Legislative Bulletin

 

 

Hello all,

The National Immigration Forum's Legislative Bulletin for Friday,
February 11, 2022 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, February 11, 2022**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. 3568

**Prohibiting the Use of Arrest Warrants for Identification at Security
Checkpoints Act of 2022**

The bill would prohibit the Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
from accepting warrants for the arrest of immigrants as valid proof of
identification at airport security checkpoints.

Sponsored by Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) (1

cosponsor- 1 Republican, 0 Democrats)

02/02/2022 Introduced in the Senate by Senator Portman

02/02/2022 Referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation

H.R. 6563

**Protecting Federal Funds from Human Trafficking and Smuggling Act of
2022**

The bill would prohibit awarding federal funds to non-profit entities
unless they submit a certification of compliance with federal laws
related to human trafficking, immigrant smuggling, fraud, bribery, and
gratuity.

Sponsored by Representative Lance Gooden (R-Texas) (21

cosponsors- 21 Republicans, 0 Democrats)

02/02/2022 Introduced in the House by Representative Gooden

02/02/2022 Referred to the House Committees on Oversight and Reform, and
the Judiciary

H.R. 6587

**Strengthening Enforcement and Criminalizing Unlawful Records Enabling
(SECURE) Flights Act**

The bill would require the Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
to notify the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) whenever a foreign national
presents a prohibited identification document to a TSA officer at an
airport security checkpoint.

Sponsored by Representative Lance Gooden (R-Texas) (14

cosponsors- 14 Republicans, 0 Democrats)

02/03/2022 Introduced in the House by Representative Gooden

02/03/2022 Referred to the House Committee on Homeland Security

H.R. 6592

**Immigration Transparency and Transit Notification Act of 2022**

The bill would require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to notify state and local
officials before transporting immigrants to their respective
jurisdictions. Governors would have the authority to object to the
placement of such foreign nationals in their state.

Sponsored by Representative Daniel Meuser (R-Pennsylvania) (50

cosponsors- 50 Republicans, 0 Democrats)

02/03/2022 Introduced in the House by Representative Meuser

02/03/2022 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary

H.R. 6600

**Ethiopia Stabilization, Peace, and Democracy Act**

The bill would prohibit the issuance of any type of visas to any person
engaged in actions or policies that have expanded or extended the civil
war in Ethiopia.

Sponsored by Representative Tom Malinowski (D-New Jersey) (5

cosponsors- 2 Republicans, 3 Democrats)

02/04/2022 Introduced in the House by Representative Malinowski

02/04/2022 Referred to the House Committees on Foreign Affairs,
Financial Services, Armed Services, and the Judiciary

02/09/2022 Ordered to be reported (amended) by voice vote by the House
Committee on Foreign Affairs

H.R. 6610

**Border Czar Accountability Act of 2022**

The bill would require all Cabinet members appointed by the President to
lead efforts related to immigration or securing the U.S.-Mexico border
to visit the border at least once every 60 days.

Sponsored by Representative Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) (11

cosponsors- 11 Republicans, 0 Democrats)

02/04/2022 Introduced in the House by Representative Jackson

02/04/2022 Referred to the House Committees on Homeland Security, Ways
and Means, and the Judiciary

H.R. 6621

**No Taxpayer Funds for Illegal Immigrants Act**

The bill would prohibit awarding federal contracts, grants, or loans to
organizations that provide legal representation to undocumented
immigrants placed in removal proceedings.

Sponsored by Representative Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado) (18

cosponsors- 18 Republicans, 0 Democrats)

02/07/2022 Introduced in the House by Representative Boebert

02/07/2022 Referred to the House Committees on Oversight and Reform and
the Judiciary

H.R. 6628

**Close Biden's Open Border Act**

The bill would freeze funding designated for the United Nations for two
years and redirect the funds towards constructing additional physical
barriers on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Sponsored by Representative Bob Good (R-Virginia) (18

cosponsors- 18 Republicans, 0 Democrats)

02/07/2022 Introduced in the House by Representative Good

02/07/2022 Referred to the House Committees on Appropriations and on
Foreign Affairs

H.R. 6637

**Dignity Act**

The bill would make substantial reforms to the immigration system, with
provisions related to providing legal status to the undocumented
population, legal immigration reform, and border and interior
immigration enforcement. Concerning the undocumented population, the
bill provides a ten-year temporary legal status and an eventual path to
citizenship contingent on the payment of a series of fees and passing
certain background checks. Dreamers would be provided a streamlined path
to citizenship. Concerning legal immigration reforms, the bill contains
a number of reforms designted to expand and modernize the H-2A and H-2B
seasonal guestworker provisions. Concerning interior and border
enforcement, the bill would authorize funding for additional physical
barriers, surveillance technologies, and personnel at the border. It
would also make a number of changes to the asylum process and require
all employers in America to use the E-verify system to ensure they are
hiring legal workers.

