Legislative Bulletin

 

 

Hello all,

The National Immigration Forum's Legislative Bulletin for Friday,
October 1, 2021 is now posted.

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

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All the best,

Arturo 

**LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN - Friday, October 1, 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**H.R. 5305**

**Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance**

The bill would extend government funding through December 3. Concerning
the evacuation of Afghan allies, the bill would allocate $6.3 billion in
emergency assistance to help resettle Afghan refugees in the United
States. In addition to funding, the bill would provide Afghan parolees
access to benefits given to refugees and SIV holders, and it would
expedite asylum adjudications for parolees without other paths to legal
status. The bill would also direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to
submit to Congress a report on the status of Afghan evacuees.

Sponsored by Representative Rosa L. DeLauro (D-Connecticut) (0

cosponsors)

09/21/2021 Introduced in the House by Representative DeLauro

09/21/2021 Referred to the House Committees on Appropriations, Budget,
and Ways and Means

09/21/2021 Resolution agreed to in the House of Representatives by
a 220-211 vote .

09/30/2021 Resolution agreed to in the Senate by a 65-35 vote
.

09/30/2021 Signed by the President.

H.R. 5347

**Alternatives to Detention Act of 2021**

The bill would require the Secretary of the Department of Homeland
Security to use alternatives to detention for certain vulnerable
immigrant populations, including asylum seekers, victims of trafficking,
pregnant and nursing women, children under 21, immigrants older than 60,
LGBT immigrants, and immigrants with a mental disorder or physical
disability. The bill would also require DHS to restore the Family Case
Management Program to provide community support services to detained
immigrants. This is a companion bill of S. 2795
.

Sponsored by Representative Anthony Brown (D-Maryland) (5

cosponsors- 5 Democrats, 0 Republicans)

09/23/2021 Introduced in the House by Representative Brown

09/23/2021 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary

H.R. 5376

**To provide for reconciliation pursuant to title II of S. Con. Res.
14.**

The bill would provide grants for tuition-free community colleges,
student financial assistance, and child care to certain individuals,
including immigrants. The bill would also adjust the immigration status
of Dreamers to grant them legal permanent residence. It would also
recapture unused employment-based, family-sponsored, and diversity green
cards. The bill would also appropriate $2.8 billion to USCIS to reduce
case processing backlogs

Sponsored by Representative John Yarmuth (D-Kentucky) (0 cosponsors)

09/27/2021 Introduced in the House by Representative Yarmuth

09/27/2021 Referred to the House Committee on the Budget

H.R. 5399

**National Security and Federal Lands Protection Act**

The bill would grant U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) access to
environmentally protected federal lands along the border. The bill would
also promote and protect legal land use, such as farming, ranging, and
recreational hunting along the southern border.

Sponsored by Representative Lance Gooden (R-Texas) (6

cosponsors- 6 Republicans, 0 Democrats)

09/28/2021 Introduced in the House by Representative Gooden

09/28/2021 Referred to the House Committees on Natural Resources,
Agriculture, and Homeland Security

H.R. 5404

**Taliban Rare Earth Minerals Sanctions Act**

The bill would prohibit the issuance of any type of visas to individuals
engaged in Afghanistan's rare earth mineral sector.

Sponsored by Representative Gregory Steube (R-Florida) (13

cosponsors- 13 Republicans, 0 Democrats)

09/28/2021 Introduced in the House by Representative Gooden

09/28/2021 Referred to the House Committees on Foreign Affairs and the
Judiciary

**LEGISLATIVE FLOOR CALENDAR**The U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of
Representatives will be in session the week of October 4, 2021.

UPCOMING HEARINGS AND MARKUPS**Hearing on**

**Afghanistan 2001-2021: Evaluating the Withdrawal and U.S. Policies -
Part II**

**Date:**  Tuesday, October 5, 2021, at 1:00 pm E.T. (House Committee
on Foreign Affairs)

**Location:** TBD

**Witnesses:**

Honorable Richard L. Armitage, Former Deputy Secretary of State

Honorable Herbert Raymond McMaster, Former National Security Advisor

Honorable Ryan C. Crocker, Former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan

THEMES IN WASHINGTON THIS WEEK

****Federal****

****Senate Parliamentarian Rules Against Registry Update in Budget
Reconciliation Bill****On September 29, the Senate Parliamentarian ruled

against the Democrats' alternative proposal to provide a pathway to
citizenship for immigrants - including Dreamers, Temporary Protected
Status (TPS) holders, and essential workers - by updating the registry
date in the proposed budget reconciliation bill. The registry date

**, which has not been updated since the Reagan administration,** is a
provision of immigration law that allows immigrants to apply for lawful
permanent status provided they entered the U.S. before a particular
date. This effectively dead-letter provision, currently with a cut-off
of  January 1, 1972, would have been updated to January 1, 2010, under
the Democratic proposal.

