Legislative Bulletin

 

 

Hello all,

The National Immigration Forum's Legislative Bulletin for Friday, April
30, 2021 is now posted.

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

[link removed]

All the best,

Danilo 

**LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN - Friday, April 30, 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.___

**Freedom for Families Act**

The bill would ensure that no federal dollars are used to operate family
detention facilities. It would also transfer funds currently used for
family detention to be used for alternatives for detention and
community-based non-detention programs. The bill would also require the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to review the feasibility of
transferring case management programs out of the purview of ICE and DHS.

Sponsored by Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) (3 cosponsors - 3
Democrats, 0 Republicans)

4/29/2021 Introduced in the Senate by Senator Merkley

**S. 1409**

**A bill to designate any alien who is or has been engaged in economic
espionage or the misappropriation of trade secrets inadmissible and
deportable.**

Sponsored by Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) (1

cosponsor - 1 Democrat, 0 Republicans)

04/28/2021 Introduced in the Senate by Senator Grassley

04/28/2021 Referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary

H.R.___

**Families Belong Together Act**

The bill would provide humanitarian parole to certain parents who were
separated from their children under the Trump administration. The bill
would also establish a process for providing these parents and their
children with access to lawful permanent status.

Sponsored by Representative Joaquin Castro (D-Texas)

4/26/2021 Introduced in the House by Representative Castro

**H.R. 2838**

**Syrian Partner Protection Act**

The bill would provide special immigrant status to Syrian and Kurdish
individuals who have assisted U.S. military efforts as interpreters,
translators, intelligence analysts, or in other capacities. The visa
would function similarly to the Iraqi and Afghan Special Immigrant Visa
Program.

Sponsored by Representative Jason Crow (D-Colorado) (1

cosponsor - 1 Republican, 0 Democrats)

04/26/2021 Introduced in the House by Representative Crow

04/26/2021 Referred to the House Committees on Foreign Affairs, and on
the Judiciary

**H.R. 2871**

**The Resist Executive Amnesty on Defense Installations (READI) Act**

The bill would prohibit military installations and bases from being used
by the government as emergency overflow facilities to house undocumented
immigrants, including unaccompanied children.

Sponsored by Representative John Carter (R-Texas) (15

cosponsors - 15 Republicans, 0 Democrats)

04/28/2021 Introduced in the House by Representative Carter

04/28/2021 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary

**LEGISLATIVE FLOOR CALENDAR**The U.S. Senate will be not be in session
the week of May 3.

The U.S. House of Representatives will be in session the week of May 3.

**UPCOMING HEARINGS AND MARKUPS****Stakeholder Perspectives on
Addressing Migration Push Factors**

**Date**: Thursday, May 6, 2021 at 2:00 PM ET (House Homeland Security
Committee)

**Location:** **Virtual Hearing**

**Witnesses:**

Dan Restrepo, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress

Shannon O'Neil, Vice President, Deputy Director of Studies, and Nelson
and David Rockefeller Senior Fellow for Latin America Studies, Council
on Foreign Relations

Ariel Ruiz Soto, Policy Analyst, Migration Policy Institute

Steve Hinkley, Sheriff, Calhoun County, Michigan

**THEMES IN WASHINGTON THIS WEEK**

****Federal****

****Biden Calls for Immigration Reforms in Address to Congress****In an
address to a joint session of Congress on April 28, President Biden
called

on Congress to act on immigration reform among a list of the
administration's key policy priorities. The president called

for Congress to come together to pass the administration's
comprehensive immigration platform, the U.S. Citizenship Act, but he
also signaled support for bipartisan efforts for incremental reform,
including passage of permanent legislative solutions for Dreamers,
Temporary Protected Status holders, and farmworkers. "If Congress
won't pass my plan - let's at least pass what we agree on," he
said
.

