Legislative Bulletin

 

 

Hello all,

The National Immigration Forum's Legislative Bulletin for Friday, March
17, 2023, is now posted.

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

All the best,

Alexandra 

**LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN - Friday, March 17, 2023**BILLS INTRODUCED AND
CONSIDERED <#bills-introduced-and-considered>

LEGISLATIVE FLOOR CALENDAR <#legislative-floor-calendar>

UPCOMING HEARINGS AND MARKUPS <#upcoming-hearings-and-markups>

THEMES IN WASHINGTON THIS WEEK <#Themes-In-Washington-This-week>

GOVERNMENT REPORTS <#government-reports>

SPOTLIGHT ON NATIONAL IMMIGRATION FORUM RESOURCES
<#spotlight-on-national-immigration-forum-resources>

**BILLS INTRODUCED AND CONSIDERED**S.774
<[link removed]>Veterans
Border Patrol Training Act

This bill
<[link removed]>would
link service members leaving the military with careers at U.S. Customs
and Border Protection (CBP) through the Department of Defense's
SkillBridge program.

Sponsored by Sen. Jon Tester (D-Montana) (1
<[link removed]>
cosponsor - 1 Republican, 0 Democrats)

03/09/2023 Introduced in the Senate by Sen. Jon Tester

03/09/2023 Referred to the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs

S.814
<[link removed]>A
bill to allow the Secretary of Homeland Security to designate Romania as
a program country under the visa waiver program

This bill
<[link removed]>
would encourage the Romanian government to prepare for participation in
the U.S. visa waiver program, continue efforts to reduce human
trafficking, and let the Homeland Security Secretary designate Romania
as a program country for the visa waiver program.

Sponsored by Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Illinois) (2
<[link removed]>
cosponsors - 1 Republican, 1 Democrat)

03/15/2023 Introduced in the Senate by Sen. Richard J. Durbin

03/15/2023 Referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary

S.819
<[link removed]>Fairness
for Immigrant Families Act

This bill
<[link removed]>
would eliminate bars to re-entry, re-establish the 245(i) program,
expand access to cancellation of removal, and make other changes to
protect immigrant families. It would also fight notario fraud by letting
immigration fraud victims file motions to reopen cases, criminalizing
fraudulent schemes, and requiring notarios to notify clients that they
are not immigration attorneys, among other measures. The bill would
create a National Office of New Americans, require the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) to report to Congress before increasing
immigration service fees, and protect immigrant victims and witnesses
from enforcement actions.

Sponsored by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nevada) (0
<[link removed]>
cosponsors)

03/15/2023 Introduced in the Senate by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto

03/15/2023 Referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary

H.R.1531
<[link removed]>To
provide for the renewed availability of funds to construct the border
wall upon the deployment of the National Guard to the southern land
border of the United States

Sponsored by Rep. Dale W. Strong (R-Alabama)  (0
<[link removed]>
cosponsors)

03/10/2023 Introduced in the House by Rep. Dale W. Strong 

03/10/2023 Referred to the House Committee on Homeland Security

H.R.1535
<[link removed]>Eliminating
Backlogs Act of 2023

This bill
<[link removed]>
would provide greater flexibility around existing allotments of
employment-based visas. 

Sponsored by Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-Indiana)  (1
<[link removed]>
cosponsor - 0 Republicans, 1 Democrat)

03/10/2023 Introduced in the House by Rep. Larry Bucshon

03/10/2023 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary

H.R.1537
<[link removed]>Protecting
an Alien child's Reasonable Expectation of No Trafficking (PARENT) Act
This bill
<[link removed]>
would require unaccompanied children to be transferred into the custody
of a verified parent, legal guardian, or the Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS). 