Earlier in September, the Parliamentarian ruled

against the Democrats' initial plan to include legalization provisions
in the budget reconciliation bill, which cannot be filibustered and can
be passed with a simple majority
.
In that ruling, the Parliamentarian acknowledged the fiscal benefits of
providing a pathway to citizenship to almost eight million people in the
United States, but she argued

that the proposed policy changes "far outweigh the budgetary impact
scored to it." In her ruling on the registry date shift, she wrote

that "the number of beneficiaries and score of this amendment... are
largely the same as those of the earlier proposal which does not
dramatically shift the balance of policy vs. score," and similarly
determined that the proposal was not primarily budget-related and could
not be appropriately included in reconciliation.

The Parliamentarian's ruling arrived as Congressional Democrats reached
an impasse

over the proposed $3.5 trillion reconciliation package of Biden
administration climate, taxation, and healthcare priorities, as well as
an accompanying bipartisan infrastructure bill. Moderate Democratic
lawmakers warned

that if the House did not vote on the $1.2 trillion bipartisan
infrastructure bill by September 30, they would refuse to support any
reconciliation proposal. In turn, progressive House Democrats threatened

to vote down the infrastructure bill if the vote was held before the
reconciliation bill was completed, out of concern that moderates would
abandon the larger reconciliation package if it was decoupled from the
infrastructure proposal.  On the evening of September 30, the House
delayed

a vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill as House and Senate
Democrats continued to negotiate the reconciliation package. As the
Democratic negotiations continue, the inclusion of scaled-down
immigration provisions that could survive a Parliamentarian's ruling
remains uncertain.

****DHS Releases New Immigration Enforcement Priorities****On September
30, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro
Mayorkas released

new immigration enforcement priorities

that continued to emphasize threats to national security, public safety,
and border security, while increasing the role of DHS officials in
utilizing prosecutorial discretion to obtain just outcomes.

The guidelines shift how the department will employ prosecutorial
discretion, moving away from rigid enforcement categories in favor of
individualized assessments. The memorandum spelling out the priorities
noted that unauthorized status, on its own, will not be the basis for
enforcement actions and set out a series of aggravating factors and
mitigating factors to be considered by decision-makers as they are
determining the proper enforcement action.

The memorandum also acknowledged the contributions of immigrants and
included language protecting the civil rights and civil liberties of
noncitizens while also safeguarding against the use of immigration
enforcement as retaliation for those asserting their legal rights.

****International Organizations Express Concern Over Biden
Administration's Mass Deportations of Haitians from U.S.-Mexico
Border****On September 30, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR),
the U.N. Office of Human Rights, the International Organization for
Migration (IOM), and U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) expressed

their concern over the rapid, mass expulsions of Haitians without
screening for protection needs. The four international agencies argued
that the deportations are inconsistent with international norms, and
called on the United States to uphold fundamental human rights of
Haitian migrants. They also insisted on the need to offer effective
access to regular migration pathways. The agencies' statement came in
response to the thousands of deportations of Haitian migrants who have
been expelled

in the last two weeks under an emergency pandemic-era policy known as
Title 42
.

On September 29, the Biden Administration completed the 50th
flight
filled with deported migrants to Haiti, a country that has been in
turmoil after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake and the recent assassination of
its president.

****Congress Votes for Aid to Afghan Evacuees in Bipartisan Continuing
Resolution****On September 30, bipartisan majorities of the House and
Senate voted for a continuing resolution

to avert a government shutdown, and, among other things, provided for
supplemental funding to support Afghan evacuees who are being relocated
to the U.S. The bill included

$6.3 billion in supplemental funding for Afghan resettlement, as well as
benefits for Afghan parolees who were admitted to the U.S. under
humanitarian parole

and are not technically deemed "refugees."