In the immigration portion of his speech, President Biden also
highlighted the need to address the violence, corruption, hunger, and
political instability that is pushing many migrants in Central America
to flee to the U.S.-Mexico border. To emphasize the administration's
commitment to passing immigration reform, first lady Jill Biden invited

Javier Quiroz, a Houston nurse and Dreamer, as a virtual guest to the
event.

Earlier in the week, on April 26, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell
(R-Kentucky) said

that Republicans would not support a stand-alone bill providing legal
status for Dreamers, and that legislation would not be taken up by the
caucus unless it also addressed the current situation at the border.
Democrats, including Senators Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) and Mark Kelly
(D-Arizona) have

agreed

that bipartisan efforts would require a border security component to
move forward. Durbin, who is leading bipartisan immigration negotiations
in the Senate, said

that "I think we've got to have a credible southern border effort to
make it work."

On April 25, Republican pollster Frank Luntz said

that polls and focus groups show broad public support for a similar
immigration compromise to the one the bipartisan group of Senators are
contemplating. According to Luntz's findings, "Republicans are more
pro-immigrant than elites realize, and Democrats are more
pro-border-security than elites realize."

****White House Again Considering 62,500 Target for Refugee
Admissions****The White House is once again considering raising the
refugee admissions ceiling to 62,500 this fiscal year, according to an
April 27 Washington Post report
.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said

that reaching such a ceiling would be "challenging," but affirmed that
the president would make a decision on a revised admissions target on or
before May 15.

The administration had previously announced

on February 6 that it would raise the refugee ceiling to 62,500, and it
had held required consultations

with Congress on the proposed cap. However, on April 16, after a
prolonged delay, President Biden announced that his administration would
keep the refugee ceiling at the historic-low of 15,000

designated by the Trump administration. After significant and immediate
backlash

from advocates, members of Congress, and others, the administration
backtracked and said it planned to raise the ceiling by May 15.

Calls to raise the refugee ceiling continued into the week of April 26
as Biden neared his 100th day in office and a revised refugee ceiling
remained unissued. On April 28, A group of former Trump and Bush
administration national security officials sent a letter

to the administration urging President Biden to raise the ceiling to
62,500. A day prior, on April 27, more than 30 Senate Democrats

sent a similar letter to the White House.

In the April 16 memo, the administration did remove restrictive
legibility categories set under the Trump administration that had
limited refugees from predominantly African and Middle Eastern countries
from being resettled.

****Border Numbers Level Off as Number of Children Stuck in CBP Custody
Drops Dramatically****According to an April 23 Washington Post report
,
preliminary Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data on unauthorized
border crossings demonstrate that overall numbers of migrant arrivals
are leveling off in April, after increasing dramatically in previous
months. According to the report, the overall number of CBP encounters in
April are projected to be close to the same as in March, when
approximately 170,000

migrants were apprehended or encountered by CBP. The number of arriving
unaccompanied children is projected to be down slightly from March,
dropping from nearly 19,000 to about 17,000, while the number of
arriving families is remaining steady.

Daily data
released by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also reveals that
the administration is making significant progress in moving
unaccompanied children out of CBP custody and on to the care of the
Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), which is under the Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS). 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. In
February and March, the increase in arriving UACs resulted in ORR
shelters reaching capacity and children getting backed up for far longer
than 72 hours in severely overcrowded
CBP holding centers, which are not meant to care for children. In
response, the administration has opened at least 12 emergency intake
sites

under HHS to expand shelter capacity, and as of April 28, the number of
UACs held in CBP custody has dropped nearly 84%

since its peak in March. The average time spent in CBP custody has also
fallen to under 48
hours, below the legal maximum.

Immigration advocates continue to express concern
that the emergency
intake sites are not suitable places for unaccompanied children to spend
prolonged periods, either, and that the next challenge facing the
administration is to move children on to licensed facilities, foster
care, or their family members in the U.S. as their immigration court
cases proceed.

