Legislative Bulletin

 

 

Hello all,

The National Immigration Forum's Legislative Bulletin for Friday, May
13, 2022, is now posted.

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

[link removed]

All the best,

Arturo 

**LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN - Friday, May 13, 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. 6577

**Real Courts, Rule of Law Act of 2022**

The bill would establish an immigration court system independent from
the Department of Justice. The bill would restructure the current
immigration court system under Article I of the constitution. It would
also allow for the appointment of temporary judges and create temporary
court facilities, and it would allow immigration judges to impose fines
for contempt of court.

Sponsored by Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-California) (52

cosponsors- 52 Democrats, 0 Republicans)

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

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

05/11/2022 Passed the House Judiciary Committee after a 24-12

vote

H.R. 7691

**Additional Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2022**

The bill is a funding package meant to fund the government's ongoing
response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Among many other
provisions, the bill would appropriate $900,000,000 to assist Ukrainian
refugees and $350,000,000 to address humanitarian needs in Ukraine and
other countries in the Eastern European region impacted by the situation
in Ukraine. The bill would also allow Ukrainian parolees the ability to
access certain resettlement benefits offered to refugees.

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

cosponsors)

05/10/2022 Introduced in the House by Representative DeLauro

05/10/2022 Referred to the House Committees on Appropriations and on the
Budget

05/10/2022 Passed by the House by a 368 - 57
vote

05/11/2022 Received in the Senate.

05/11/2022 Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under Read the First
Time.

H.R. 7707

**Spc. Bishop E. Evans Border Security Act**

The bill would codify and extend the implementation of Title 42 - a
pandemic-era order used since March 2020 to rapidly expel arriving
migrants without providing them the opportunity to seek asylum - until
February 1, 2025.

Sponsored by Representative Mike Kelly (R-Pennsylvania) (0

cosponsors)

05/10/2022 Introduced in the House by Representative Kelly

05/10/2022 Referred to the House Committees on Energy and Commerce,
Homeland Security, and the Judiciary

H.R. 7725

**To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to limit the availability
of asylum for aliens transiting through third countries**

Sponsored by Representative Scott Perry (R-Pennsylvania) (11

cosponsors- 11 Republicans, 0 Democrats)

05/11/2022 Introduced in the House by Representative Perry

05/11/2022 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary

S. 4190

**Independent and Objective Oversight of Ukrainian Assistance Act**

The bill would create the Office of the Special Inspector General for
Ukrainian Military, Economic, and Humanitarian Aid. The Office of the
Inspector would conduct and supervise audits and investigations related
to the programs and operations appropriated to Ukraine. Among its
duties, the Office of the Inspector would monitor and review the
coordination between the United States and the Government of Ukraine to
support Ukrainian refugees and partners in the region.

Sponsored by Senator John Kennedy (R-Louisiana) (1

cosponsor- 1 Republican, 0 Democrats)

05/11/2022 Introduced in the Senate by Senator Kennedy

05/11/2022 Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders.

**LEGISLATIVE FLOOR CALENDAR**

The U.S. Senate will be in session the week of Monday, May 16, 2022.

The U.S. House of Representatives will be in session from Monday, May
16, through Thursday, May 19, 2022.

**UPCOMING HEARINGS AND MARKUPS**There are no immigration-related
hearings scheduled for the week of Monday, May 16, 2022.

**THEMES IN WASHINGTON THIS WEEK**

****Federal****

****House Passes Ukraine Aid Package****On May 10, the U.S. House of
Representatives voted

368-57 to pass the Additional Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act
,
a bill that would provide nearly $40 billion in additional military,
economic and humanitarian aid to respond to the ongoing Russian invasion
of Ukraine. The bill would provide Ukrainians who are resettled in the
U.S. under parole - whether after arriving at the border or through
the recently created Uniting for Ukraine private sponsorship program -
access to certain resettlement benefits typically offered to refugees.
The bill would also appropriate $900,000,000 to assist Ukrainian
refugees and parolees who have resettled in the U.S. and $350,000,000 to
address humanitarian needs and assist refugees in and from Ukraine.

The administration had initially sent a request

to Congress for additional Ukraine funding on April 28, but the package
was initially held up over disagreement over whether to combine it with
a COVID-19 funding deal. The COVID-19 deal has been stalled for weeks as
Republican leaders have signaled they intend to only let it move if they
can force an amendment vote codifying the controversial Title 42 border
policy.

Ultimately, House and Senate leaders reached an agreement to move the
Ukraine package independently - leaving the COVID-19 funding issue
still to be resolved.

The administration's initial request for Ukraine funding also included
provisions that would provide a pathway to permanent status to Afghan
evacuees who have been resettled in the U.S. under parole and currently
have no clear option to stay in the country. Despite bipartisan support
for these provisions, they were not ultimately included in the version
of the bill that passed the House.

The bill is now under consideration in the Senate and appears likely to
pass

the week of May 16.

****Biden Administration Disbands CBP's Critical Incident Teams Amid
Internal Investigations****On May 3, U.S. Customs and Border Protection
(CBP) Commissioner Chris Magnus announced

that Border Patrol Critical Incident Teams (CITs) would be disbanded by
October 1, 2022. CITs have been used by Border Patrol for decades, with
responsibilities that include collecting evidence for CBP's Office of
Professional Responsibility (OPR), which handles most inquiries into
agent misconduct. Advocates and others have questioned the level of
independence and accountability present during these investigations when
Border Patrol is, in essence, investigating itself.

In the announcement, Commissioner Magnus stated

that OPR would assume full responsibility for the critical incident
response function utilizing its own assigned personnel. He stressed

that the decision was made "to ensure our agency achieves the highest
levels of accountability" and that "all reviews and investigations are
conducted by personnel with appropriate expertise, training, and
oversight."