Afghan resettlement has drawn significant support across party lines. On
September 22, the National Immigration Forum released the results of a
poll

demonstrating significant cross-partisan support for people seeking
refuge in the U.S., including Afghan evacuees. The poll revealed that
61% of Republicans, 63% of Independents, and 75% of Democrats agree
"that the United States should have a legal, secure process in place to
take in people from oppressed or war-torn countries, such as
Afghanistan."

The resettlement effort has drawn support from noteworthy Republican
leaders, including at least nine Republican governors

who offered support to resettle Afghan refugees in their states. For
example, Governor Doug Ducey (R-Arizona) issued a statement of welcome
to the 1,600

Afghans who will be resettled in his state through March 2022.  In his
statement
,
Governor Ducey quoted Ephesians 2:19, which reads, "So then you are no
longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the
holy ones and members of the household of God." While a faction of
former Trump administration officials and others have advocated to
oppose

welcoming Afghan allies and other evacuees, public opinion remains
firmly in favor of allowing Afghans who fled to seek protection in the
U.S.

****Legal****

****Biden Administration Announces Intention to Issue New Memo
Terminating MPP****On September 29, the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) announced

its intention to issue a new memorandum terminating the Migrant
Protection Protocols (MPP), also referred to as the "Remain in Mexico"
program. The policy, first introduced by the Trump administration in
2019, requires migrants seeking asylum along the southern border to wait
in Mexico while their claims are adjudicated, a process that often takes
months or years.

The Biden administration ended MPP in February through a one-paragraph
memorandum, but a federal judge in Texas ruled

on August 13 that the termination of MPP violated the Administrative
Procedures Act (APA). After the U.S. Supreme Court declined to stay

the ruling on August 24, to comply with the court order the Biden
administration initiated negotiations with Mexico

to reinstate the program.  After those negotiations failed to lead to a
bilateral agreement, the administration issued the new memorandum

terminating MPP, which is intended to address the APA issued raised by
the district court and will not take effect until the current injunction
is lifted.

****U.S. District Judge Orders U.S. State Department to Reserve 966
Diversity Visas Beyond the End of the Fiscal Year****On September 27, a
U.S. District Court Judge ordered

the U.S. State Department to reserve 966 diversity visas beyond the end
of the fiscal year, which is September 30. The decision comes amid an
Administrative Procedure Act case against the department's refusal to
process diversity-visa applications from countries subject to COVID-19
entry bans, between October 2020 and March 2021. In her opinion, the
judge considered that the State Department's "decision not to process
diversity visas for the first six months of the fiscal year was not
taken in consideration of employees' health - it was taken based on an
erroneous interpretation of the law." The judge determined that 966
visas was a reasonable estimate of how many visas could have been
processed during the No-Visa policy. Therefore, she ordered the State
Department to reserve 966 visas past the end of the fiscal year.

****U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Preserves Biden
Administration's Use of Title 42****On September 30, the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the D.C. Circuit granted

the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's request to stay a district
court order that blocked

the administration from removing migrant families under Title 42. Title
42 is a public health order based on a 1944 statute that both the Trump
and Biden administrations have used during the COVID-19 pandemic to
rapidly expel over a million arriving migrants without providing them
the opportunity to seek asylum.

The policy has been widely criticized

by advocacy groups, international organizations, and Democratic
lawmakers. They argue

that deportations under Title 42 are inconsistent with international
norms and fail to uphold the fundamental human rights of migrants.

****State & Local****

****District Court Orders Texas to Release 243 Immigrants from
Immigration Detention****On September 27, Texas 63rd District Court
ordered

the state to release 243 migrants who had been arrested under charges of
criminal trespassing for allegedly crossing the border between ports of
entry. The court ordered the release of the immigrants because the state
failed to file criminal charges against them in time.

The controversial enforcement strategy came after Governor Greg Abbott
(R-Texas) issued

a disaster proclamation at the U.S.-Mexico border and introduced
"Operation Lone Star
"
on July 21 to "combat the smuggling of drugs and people into Texas." The
effort to effectively criminalize immigration violations has led to the
detention of over 1,000 migrants, many of whom have been held for weeks
without being charged and/or receiving legal counsel. The state has
converted

two state prisons into immigrant detention facilities to house these
migrants.

