Legislative Bulletin

 

 

Hello all,

The National Immigration Forum's Legislative Bulletin for Friday, April
2, 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, April 2, 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. 970**

**The BELIEVE Act**

The bill would eliminate the employment-based (EB) immigrant visa
backlog by doubling the number of visas available in certain categories,
removing per-country limitations, and no longer counting spouses and
children towards the visa cap. The bill would also remove per-country
caps for employment-based green card categories.

Sponsored by Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) (0 cosponsors)

03/25/2021 Introduced in the Senate by Senator Paul

03/25/2021 Referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary

**S. 1024**

**The Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act**

The bill would recapture 40,000 unused visas and use them to provide
additional green cards to 25,000 physicians and 15,000 professional
nurses. The visas would not count towards the annual limit and would be
recaptured from a pool of over 200,000 employment-based visas left
unused between 1992 and 2020. The bill would target mainly healthcare
workers and their families already in the green card backlog and would
require an employer attestation that the new workers would not displace
current U.S. workers. The bill would allow the new green cards to be
issued until 90 days after the declaration of a national emergency
pertaining to the COVID-19 outbreak is ended. The bill is a companion to
H.R. 2237
.

Sponsored by Senator Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) (5

cosponsors - 2 Democrats, 3 Republicans)

03/25/2021 Introduced in the Senate by Senator Durbin

03/25/2021 Referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary

**S. 1045**

**The Terrorist Deportation Act**

The bill would render deportable any noncitizen who is identified in the
U.S. government terrorist screening database.

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

03/25/2021 Introduced in the Senate by Senator Kennedy

03/25/2021 Referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary

**S. 1051**

**The Empowering Immigration Courts Act**

The bill would authorize immigration judges to impose fines up to $1,000
for those found to be in contempt of court.

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

03/25/2021 Introduced in the Senate by Senator Kennedy

03/25/2021 Referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary

**S. 1055**

**The Criminal Alien Removal Clarification Act**

The bill would render deportable noncitizens who have been convicted of
any felony or any two misdemeanors.

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

03/25/2021 Introduced in the Senate by Senator Kennedy

03/25/2021 Referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary

**S. 1056**

**The Criminal Alien Gang Member Removal Act**

The bill would render deportable any noncitizen who is determined to be
a member of a criminal gang. It would also render deportable any
noncitizen who has participated in activities that promote, further,
aid, or support illegal activity of a criminal gang.

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

03/25/2021 Introduced in the Senate by Senator Kennedy

03/25/2021 Referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary

**S. 2219**

**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. The bill is a companion to S. 903
.

Sponsored by Representative Lance Gooden (R-Texas) (10

cosponsors - 10 Republicans, 0 Democrats)

03/26/2021 Introduced in the House by Representative Gooden

03/26/2021 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary

**H.R. 2237**

**Guaranteed Refugee Admissions Ceiling Enhancement (GRACE) Act**

The bill would prevent a U.S. President from setting the refugee
admissions ceiling below 95,000 a year.

Sponsored by Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-California) (29

cosponsors - 29 Democrats, 0 Republicans)

03/26/2021 Introduced in the House by Representative Lofgren

03/26/2021 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary

**H.R. 2255**

**The Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act**

The bill would recapture 40,000 unused visas and use them to provide
additional green cards to 25,000 physicians and 15,000 professional
nurses. The visas would not count towards the annual limit and would be
recaptured from a pool of over 200,000 employment-based visas left
unused between 1992 and 2020. The bill would target mainly healthcare
workers and their families already in the green card backlog and would
require an employer attestation that the new workers would not displace
current U.S. workers. The bill would allow the new green cards to be
issued until 90 days after the declaration of a national emergency
pertaining to the COVID-19 outbreak is ended. The bill is a companion to
S. 1024
.

Sponsored by Representative Bradley Schneider (D-Illinois) (3

cosponsors - 1 Democrat, 2 Republicans)

03/26/2021 Introduced in the House by Representative Schneider

03/26/2021 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary

**H.R. ___**

**The Border Surge Response and Resilience Act**

The bill would require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to
develop a response plan to address increases in migrant arrivals at the
U.S.-Mexico border. The bill would further require that the plan use
concrete metrics, including measuring the length of time migrants are
held in Customs and Border Protection (CBP) custody and the capacity of
various facilities along the border. The bill would also create a
$1,000,000,000 fund to be used by DHS to adequately respond to
processing and security demands associated with an increase in migrant
arrivals.

