Legislative Bulletin

 

 

Hello all,

The National Immigration Forum's Legislative Bulletin for Friday, May 6,
2022 is now posted.

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

All the best,

Arturo

**LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN - Friday, May 6, 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**H.R. 7595

**Victims Of Immigration Crime Engagement Restoration Act**

The bill would require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to
create within Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) an office to
support victims of crimes committed by immigrants called the Victims of
Immigration Crime Engagement Office.

Sponsored by Representative Jack Bergman (R-Michigan) (4

cosponsors- 4 Republicans, 0 Democrats)

04/27/2022 Introduced in the House by Representative Bergman

04/27/2022 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary

H.R. 7596

**Repurposing Elite Luxuries Into Emergency Funds (RELIEF) for Ukraine
Act**

The bill would require the Attorney General to deposit all proceeds
resulting from the liquidation of assets seized as a result of actions
taken by Task Force KleptoCapture into the Ukrainian Relief Fund. Task
Force KleptoCapture is an interagency task force dedicated to enforcing
sanctions, export restrictions, and economic countermeasures that the
United States has imposed in response to the invasion of Ukraine. The
Ukrainian Relief Fund, among other things, would promote the security,
safety, health, well-being, and resettlement of Ukrainian refugees.

Sponsored by Representative Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) (1

cosponsor- 1 Republican, 0 Democrats)

04/27/2022 Introduced in the House by Representative Kaptur

04/27/2022 Referred to the House Committees on Foreign Affairs and the
Judiciary

H.R. 7637

**Veterans First Act of 2022**

The bill would prohibit the Department of Veterans Affairs from using
federal funds to provide emergency assistance in response to an
emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border directly resulting from the repeal
of Title 42. This bill is a companion to S. 4082
.

Sponsored by Representative Steve Womack (R-Arkansas) (31

cosponsors- 31 Republicans, 0 Democrats)

04/28/2022 Introduced in the House by Representative Womack

04/28/2022 Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs

H.R. 7650

**International Press Freedom Act of 2022**

The bill would create within the Department of State an Office on
International Press Freedom. Among other things, the office would
recommend the issuance of nonimmigrant visas and parole to foreign
individuals classified as threatened journalists. For purposes of this
bill, threatened journalists are foreign nationals who have been
threatened, harassed, or attacked on account of, or in the exercise of,
journalistic activity.

Sponsored by Representative William Keating (D-Massachusetts) (1

cosponsor- 1 Democrat, 0 Republicans)

05/03/2022 Introduced in the House by Representative Keating

05/03/2022 Referred to the House Committees on Foreign Affairs and the
Judiciary

**LEGISLATIVE FLOOR CALENDAR**The U.S. Senate will be in session the
week of Monday, May 9, 2022.

The U.S. House of Representatives will be in session from Tuesday, May
10, through Friday, May 13, 2022.

**UPCOMING HEARINGS AND MARKUPS****Hearing: Fiscal Year 2023 Budget
Request for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection**

**Date:** Wednesday, May 11, 2022, at 2:00 pm E.T. (House Committee on
Appropriations)

**Location:** 2358-A Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C.

**Witness:**Chris Magnus, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
Commissioner

**THEMES IN WASHINGTON THIS WEEK**

**Federal**

****President Biden and Mexico's President López Obrador Hold Talks to
Address Migration****On April 29, President Biden spoke

with Mexico's President López Obrador to discuss joint strategies to
address the flow of migrants from throughout the hemisphere to Mexico
and the United States. Both countries agreed

to enhance their collaboratory efforts to address irregular migration.
They also discussed

the importance of working together with countries throughout the
hemisphere to address root causes of migration, ensure

safe and sustainable livelihoods for their respective citizens, and
expand legal pathways for migrants and refugees.