Sponsored by Representative Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Florida) (7

cosponsors- 7 Republicans, 0 Democrats)

02/08/2022 Introduced in the House by Representative Salazar

02/08/2022 Referred to the House Committees on Homeland Security, Ways
and Means, Agriculture, Natural Resources, Transportation and
Infrastructure, the Budget, Education and Labor, Foreign Affairs,
Oversight and Reform, Intelligence, Armed Services, Financial Services,
and the Judiciary

H.R. 6648

**Secure America's Borders First Act**

The bill would prohibit the U.S. government from providing military and
security assistance to Ukraine until operational control of the United
States-Mexico border is achieved.

Sponsored by Representative Matthew Rosendale, Sr. (R-Montana) (9

cosponsors- 9 Republicans, 0 Democrats)

02/08/2022 Introduced in the House by Representative Rosendale

02/08/2022 Referred to the House Committees on Foreign Affairs and on
Armed Services

H.R. 6665

**To direct the Secretary of Defense to ensure that the number of
members of the Armed Forces who are deployed by reason of the situation
in Ukraine does not exceed the number of members of the Armed Forces who
are deployed to the Southern Border of the United States**

Sponsored by Representative Madison Cawthorn (R-North Carolina) (0

cosponsors)

02/09/2022 Introduced in the House by Representative Cawthorn

02/09/2022 Referred to the House Committee on Armed Services

H.R. 6693

**Asylum Seeker Work Authorization Act**

The bill would reduce the current 365-day waiting period for work
authorization eligibility for asylum seekers to 30 days.

Sponsored by Representative Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) (2

cosponsors- 2 Democrats, 0 Republicans)

02/09/2022 Introduced in the House by Representative Pingree

02/09/2022 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary

**LEGISLATIVE FLOOR CALENDAR**

The U.S. Senate will be in session the week of Monday, February 14,
2022.

The U.S. House of Representatives will be in session for committee work
from Tuesday, February 15, through Thursday, February 17, 2022.

**UPCOMING HEARINGS AND MARKUPS**

**Hearing: Is There a Doctor in the House? The Role of Immigrant
Physicians in the U.S. Healthcare System**

**Date:** Tuesday, February 15, 2022, at 2:00 pm E.T. (House Judiciary
Committee)

**Location:** Virtual hearing

**Witnesses:**TBD

**THEMES IN WASHINGTON THIS WEEK**

****Federal****

****GOP Representatives Introduce Sweeping Immigration Legislation
Including Enforcement, Path to Citizenship****On February 8,
Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Florida) and seven Republican
cosponsors

introduced a  bill - the Dignity Act

- that aims to boost border and immigration enforcement, offer a
lengthy pathway to citizenship to undocumented individuals who have
lived in the U.S. for at least five years, and enact some reforms to
temporary immigrant guestworker programs. The legislation represents the
broadest and most transformative immigration proposal to be introduced
in Congress since House and Senate Democrats introduced the U.S.
Citizenship Act

shortly after President Biden took office in early 2021.

For undocumented immigrants currently present in the U.S., the bill
would create a "Dignity Path," a 10-year temporary legal status that
would require a criminal background check and payments of $10,000 in
restitution over ten years. Individuals in this status would not be
eligible for federal benefits or entitlements. After completing the
Dignity Path, individuals would be allowed to participate in a 5-year
"Redemption Program." The Redemption Program would require immigrants to
participate in a series of English language and U.S. civics courses to
become eligible for the already existing pathways to citizenship. The
Dignity Act also creates an expedited path to legal status and
citizenship for Dreamers.

The legislation also includes a slew of border enforcement, interior
enforcement, and asylum reform provisions. The establishment of a path
to citizenship would be contingent on a "trigger mechanism" requiring
that the border security and interior enforcement provisions have been
fully implemented and the border is

"fully secure." The bill would require

certification that each Border Patrol Sector on the Southern Border has
achieved and maintained a 90% or greater detection and apprehension rate
of those attempting to cross without authorization.