Sponsored by Representative John Katko (R-New York) (1 cosponsors - 1
Democrat, 0 Republicans)

04/01/2021 Introduced in the House by Representatives

**LEGISLATIVE FLOOR CALENDAR**The U.S. Senate and the U.S. House will be
in recess the week of Monday, April 5, 2021.

**UPCOMING HEARINGS AND MARKUPS**There are no immigration-related
hearings or markups currently scheduled for the week of Monday, April 5,
2021.

**THEMES IN WASHINGTON THIS WEEK**

****Federal****

****Biden Administration Plans Reforms to Asylum System, Border
Management Process****According to an April 1 NPR report
,
the Biden administration is planning significant reforms to the
immigration court system in an effort to tackle a growing number of
asylum cases as crossings

at the U.S. Southern border approach their highest levels in 15 years.
 The plan reportedly involves streamlining the asylum process at the
Southern border by allowing U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
(USCIS) asylum officers to adjudicate a portion of the cases. Asylum
officers already adjudicate thousands of "affirmative" asylum cases each
year made by those who are in the U.S. and not in removal proceedings.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas had
previously stated that the administration plans to "shorten from years
to months the time it takes to adjudicate an asylum claim while ensuring
procedural safeguards and enhancing access to counsel." According to
Syracuse University's Transactional Records Clearinghouse
, as of
February 2021, the immigration court system faces a backlog of nearly
1.3 million cases, with an average wait time  of approximately two and
a half years.

****VP Harris Continues Diplomatic Engagement with Central American
Countries****According to a White House statement, Vice President Kamala
Harris and Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei spoke by phone

on March 30 to discuss working collaboratively to address the root
causes of irregular migration to the U.S. The conversation came a week
after President Biden tapped Harris to lead the administration's
response to the increase in unaccompanied children arriving at the
Southern border.

Also on March 30, White House press secretary Jen Psaki specified that
Vice President Harris' assignment was primarily to engage in
diplomatic outreach to governments in the region to establish a
collaborate approach to migration and protection issues. In the meeting
with President Giammattei, the Vice President reportedly discussed
 exploring
"innovative opportunities to create jobs and to improve the conditions
for all people in Guatemala and the region, including by promoting
transparency and combating crime."

President Biden has stated

that Harris' experience in the U.S. Senate, where she often led on
immigration issues, makes her particularly well-suited to handle this
diplomatic role.

****Administration Allows Work-Visa Ban to Expire****On March 31, the
Biden administration allowed

a June 2020 Trump administration proclamation suspending some forms of
immigration from outside the U.S. to expire. Presidential Proclamation
10052

had suspended entry for a number of individuals on temporary
nonimmigrant visa categories, including H-1B visas for those in
specialty occupations. The White House did not comment on the expiration
of the ban.

On February 24, the Biden administration had previously revoked

Presidential Proclamation 10014
,
which had suspended the entry for those on diversity visas and certain
family visa categories. At the time, a number of business groups and
immigration advocates had expressed concern that the work visa ban was
allowed to stay in place.

President Trump had justified implementing the ban by stating that
suspending immigration would help American workers and aid the economic
recovery. However, according to a February 15 Wall Street Journal report
,
the ban on foreign workers instead resulted in American jobs being
outsourced or left unfilled.

Processing for various work visa categories affected by the ban will now
begin again. On April 1, USCIS completed the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 H-1B
lottery process designed to select 85,000 applications from a pool that
has often topped 200,000 applicants in recent years. According to USCIS,
nearly 275,00o unique registrants

applied this cycle. Successful applicants will be able to begin working
for their employers beginning October 1, 2021.

****CBP Facilities Remain Overcrowded as Administration Continues to
Respond to Increases in Children at the Southern Border****According to
several

reports

the week of March 29, hundreds of unaccompanied children continue to
arrive each day seeking protection at the Southern border, resulting in
overcrowding in the facilities and shelters meant to house and process
them. For the first time on March 30, the Biden administration allowed
journalists to see conditions in the Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
holding center in Donna, Texas, where the majority of arriving children
are first held and processed. Reporters found severe overcrowding
,
with over 4,100 migrants present in a space designed for only 250 under
COVID-19 social distancing guidelines. More than 500 children were being
held in rooms designed for 32 or fewer.