****Report Shows Large-Scale ICE Surveillance Infrastructure****On May
10, a report published by Georgetown
Law's Center on Privacy and Technology revealed that U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is operating a surveillance infrastructure
that enables the agency to access extensive personal information of
individuals it is investigating. The report highlights

that ICE has amassed personal data from the vast majority of people
living in the country by accessing the digital records of state and
local governments and buying databases with billions of data points from
private companies. The report estimates that the agency has spent
approximately $2.8 billion between 2008 and 2021 on new surveillance,
data collection, and data-sharing initiatives.

The report highlights

that ICE uses facial recognition technology to search through the
driver's license photographs of around 32% of all adults in the U.S.
According to the report, the agency has access to the driver's license
data of 3 in 4 adults and tracks the movements of cars in cities home to
70% of adults in the nation. Additionally, the report notes that when
74% of adults in the U.S. connected the gas, electricity, phone, or
internet in a new home, ICE was able to learn their new address
automatically.

****Far-Right Vigilantes Intercept Migrant Children at the Southern
Border****According to a May 9 New York Times report
, some
far-right activists - driven by an unfounded conspiracy theory called
Qanon - are intercepting migrant children at the southern border and
collecting information about their families. The report notes that some
QAnon influencers have become
vigilantes to protect migrant kids from the baseless theory that migrant
children are allowed to cross the border in order to be funneled into
pedophilia rings around the United States.

The federal government has long had concerns
that
unaccompanied migrant children could be vulnerable to criminal
exploitation. Hence, it has adopted significant statutory and regulatory
vetting procedures designed to ensure that migrant children are screened
for trafficking and released only to sponsors who are family members or
those who have legitimate connections to them. According to groups that
monitor and combat trafficking, it is rare that minors are crossing the
southern border as part of sex-trafficking schemes.

****Legal****

****US District Court Hears Case on Title 42, Extends Temporary
Restraining Order****On May 13, a federal judge in Louisiana heard
arguments over whether the Biden administration can end the use of Title
42 at the border. After the hearings, the judge extended

a temporary restraining order

that prevents the Biden administration from phasing out the use of Title
42 before May 23, the date on which the policy is currently set to
expire. The judge did not rule on the request for a permanent injunction
but announced he planned to do so before May 23. Title 42 is a
pandemic-era order that both the Trump and Biden administrations have
used since March 2020 to rapidly expel arriving migrants without
providing them the opportunity to seek asylum.

The case Louisiana et al. v. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention et
al
.
stems from a lawsuit filed by Louisiana, Arizona, and Missouri that
sought an injunction against the lifting of Title 42. The states also
requested a temporary restraining order preventing the government from
beginning to phase out the policy while the court was still considering
the case. In their lawsuit, the states said

there were indications that certain migrants from Guatemala, Honduras,
and El Salvador were already being exempted from Title 42 expulsions.

The Department of Homeland Security agreed

in its response to the motion that it had begun processing some migrants
from Central America - about 14 percent during a recent one-week
stretch - under pre-pandemic guidelines. However, the agency stated
that the migrants in question were being placed in expedited removal
proceedings.

****In Dispute Over MPP, Agreement that Supreme Court Has
Jurisdiction****On May 9, the Biden administration and Republican
officials representing the states of Texas and Missouri filed

briefs in which they agreed that the Supreme Court has the authority to
settle the dispute over the termination of the Migrant Protection
Protocols (MPP), commonly known as Remain in Mexico. Their briefs were
submitted after oral arguments and an instruction

from the Justices to provide an answer as to whether the SCOTUS has the
jurisdiction to consider the merits of the case.

The case, Biden v. Texas
, revolves
around whether the Biden administration may end MPP. 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.

Also, on May 9, eighteen states led by Indiana filed

an amicus brief before the SCOTUS in support of preventing the Biden
administration from ending MPP. The states

that submitted the amicus brief are Indiana, Alabama, Alaska, Arizona,
Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana,
Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia, and West
Virginia.

****State & Local****

****Arizona Joins Texas in Sending Buses Carrying Migrants to
Washington, DC****On May 12, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey sent a
state-financed bus

carrying 20 asylum seekers from Yuma, AZ, to Washington, D.C. A
spokesperson for Governor Ducey said that the decision to bus migrants
came in response to the CDC's April 1 announcement that it intended to
end the use of the Title 42 public health policy on May 23. The
spokesperson also announced

that the state plans to finance between two and three trips per week,
depending on participation rates.

Ducey's government did not provide details

of how much the trips would cost the state, saying it would depend on
how many people wanted to participate. Arizona's government, however,
promised to cover the costs but would seek reimbursement from the White
House.

Ducey's announcement mimics the controversial

busing program initiated by Texas Governor Abbott last month. As of May
12, Texas had sent 32 buses

with 835 migrants to Washington D.C. since April 13.

The migrants have been welcomed
 by
D.C.-based NGOs and put onto other buses and trains towards their actual
destinations.

**GOVERNMENT REPORTS**There were no government-issued
immigration-related reports the week of Monday, May 9, 2022.

**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
on May 23.

* * *

*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.

 

DONATE

 

**Follow Us**

 

[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]

National Immigration Forum

10 G Street NE, Suite 500

Washington, DC 20002

www.immigrationforum.org

 

Unsubscribe from the Legislative Bulletin
or opt-out from all Forum emails.

 
_________________

Sent to [email protected]

Unsubscribe:
[link removed]

National Immigration Forum, 10 G St NE, Suite 500, Washington, D.C. 20002, United States