Representative Salazar said

of the bill's introduction: "Our broken immigration system is
fracturing America.... Today, I am introducing the Dignity Act to secure
our border, provide a dignified solution to immigrants in the United
States, and support American workers. While we are a nation of laws, we
are also a nation of second chances."

****USCIS Renews Mission Statement****On February 9, U.S. Citizenship
and Immigration Services (USCIS) renewed the agency's mission statement
to reflect the Biden administration's vision on immigration. The new
mission statement, drafted after receiving feedback from the agency's
employees, is the following: "USCIS upholds America's promise as a
nation of welcome and possibility with fairness, integrity, and respect
for all we serve."

During the announcement of the new mission statement, USCIS Director Ur
Jaddou highlighted that "the United States is and will remain a
welcoming nation that embraces people from across the world who seek
family reunification, employment or professional opportunities, and
humanitarian protection."  Jaddou emphasized that the new mission
statement  "reflects the inclusive character of both our country
and this agency."

The USCIS mission statement had previously been changed in 2018 as part
of the Trump administration's efforts

to transform the agency from a "benefits agency" into a "vetting
agency." In the 2018 change, the Trump administration had removed the
term "nation of immigrants" from the USCIS mission, prompting
controversy
.

****Biden Administration Announces Pilot Program to Place Migrants in
House Confinement Instead of Detention Centers****On February 8, Axios

and Reuters

reported that the Biden administration would implement a
home-confinement-and-curfew pilot program as an alternative to the use
of immigrant detention centers. The 120-day pilot program - aimed at
curbing for-profit detention centers - would require enrollees to
remain in their homes from 8:00 pm until 8:00 am, with exceptions for
night job schedules or extraordinary circumstances. Under this program,
immigrants would be subject to stricter monitoring than other
alternative-to-detention (ATD) programs such as ankle bracelets and
other traceable devices. According to Axios, approximately 179,000

migrants are in ATD programs relying on traceable devices.

The pilot program will be launched in Houston and Baltimore in the
coming weeks, with up to 200 single adults enrolled in each location.
According to the Reuters report, the pilot program would cost

between $6 and $8 per day for each enrollee. That amount is
significantly lower than the $142 daily cost of immigration detention
centers per detainee.

****Biden Administration Extends Work Permit Validity for a Variety of
Immigrants****On February 7, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
(USCIS) updated

its policy manual to extend from one to two years the validity period of
employment authorization documents (EAD) for refugees, asylum seekers,
and Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) self-petitioners. Additionally,
under the updated policy manual, individuals paroled into the United
States for urgent humanitarian reasons and non-DACA individuals who have
been granted deferred action would be eligible for work authorization
that would be valid until the end of the parole or deferred action
period.

In the announcement

of the new policy, USCIS stressed that extending the validity period of
EADs "will help ease processing backlogs by reducing the frequency and
number of times these applicants must renew their EADs and will help
prevent gaps in employment authorization and documentation." The
announcement came amid pressure to tackle the outstanding USCIS
application backlog. According to recent reports, pending employment
authorization applications have increased
from 676,000 in March 2020 to
1.4 million as of October 2021.

****January Refugee and SIV Data Reveal Decline in Admissions for Third
Consecutive Month****On February 8, the State Department released
refugee resettlement
data for the month of January. The U.S. resettled 1,094 refugees in the
fourth month of fiscal year (FY) 2022, a moderate decline from the 1,227
refugees resettled in December. The decrease in January represents the
third consecutive month of declining numbers. The current resettlement
pace would lead to a total of only 13,086 refugees resettled in all of
FY 2022. That number continues to lag far behind the refugee ceiling of
125,000 announced by President Biden in September.

Syrian nationals continue to make up a significant portion of the
overall resettled refugees. With 233 Syrian refugees resettled in
January, the total number this fiscal year reached 1,049, more than any
other country of origin. The released data also reveals that the U.S.
has experienced a sharp uptick in refugees from Central America over the
last couple of months, including 188 refugees from Guatemala, Honduras,
and El Salvador resettled in January.

The January resettlement data also reveals that just 138 Special
Immigrant Visas were granted to Afghans in November, a significant
decrease from 401 in December and far below summer peaks prior to the
Kabul evacuation when the administration granted over 3,000 SIVs a
month.