Lawyers and civil rights advocates have raised concerns

that arrests under the initiative may not be legal, noting that
immigration enforcement is the sole responsibility of the federal
government. Critics have also argued that this program unfairly targets

Mexican and Central American men. Additionally, many attorneys of
detained Spanish-speaking migrants have claimed that their clients were
forced to sign English language forms waiving their rights to
representation and acknowledging that they have been informed of their
rights.

****Nominations & Personnel****

****Senate Finance Committee Will Begin Advancing the Nomination of
Chris Magnus to be CBP Commissioner****On September 29, Senator Ron
Wyden (D-Oregon), Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, announced

he would schedule a hearing for Tucson, Arizona Police Chief Chris
Magnus to lead U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The
announcement came two months after Senator Wyden notified the White
House that he would stall

the hearing until the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the
Department of Justice (DOJ) answer questions related to the use of
federal agents against protestors in Portland following the murder of
George Floyd.

If confirmed, Chief Magnus would be tasked with securing and protecting
U.S. borders, managing and processing arriving migrants and asylum
seekers, and securing the initial transfer of unaccompanied minors from
Border Patrol stations to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Magnus's nomination has drawn support
from law enforcement
officials around the country.

****Biden Administration Announces Appointments of David Neal as
Director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review and Kerry Doyle
as ICE's Principal Legal Advisor****On September 24, Attorney General
Merrick Garland announced

the appointment of David  Neal as Director of the Executive Office for
Immigration Review (EOIR) at the U.S. Department of Justice. In his new
role, Neal will be responsible for the supervision of the Chairman of
the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), the Chief Immigration Judge, the
Chief Administrative Hearing Officer, and all agency personnel. Between
2009 and 2019, Neal served

as Chairman of the BIA before departing under the Trump administration
when a number of immigration judges resigned in response to the
administration's policies.

Two days earlier, on September 22, the Biden Administration appointed

immigration attorney Kerry Doyle as U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement's (ICE) Principal Legal Advisor. In her new role, Doyle
became ICE's top prosecutor with authority to decide whether immigrants
are released from detention, what financial amounts - or bonds - are
set for them to be released, or whether a lawsuit gets postponed.

GOVERNMENT REPORTS

**Department of Homeland Security - Office of the Inspector General
(OIG):****CBP Continues to Experience Challenges Managing Searches of
Electronic Devices at Ports of Entry**

**, September 23, 2021**This report highlighted challenges U.S. Customs
and Border Protection (CBP) faces in managing searches of electronic
devices at ports of entry. Specifically, the DHS Office of the Inspector
General (OIG) found that CBP does not properly document and conduct
searches of electronic devices, fully assess the effectiveness of the
electronic device search program, or adequately manage electronic device
search equipment.

**SPOTLIGHT ON NATIONAL IMMIGRATION FORUM RESOURCES**Fact Sheet: Unused
Green Card Recapture
This
fact sheet explains, in simple terms, what green card recapture means.
Every year, the U.S. sets aside a specific number of available green
cards for individuals from all around the world. However, over the
years, various administrative complications have left hundreds of
thousands of green cards unissued. To tackle the backlog - and
consequently trigger economic growth - policy analysts and immigration
advocates have suggested recapturing the unused green cards accumulated
over the past three decades, going back to 1992.

**Explainer: What's Happening at the U.S.-Mexico Border**
This
regularly updated explainer breaks down what is happening at the
U.S.-Mexico border, analyzing CBP data on recent apprehensions,
describing the impact and use of Title 42 expulsions as well as the
treatment of arriving UACs, and providing additional context on reports
of increased migration to the U.S. and releases of migrant families into
the interior. The explainer also includes a Facebook live discussion
covering recent developments at the border.

**Fact Sheet: Pathways to Protection for Afghans at Risk**
This
resource provides a comparison between the SIV status, the P2 refugee
program, and Humanitarian Parole. It also summarizes the eligibility
requirements for each pathway and notes the different application
timelines and vetting procedures. The fact sheet also describes what we
know about the numbers resettled so far under each pathway and what
benefits they receive.

* * *

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

 

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