Four days after their conversation, on May 3, Mexican authorities
relocated

a migrant camp that had sprung up in a park in the city of Reynosa,
which sits across the border from McAllen, Texas. The camp held over
2,000 people from Central America and Haiti who have now been moved to a
city shelter. On May 4, Mexican authorities agreed

to take Cuban and Nicaraguan migrants expelled by the United States
under Title 42, a pandemic-era order used since March 2020 to rapidly
expel arriving migrants without providing them the opportunity to seek
asylum.

Also on April 29, Mexico's Minister of Economy announced

that a planned commercial rail line will now cross the U.S.-Mexico
border in New Mexico instead of Texas, as initially planned. The change
comes in response to Texas Governor Abbott's recent attempts to expand
inspections of commercial vehicles crossing the Texas-Mexico border. The
change of rail route is estimated to cost Texas $4.2 billion

in lost revenue.

****Refugee Resettlement Continues to Lag in April as Administration
Turns to Parole Program for Ukraine****On May 5, refugee resettlement
data released  by
the State Department revealed the administration resettled a total of
1,984 refugees in April, which represents a 12% decrease from March.
Seven months through the fiscal year (FY), the current resettlement pace
would lead to a total of only 18,414 refugees resettled in all of FY
2022. That number continues to lag far behind the refugee ceiling of
125,000 announced by President Biden last September.

The released data also revealed that the U.S. resettled an increasing
number of refugees from Ukraine, rising from 12 in March to 105 in
April. The April numbers brought the total of Ukrainian refugees
resettled since February - when the Russian invasion started - to a
total of 544. These numbers, however, are still far behind the 100,000
refugees that the Biden administration committed to welcome

in a March statement. However, despite the low number of Ukrainians
entering through the refugee resettlement program, the recently-launched
Uniting for Ukraine

private sponsorship parole program has received over 14,500 applications

in just ten days.

The April resettlement data also reveals that 568 Special Immigrant
Visas (SIVs) were granted to Afghans in April, a significant increase
from 301 in March but still far below summer peaks prior to the fall of
Kabul when the administration granted over 3,000 SIVs each month.

****USCIS Increases Automatic Extension Period of Work Authorization for
Certain Applicants****On May 3, U.S. Immigration and Citizenship
Services (USCIS) announced

a Temporary Final Rule

(TFR) that increases the automatic extension of work authorization for
certain renewal applicants from
180 days to up to 540 days. The directive, intended

to help tackle the work-permit application backlog, went into effect on
May 4. In the announcement, USCIS Director Ur Jaddou highlighted

that the extension would help avoid gaps in employment for non-citizens
and avoid further disruption for U.S. employers.

The current employment authorization backlog at USCIS sits at over 1.5
million.

****Report Shows Increasing Number of Deaths and Injuries Caused by
Border Barriers****On April 29, a group of physicians from the
University of California at San Diego (UCSD) published a peer-reviewed
article

that highlights the increasing number of deaths and traumas of patients
who have fallen from barriers on the U.S.-Mexico border since 2019. The
article notes that since the replacement of pre-existing border fencing
with 30-foot barriers in 2019, the number of patients arriving at the
UCSD Medical Center trauma ward after falling off the structure has
increased fivefold. Moreover, falling deaths

at the border went from zero to 16 during the same period. The
construction of that section of the border wall was ordered by former
President Donald Trump on January 24, 2017 through the executive order

Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements.

The falling incidents are a subset of the soaring number of injuries and
deaths occurring to migrants all across the southern border. In 2021, at
least 650 people died

attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. According to a recent report
from the Government
Accountability Office (GAO), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
agents tend to undercount

immigrant deaths, with the number of people dying likely twice as high
as has been reported.

****Legal****

****US Supreme Court Requests Additional Briefs in MPP Case****On May 3,
only six days after the Supreme Court held oral arguments in a case
concerning the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP),

the justices instructed

the parties to file additional briefs by Monday, May 9, to provide an
answer

as to whether the Supreme Court has the jurisdiction to consider the
merits of the case. The case, Biden v. Texas
, revolves
around whether the Biden administration may end MPP, commonly known as
Remain in Mexico. Texas and Missouri - the states challenging the
decision to end the policy - argue that the Biden administration (and
several prior administrations) is statutorily required to implement MPP
as long as it does not have the capacity to detain all arriving
migrants.