****Border Patrol Robotics Pilot Sparks Controversy****On February 1,
the Department of Homeland Security disclosed

an initiative to use robot dogs to help U.S. Customs and Border
Protection (CBP) agents along the U.S.-Mexico border. DHS compared

the introduction of robot dogs to airborne drones, arguing that their
function is to supplement the work of human agents. The agency also
claimed that the "quadruped mechanical reinforcements" would enable the
agency to allocate its resources more efficiently. DHS emphasized that
the "100-pound robot dogs" will decrease the threat to CBP agents and
officers of monitoring illegal activity in harsh border zones.

The announcement has drawn concern
from groups like
the American Civil Liberties Union and others who point to the harm of
unnecessary surveillance measures and the limitations

caused by poor battery life and erratic behavior of the robots.

****Biden Administration Lifts Most Visa Sanctions on Laos ****On
February 7, the Biden administration lifted the Trump-era visa sanctions
on Laos. The announcement ended a travel ban that forbade the issuance
of travel and immigrant visas to Laotian nationals. The travel ban was
imposed in 2018, due to Laos' government's refusal to accept a quota of
deportees from the U.S. The announcement will allow over 2,000 Laotians

- who have been in the visa backlog since the implementation of the
travel ban - to come to the United States.

Laos has remained on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
agency's list of "recalcitrant" countries, a distinction given to
governments that routinely refuse to issue the travel documents required
for the U.S. to carry out deportations. Notably, the visa sanctions will
continue for a subset of Laotian government officials, contingent on
whether Laos cooperates with the U.S. demands to accept deportees.

****Legal****

****Federal Court Vacates Two Trump-Era Rules that Hindered Access to
Employment Authorization for Asylum Seekers****On February 7, a District
Court for the District of Columbia vacated

two Trump-era

regulations

that hindered asylum seekers from obtaining Employment Authorization
Documents (EADs). Plaintiffs of the case Asylumworks et al. v. Mayorkas

argued that the rules drastically curtailed access to work
authorization, and stressed that the rules were invalid because
purported Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf issued them even though he was
not lawfully installed as DHS Secretary.

The two rules - now vacated by a federal court - overhauled the EAD
application process entirely. The first, enacted on August 21, 2020,
eliminated the 30-day deadline for USCIS to process EAD applications.
The second, enacted August 25, 2020, more than doubled the waiting
period for asylum seekers to receive an EAD and issued a number of other
reforms limiting access to work authorization documents.

In response to criticism that the rules would leave asylum seekers with
legitimate claims to protection in destitute conditions for years while
their cases continued, the Trump administration wrote

that those asylum seekers "should become familiar with the homelessness
resources provided by the state where they intend to reside."

**GOVERNMENT REPORTS**

**Department of Homeland Security - Office of the Inspector General
(OIG);****CBP Border Patrol Stations and Ports of Entry in Southern
California Generally Met TEDS Standards**

**; February 7, 2022**This report from DHS OIG highlights that U.S.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities in the San Diego sector
generally operate in compliance with National Standards on Transport,
Escort, Detention, and Search (TEDS). While the report identified
instances of prolonged detention among single adults, it did not
identify overcrowded conditions. The report also finds that detainees
had room to sit or lie down. The agency also verified accessibility to
water, food, toilets, sinks, basic hygiene supplies, and bedding.

**Department of Homeland Security - Office of the Inspector General
(OIG);****CBP Officials Implemented Rapid DNA Testing to Verify Claimed
Parent-Child Relationships**

**;**

**February 8, 2022**This report from DHS OIG highlights that on
September 12, 2021, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), in
compliance with court order, started implementing rapid DNA testing in
situations in which CBP suspected a fraudulent claim of a parent-child
relationship. The rapid DNA test allows portable machines to determine
filial relationships in only 90 minutes.

**SPOTLIGHT ON NATIONAL IMMIGRATION FORUM RESOURCES****Lighting the
Beacon: A New Method for Setting Refugee Admissions Levels**
This
policy proposal suggests setting an annual baseline for refugee
admissions at 10% of UNHCR's Refugees in Need of Resettlement (RINOR)
number - the estimated population of forcibly displaced people who are
most in need of permanent resettlement each year.

**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.

**Room to Grow: One Year Later**
This
blog post commemorates the one-year anniversary of our Room to Grow

report. The post describes why our findings in Room to Grow - and
calls to reimagine our immigration system - are more important now
than ever, particularly given recently released Census data and growing
labor market shortages.

* * *

*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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