****U.S. to Send $310 Million in Aid to Central America to Address Root
Causes of Migration****On April 26, Vice President Harris announced that
the U.S. would send $310 million

to Central America in humanitarian assistance and food aid. The
announcement came hours after the vice president met with Guatemalan
president Alejandro Giammattei to discuss strategies to address the root
causes of migration and stem the flow of migration to the U.S.-Mexico
border.

On the call with President Giammattei, the U.S. also reportedly
committed

to training members of Guatemala's border protection agency, and to
helping the country construct shelters for returned migrants. Vice
President Harris is scheduled to meet

next with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on May 7, where
she plans to discuss responses to the increase in unaccompanied children
fleeing through Mexico to the U.S.-Mexico border.

In addition to diplomatic and humanitarian efforts to address the
increase in migration at the border, on April 27 DHS announced the
launch of a new campaign

targeting transnational criminal organizations that smuggle migrants.
DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said officials would target these
organizations' financial assets in the U.S. and would limit their
ability to travel and engage in trade. The campaign, dubbed "Operation
Sentinel," will be conducted in collaboration

with the FBI and the U.S. Department of State.

****ICE Limits Immigration Arrests at Courthouses****Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced on April 27 that it will limit
enforcement efforts in and around courthouses. In a statement, DHS
Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said

that ICE agents will not be authorized to carry out routine arrests in
courthouses, and instead will be authorized to arrest only those who are
the subject of an active pursuit or who may destroy evidence related to
a criminal case. Mayorkas reasoned

that the use of civil immigration arrests at courthouses has "a chilling
effect on individual's willingness to come to court or work
cooperatively with law enforcement.

The move marks a change from the Trump administration, during which ICE
expanded and defended

the practice of ICE courthouse arrests.

On April 23, ICE also ended

a Trump-era policy that resulted in fines for undocumented immigrants
who failed to leave the U.S. According to Secretary Mayorkas, "there is
no indication that these penalties promoted compliance with
noncitizens' departure obligations."

****DOJ Repeals Trump-Era Policy that Withheld Federal Funding from
"Sanctuary Jurisdictions"****On April 28, Attorney General Merrick
Garland repealed
 a
Trump administration policy withholding law enforcement grant funding
from jurisdictions it deemed to be sanctuary jurisdictions. The funds at
issue come from the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant
(Byrne-JAG) Program, which disperses $250 million annually for criminal
justice-related activities. The funding typically goes toward
initiatives ranging from correction programs to metal health treatment
centers. The Trump-era policy sought to unilaterally impose additional
immigration-related conditions
 on the funds
and faced pushback from jurisdictions who argued that the policy was
unlawful, was logistically impractical,
and
improperly sought to require local law enforcement to carry out federal
immigration enforcement activities.

Several jurisdictions had brought lawsuits against the policy, including
the cities of New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia. The New York Attorney
General's office reported
 that
the city lost almost $30 million of their annual funding due to the
policy. In February 2020, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals sided with
the Trump administration in support of the policy. Other federal courts
- including the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Third, Seventh
,
and Ninth Circuits
 -
ruled that the Trump policy was improper. The plaintiffs appealed to the
Supreme Court, but the case was withdrawn

after Biden took office in January.

****Legal****

****Supreme Court Extends Immigration Protections for Longtime
Residents****On April 29, in a 6-3 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court in
Niz-Chavez v. Garland
extended
additional protections to nonpermanent residents who have lived in the
country for at least ten continuous years. Typically, these immigrants
are offered relief from removal. However, under the "stop-time rule
,"
the ten-year residency clock steps when they receive a notice to appear
(NTA)  in immigration court, formally starting removal proceedings. The
decision centered on what constitutes an adequate NTA that would trigger
the time-stop rule. The plaintiff, Augusto Niz-Chavez, received a
document that specified the immigration charges against him, and in a
separate document sent months later, he was informed of the time and
place of his hearing. According to the Court, to trigger the stop-time
rule, the government must issue a notice to appear in a single document

that included all of the relevant information for the hearing. Because
the initial document did not include a date and time of the hearing for
Niz-Chavez, the Court ruled that the stop-time rule did not apply.