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 CBP holding
centers like the one in Donna. As of March 30, over 2,000 children

at the Donna facility had been held there for longer than the
maximum-allowed 72 hours.

The Biden administration has repeatedly said that the CBP facilities are
not designed to house children, and that it has been working to create
new facilities and spaces that are better equipped to care for them. The
administration has opened or planned to open 9 emergency facilities

under the care of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS),
adding an additional 16,000 beds for unaccompanied children.

Concerns remain

about the standards of care at the emergency facilities as well. These
facilities are not state-licensed, as permanent HHS shelters are,
because the licensing process can take several months. According to a
March 27 report
,
the administration has decided to no longer require FBI fingerprint
background checks of certain volunteer caregivers at the emergency
sites. In general, the administration has stated that it intends to
treat children according to state licensing requirements even in the new
facilities, including by providing mental health care, education, and
legal services.

According to a March 28 report
,
in addition to adding emergency shelter space for children, DHS
officials are also preparing for an increase in arriving asylum seeking
families. Many families, along with the majority of all arriving
migrants, continue to be expelled under a Trump-era health rule called
Title 42. These families are returned to dangerous border areas in
Mexico throughout the night, according to a March 28 report
.
In some instances
,
children traveling with indirect relatives like aunts and uncles are
processed as unaccompanied and their family members are returned to
Mexico. Other arriving families are released in the U.S.

with booking records after parents are photographed and fingerprinted.

****Number of Immigrants in ICE Detention Declines as Agency Continues
to Pay for Empty Beds****According to an April 1 report, the number of
individuals held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention
has declined significantly

over the past year. The report found that the average daily number of
immigrants in detention hit a decades-long high of about 52,000 in 2019
under the Trump administration. As of April 1, that number has fallen to
just over 14,000, as a result of efforts to reduce detention levels in
response to the COVID-19 pandemic, health-related releases of
individuals who are deemed high-risk for COVID-19, as well as changes in
enforcement priorities

under the Biden administration.

The report stated that despite the decline in detentions, ICE is still
paying more than $1 million a day to maintain empty detention beds.
Congress no longer requires ICE to maintain a minimum number of beds,
but because ICE has contracted with private companies for detention
space, including providing for guaranteed minimum numbers of detention
beds set prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, it now is paying for 29,000
detention beds, including thousands of beds it does not currently need.
Private operators argue that they requested (and received) these
contractual minimums in order to manage operations smoothly and respond
to fluctuations in the number of detainees.

In a report released in February, the Government Accountability Office
found that, "ICE has not taken
a strategic approach to these decisions" and "has spent millions of
dollars a month on unused detention space."

****Biden Administration Fires Homeland Security Advisory Council
Members****On March 26, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas fired

the majority of the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC), an
unpaid, independent body which meets about four times a year and
provides advice and support to the agency. Members generally serve terms
lasting between one and three years.

Among the more than 30 members ousted from the council were many close
allies of former President Trump, as well as officials who had
previously served in DHS under both Democratic and Republican
administrations. According to DHS officials, the purge is part of a
broader assessment and reform of the council that is designed in part to
ensure more diverse voices are included.

According to Mayorkas, just three members

of the council will be retained, including former New York police
commissioner and current Chair of HSAC William Bratton, as well as
former FBI and CIA director and chair emeritus William Webster. Bratton,
a political independent, said that he understands that secretary
Mayorkas's goal is to reconstitute the body as a bipartisan, diverse
council with expertise in addressing relevant issues including
immigration, cybersecurity, and terrorism.

****Lawmakers Introduce Bipartisan Bill Addressing Healthcare Worker
Shortage****On March 25, Senator Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) introduced

the Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act with a bipartisan group of
cosponsors.  The bill seeks to respond to the healthcare worker
shortage that has been particularly evident during the response to the
COVID-19 pandemic by recapturing 40,000 unused visas and using them to
provide green cards to immigrant doctors and nurses. Senator Todd Young
(R-Indiana), a cosponsor of the bill, said

that, "this bipartisan legislation will help ensure nurses can get visas
to come to the United States to temporarily fill that shortage as we
continue to combat the coronavirus pandemic, the growing opioid crisis,
and other significant health challenges."