The Biden administration stopped

enrollment in MPP in June 2021. On August 13, a federal judge in Texas
ruled

that the termination of MPP violated the Administrative Procedures Act
(APA). Hence, in compliance with court orders, the Biden administration
resumed

the implementation of MPP on December 6. On December 29, the Biden
administration asked

the Supreme Court to consider its arguments to end MPP after the Fifth
Circuit rejected its appeal on December 14. The Supreme Court granted

certiorari to the Biden administration's petition on February 18 and
held

oral arguments on April 26.

****State & Local****

****Massachusetts Senate Approves Bill That Allows Undocumented
Immigrants to Receive Driver's Licenses****On May 5, the Massachusetts
Senate passed

a bill by a vote of a 32 to 8 that would allow undocumented residents to
receive driver's licenses in the state. The bill had already passed

the Massachusetts House of Representatives on February 17, and now sits
on Governor Charlie Baker's desk to be signed into law.

The bill would require

undocumented immigrants seeking a license to prove their identity and
provide evidence of their residency in the state. Applicants would be
required to provide two separate identification documents, the first
consisting of either a passport or consular identification and the
second consisting of an unexpired driver's license from any U.S. state
or territory, a birth certificate, a foreign national identity card, a
foreign driver's license, or a marriage certificate issued in
Massachusetts.

If the bill is signed into law, it is expected to benefit over 200,000

undocumented immigrants, and Massachusetts would become the 16th state
in the country to allow

undocumented immigrants to access driver's licenses.

****Texas Governor Abbott Threatens to Challenge Requirement to Offer
Free Public Education to All Children****On May 4, Texas Governor Gregg
Abbott announced

he was considering a challenge to **Plyler v. Doe**
,
a landmark 1982 Supreme Court ruling that requires states to offer free
public education to all children, including undocumented immigrants. The
ruling had struck down

a Texas law that denied state funding to educate children who had not
been "legally admitted" to the United States.

Governor Abbott expressed his intention to challenge the ruling in a
radio interview

where he discussed his desire to "resurrect that case and challenge the
issue again."

Education advocacy groups raised concerns about Governor Abbott's
intention. The Texas American Federation of Teachers, for instance,
stated

that "children shouldn't be punished for the political ambitions of
adults. Nor should they be judged for the decisions of their parents,
who oftentimes are trying to provide a life for their children that's
free from violence."

**GOVERNMENT REPORTS**

**Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General (DHS-OIG),
"****CBP and CWMD Need to Improve Monitoring and Maintenance of
Radiation Portal Monitor Systems (Redacted)**

**," April 27, 2022**This OIG report notes that U.S. Customs and Border
Protection (CBP) and the Department of Homeland Security's Countering
Weapons of Mass Destruction Office (CWMD) have failed to ensure that
Radiation Portal Monitor (RPM) systems are meeting critical system
performance requirements. RPM systems are used by CBP to scan for
radiological and nuclear threats and materials at U.S. ports of entry.

**SPOTLIGHT ON NATIONAL IMMIGRATION FORUM RESOURCES**Addressing
Increases in Migration at the Southwest Border
This
updated resource provides policy recommendations that would create more
humane and efficient border processing, refocus on regional approaches
that combat trafficking networks and address the root causes of
migration, and enact practical border security fixes that address key
remaining vulnerabilities.

**Explainer: Uniting for Ukraine**
This
resource explains the elements of the Uniting for Ukraine program,
launched by the Biden administration on April 21, to provide Ukrainian
citizens who have fled Russia's unprovoked war of aggression
opportunities to come to the U.S.

**Explainer: Title 42 and What Comes Next at the Border**
This
explainer provides more information about the Title 42 border policy,
its impact on the border, and what will happen when the policy is
lifted.

* * *

*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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