****Supreme Court Rejects Republican State Governors Attempt to Defend
Public Charge Rule****On April 26, the Supreme Court denied

a request from several Republican governors to appeal a lower court
ruling seeking to intervene to defend the Trump administration's
public charge rule. The public charge rule was blocked in the federal
courts and the Biden administration announced in March that it will not
defend the policy. Fourteen Republican governors attempted to intervene
in litigation to defend the rule, arguing that the cost of eliminating
the policy is a financial burden on their states.

The Supreme Court rejected the governors' appeal seeking to intervene
in the litigation, but permitted the states to continue

legal challenges in the lower courts.

The public charge rule, published by the Trump administration in 2019,
would redefine the meaning of the legal term "public charge" to prevent
immigrants from obtaining green cards, if they have previously accessed
or are deemed likely to rely on certain forms of public assistance in
the future. Immigration advocates warned that the rule would have a
chilling effect on immigrant families seeking assistance that they
remained eligible for, with could pose  a particular threat to public
safety during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

****Nominations/Personnel****

****Biden Nominates Sheriff Ed Gonzalez to Lead ICE****On April 27,
President Biden announced

that he will nominate Ed Gonzalez, the Sheriff of Harris County, Texas,
to direct U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

As head of the third-largest sheriff's office in the U.S., covering
the Houston metropolitan area, Gonzalez was a public critic

of the Trump administration's restrictive border and immigration
enforcement policies. A co-chair of the Law Enforcement Immigration Task
Force (LEITF), Gonzalez's nomination has garnered
support from law
enforcement officials around the country. DHS Secretary Alejandro
Mayorkas also expressed his support for the nomination, saying
,
"with a distinguished career in law enforcement and public service,
Sheriff Gonzalez is well-suited to lead ICE as the agency advances our
public safety and homeland security mission."

As head of ICE, Sheriff Gonzalez would spearhead
 the
Biden administration's efforts to enforce immigration laws, and to
focus resources on national security threats and threats to public
safety. ICE has not had a permanent leader since 2017 and has been led
by 6 different acting directors since then.

**GOVERNMENT REPORTS**

**Government Accountability Office (GAO):****Border Security: CBP Has
Taken Actions to Help Ensure Timely and Accurate Field Testing of
Suspected Illicit Drugs**

**; April 26, 2021**This report is a review of Customs and Border
Protection's (CBP) field testing of illicit substances. The report
covers CBP's policies for presumptive field testing of drugs at the
border, the available data on tests, and how the agency ensures
efficient and accurate test results. GAO found that CBP has been
completing testing in a timely fashion, having decreased the average
time for the process over the past five years despite the overall number
of requests increasing during that time. GAO also found that CBP has
worked to ensure accurate presumptive testing by building onsite labs,
deploying mobile labs, and providing easy access to chemists.

**SPOTLIGHT ON NATIONAL IMMIGRATION FORUM RESOURCES****National
Immigration Forum 100 Day Score Card for the Biden Administration**
This
resource evaluates the Biden administration's progress on a series of
key immigration priorities over the first 100 days. The resource
references the National Immigration Forum's November 2020 Immigration
Priorities for a Biden Administration
.

**LEITF Fact Sheet: Byrne-JAG Program**
This resource
from the Law Enforcement Immigration Task Force provides information
about the Byrne-JAG grant program. The resource describes who is
eligible, how funds are allocated, and discusses conditions and
limitations on the uses of funding.

Review of the Supreme Court's 2019-2020 Immigration Cases
This
resource from September 2020 provides key takeaways and additional
context on the Supreme Court's nine immigration-related rulings in its
2019-20 term. The resource details the mixed outcome of these cases,
including high profile victories for immigrants and advocates, as well
as decisions posing threats to immigrants.

* * *

*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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