR shelters, where they are then processed on to family members and
other vetted sponsors as their immigration court cases proceed. The
recent increase in arriving children has caused ORR shelters to reach
operational capacity, resulting in a backup of children in overcrowded
CBP holding centers, which are not designed

to care for or house children. As of March 24, 4,962 unaccompanied
children were in CBP custody
, while
11,551 have been transferred to ORR. Children are spending an average of
five days in CBP custody, two days beyond the legal limit.

While overall apprehensions at the border has risen in recent months,
and particularly those of unaccompanied children, a March 25 Washington
Post analysis

suggested that the increase is largely attributable to seasonal
increases in migration, boosted by migrants who delayed their travel in
2020 for pandemic-related reasons.

****Biden Taps Vice President Harris to Lead Response to Humanitarian
Border Crisis as Administration Plans Bilateral Response****On March 24,
President Joe Biden tapped

Vice President Kamala Harris to lead the administration's response to
the increase in unaccompanied children (UACs) at the Southern border. In
this role, Harris will have additional responsibility for diplomatic
engagement with other countries in the region. The announcement comes as
the administration develops a bilateral response to the current
situation that will address the root causes and push factors driving
migration from Central American countries. Vice President Harris said of
the assignment that, "the work will not be easy, but it is important
work."

The Vice President will oversee ongoing conversations between the U.S.
and Mexico. On March 23, senior U.S. and Mexico officials met to discuss

a bilateral response to border situation. Attendees included Roberta
Jacobson, an advisor to the Biden administration on border issues, and
Juan Gonzalez, senior director for the Western Hemisphere at the
National Security Council. The officials met with Mexican Foreign
Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard. According to a statement

from the Mexican government, the discussion included a conversation
about both short-term and long-term solutions to address the root causes
of migration in Central America.

The U.S. delegation also held meetings with the Guatemalan government on
March 24.

****CBP Releasing Some Migrant Families Without Immigration Court
Notices****According to a March 22report
,
CBP is releasing certain migrant families with young children without
official notices to appear in immigration court. CBP facilities in the
Rio Grande Valley are becoming overcrowded, and the move to release some
migrants with "To Be Determined" court dates is designed to reduce the
amount of time families spend in detention. Customs and Border
Protection is reportedly collecting contact information from these
individuals.

While some asylum-seeking families who are determined to be vulnerable
are being apprehended and then released on alternatives to detention,
most continue to be immediately expelled under a Trump-era health rule
called Title 42. Over 70% of all arriving migrants, including some
families with small children, continue to be expelled

under the rule.

****More than 200 Organizations Join Democrats in Urging Biden to
Approve Revised Refugee Admissions Goal****On March 24, more than 200
local, state, and national organizations sent a letter to President
Biden urging him to sign a new Presidential Determination that would
raise the refugee ceiling for Fiscal Year (2021). The Biden
administration announced on February 6 that it planned to raise

the admissions ceiling for the current fiscal year to 62,500, a
significant increase from the historic low of 15,000 set by the Trump
administration in October 2020. Biden further stated the new ceiling
would be returning to a regional allocation model for refugees under the
cap based on vulnerability and need. However, as of March 26, Biden has
not yet signed the new determination and has not provided reasons for
the delay.

The letter urging the President to sign the Determination was
spearheaded by Refugee Council USA and joined by a number of faith,
business, labor, and advocacy organizations. The letter stated that "we
are in an important moment where it is time to restore U.S. global
leadership on refugee protection and resettlement."

According to a March 24 report
,
Democratic lawmakers are also asking Biden administration to provide an
explanation for the delay. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) said,
"He has not signed them yet, and I do not know why he has not yet signed
those documents. I will be asking the administration."

The delayed Presidential Determination has resulted in the cancellation
of over 700 refugee resettlement flights to the U.S., and more flights
are expected to be canceled in the coming weeks if a determination is
not signed. In a March 17 meeting, White House chief of staff Ron Klain
reportedly

said that the determination would be signed "soon."

****Legal****

****GAO Launches Legal Review of Border Wall Construction
Freeze****According to a March 23 report
, the
Government Accountability Office (GAO) is reviewing the legality of the
Biden administration's pause on the construction of a wall along the
southern border. The report comes after a group of 40 Senate Republicans
sent a letter to GAO accusing the Biden administration of violating
federal law by refusing to spend congressionally appropriated funds on
border wall construction. The Biden administration has said that the
spending freeze is to buy time for officials to create a new plan for
the money, and that the pause has been a formal and public process.

The freeze on border barrier construction was part of several
immigration-related executive actions President Biden took on his first
day in office. The January 20 proclamation

included language concerning the "redirection of funds concerning the
southern border wall, as appropriate and consistent with applicable
law." The proclamation further stated that it would be "subject to the
availability of appropriations."

**GOVERNMENT REPORTS**

**Congressional Research Service:****Asylum Processing at the Border:
Legal Basics**

**; March 19, 2021**This report focuses on the legal basics of asylum
processing at the border and what the Biden administration is currently
doing to handle the number of applicants. Recently, there has been an
increase in the arrival of non-US nationals, particularly unaccompanied
alien children, who do not have visas or valid entry documents at the
southern border. The Biden administration has so far primarily relied on
Title 42, a pandemic-related policy evoked by the Trump administration,
which permits Department of Homeland Security to turn away undocumented
immigrants at the border without processing.

**Office of the Inspector General:****DHS' Fragmented Approach to
Immigration Enforcement and Poor Planning Resulted in Extended Migrant
Detention during the 2019 Surge**

**; March 18, 2021**The Office of the Inspector General conducted this
review to identify the issues Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) has faced
when complying with requirements for detaining individuals. In 2019, CBP
had difficulty transferring detainees in under 72 hours, and was
therefore holding individuals for longer than allowed. The review found
that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had an insufficient
number of beds to provide for the facilities, which meant that ICE could
not keep up with CBP apprehensions. Despite the backlogs and poor
conditions, CBP did not exercise its authority to release individuals
from custody.

**SPOTLIGHT ON NATIONAL IMMIGRATION FORUM RESOURCES**Experts Discuss
Solutions to Address the Situation at the Border
This
resource provides recording of a roundtable convened by the Council on
National Security and Immigration and the National Immigration Forum
focused on pragmatic solutions to addressing the current situation at
the southern border. The page also includes links to a number of
border-focused resources and reports from the participating
organizations and experts.

Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2019: Bill Summary
This
is a summary of the Adoptee Citizenship Act, which was recently
reintroduced in the House and Senate and which would provide U.S.
citizenship to individuals born outside of the United States who were
adopted as children by American parents.

Dream Act of 2019: Bill Summary
This
is a summary of the Dream Act, which was reintroduced by Senators Dick
Durbin (D-Illinois) and Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) on February 4,
2021. The bill would provide Dreamers - young undocumented immigrants
who were brought to the United States as children and have lived in the
U.S. for most of their lives - with protection from deportation and an
opportunity to obtain legal status if they meet certain requirements.

* * *

*This Bulletin is not intended to be comprehensive. Please contact
Danilo Zak, National Immigration Forum Policy and Advocacy Associate,
with comments and suggestions of additional items to be included. Danilo
can be reached at [email protected] .
Thank you.

 

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