Representative Bradley Schneider (D-Illinois) introduced companion
legislation

in the House, also with a bipartisan set of cosponsors. A previous
version of the bill
was
introduced in 2020 but was not acted upon during the 116th Congress.

Immigrants make up
 approximately
21% of all U.S. doctors and 16% of all U.S. registered nurses.

****Legal****

****No Immediate Action after Hearing in Texas DACA Case****On March 30,
U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen held a hearing

in an ongoing federal litigation in Texas which will determine the fate
of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). DACA provides
protection from deportation and work authorization to over 600,000
unauthorized immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children. The
lawsuit challenging the legality of DACA was brought by a group of
Republican-led states, led by Texas, with the Mexican American Legal
Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and the state of New Jersey
defending it.

Judge Hanen did not issue

a ruling during the conference hearing, but has previously indicated
 that
he may be inclined to strike down the program. In 2015, Hanen halted
 a
different Obama administration deferred action program
 that
would have protected the parents of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent
residents. At the March hearing, Hanen heard a request from MALDEF to
delay the ruling while both the Biden administration and Congress
consider acting to further protect Dreamers, whether by strengthening
DACA or by passing a permanent legislative solution. During the
conference hearing, the judge asked counsel

for the federal government about the specifics of the administration's
proposed changes and timeline. He also set

an early April deadline for all sides to provide additional information
to the court.

****Biden Administration to Decide Whether to Disclose Child Separation
Documents****On April 2, the Biden administration will decide

whether or not to disclose a number of documents related to widespread
instances of family separation in 2018 during the Trump administration.
Specifically, the documents at issue are sought in a civil lawsuit filed
by lawyers representing the separated families and relate to the Trump
administration's "zero tolerance" policy at the Southern border that
resulted in the separation of thousands of migrant families. The Trump
administration had previously withheld the documents, citing executive
privilege, but it is not yet clear how Biden's Department of Justice
(DOJ) will handle the request.

A January 14 DOJ Office of Inspector General (OIG) report

concluded that in 2018, DOJ leadership and the attorney general's
office were aware that the zero-tolerance policy would result in
widespread family separation prior to implementation. According to an
August  2020 report
,
senior White House officials at the time voted by a show of hands on
whether to follow through with separating families.

The zero tolerance policy, which was met with widespread criticism from
Members of Congress, faith groups, and the general public, resulted in
the separation of more than 3,000 children

from their parents in 2018.

**GOVERNMENT REPORTS**

**Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General
(OIG):****Violations of Detention Standards amid COVID-19 Outbreak at La
Palma Correctional Center in Eloy, AZ**

**; March 30, 2021**This OIG report examines treatment and care of
immigrant detainees in the Eloy, Arizona Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) detention center. The report found that the detention
center did not adequately enforce COVID-19 precautions including facial
coverings and social distancing, which may have contributed to an
outbreak at the facility. The report further found that the facility did
not provide adequate medical care, and that the medical unit was
critically understaffed. Further, the detention center did not provide
timely responses to grievances voiced by detainees.

**Congressional Research Service (CRS):****Increasing Numbers of
Unaccompanied Alien Children at the Southwest Border**

**; March 25, 2021**This CRS factsheet describes the increase in
unaccompanied children at the southern border in the first five months
of Fiscal Year (FY) 2021. The fact sheet provides some demographic
details about the arriving children and describes the location where
they have been encountered by Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

**SPOTLIGHT ON NATIONAL IMMIGRATION FORUM RESOURCES****Experts Discuss
Solutions to Address the Situation at the Southern 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.

**Bill Analysis: Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act**
This
resource analyzes and provides context for the Healthcare Workforce
Resilience Act, a bipartisan bill that would respond to the healthcare
worker shortage by expediting green card processing for 40,000 immigrant
doctors and nurses and their families.

**President Trump's Proclamation Suspending Immigration**
This
resource provides a summary of the June 22 proclamation suspending
immigration and travel from outside the U.S. The resource describes who
the proclamation applies to and lists various exemptions to the
suspension.

* * *

*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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