Sponsored by Rep. Michael C. Burgess (R-Texas) (4
<[link removed]>
cosponsors - 4 Republicans, 0 Democrats)

03/10/2023 Introduced in the House by Rep. Michael C. Burgess

03/10/2023 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary

**LEGISLATIVE FLOOR CALENDAR**The U.S. Senate will be in session from
Tuesday, March 21 through Friday, March 24, 2023.

The U.S. House of Representatives will be in session Wednesday, March 22
through Friday, March 24, 2023. 

**UPCOMING HEARINGS AND MARKUPS****Review of the Fiscal Year 2024 Budget
Request for the U.S. Department of State**
<[link removed]>

**Date:**Wednesday, March 22, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. ET (Senate Committee on
Appropriations)

**Location:** Dirksen Senate Office Building 138, Washington, D.C.

**Witnesses:**

**The Honorable**

**Antony J. Blinken,**Secretary, Department of State

**A Review of the President's FY 2024 Funding Request and Budget
Justification for the Department of Health and Human Services**
<[link removed]>

**Date:**Wednesday, March 22, 2023 at 2:30 p.m. ET (Senate Committee on
Appropriations)

**Location:** Dirksen Senate Office Building 138, Washington, D.C.

**Witnesses:**

**The Honorable Xavier Becerra,** Secretary, U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services

**Living Up to America's Promise: The Need to Bolster the U.S. Refugee
Admissions Program**
<[link removed]>

**Date:**Wednesday, March 22, 2023 at 2:30 p.m. ET (Senate Committee on
the Judiciary)

**Location:** Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 226, Washington, D.C.

**Witnesses:**TBA

**American Diplomacy and Global Leadership: Review of the FY24 State
Department Budget Request**
<[link removed]>

**Date:**Wednesday, March 22, 2023 at 2:30 p.m. ET (Senate Foreign
Relations Committee)

**Location:** 419 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.

**Witnesses: **

**The Honorable**

**Antony J. Blinken,**Secretary, Department of State

**The Ortega-Murillo Regime's War Against the Catholic Church and
Civil Society in Nicaragua: Bishop Alvarez, Political Prisoners, and
Prisoners of Conscience**
<[link removed]>

**Date:**Wednesday, March 22, 2023 at 4:00 p.m. ET (House Foreign
Affairs Committee)

**Location:** 2200 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C.

**Witnesses: **

**Félix Maradiaga, J.D.,**President and Founder, Fundación para la
Libertad de Nicaragua

**Dr. Juan Sebastián Chamorro,** Executive Director, Civic Alliance
for Justice and Democracy

**Deborah Ullmer,**Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean
Programs, National Democratic Institute

**Bianca Jagger,**Founder, President, and Chief Executive, Bianca Jagger
Human Rights Foundation

**Budget Hearing - Fiscal Year 2024 Request for the Department of
Justice Office of Inspector General**
<[link removed]>

**Date:**Thursday, March 23, 2023 at 9:30 a.m. ET (House Appropriations
Committee)

**Location:** TBA

**Witnesses: **

**The Honorable Michael E. Horowitz,**Inspector General, U.S. Department
of Justice

**Budget Hearing - Fiscal Year 2024 Request for the Department of
State**
<[link removed]>

**Date:**Thursday, March 23, 2023 at 2:00 p.m. ET (House Appropriations
Committee)

**Location:** 2359 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C.

**Witnesses: **

**The Honorable**

**Antony J. Blinken,**Secretary, Department of State

**Securing America's Maritime Border: Challenges and Solutions for
U.S. National Security**
<[link removed]>

**Date:**Thursday, March 23, 2023 at 2:00 p.m. ET (House Homeland
Security Committee)

**Location:** 310 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, D.C.

**Witnesses:**TBA

**THEMES IN WASHINGTON THIS WEEK**

****Federal ****

**Biden Administration Extends Relief for Ukrainians**On March 13, the
Biden administration announced
<[link removed]>
it would extend protections for the earliest Ukrainians who fled to the
United States amid Russia's invasion last year, providing much-needed
relief for thousands of people at risk of losing legal status. 

Around 25,000 Ukrainians and their families who arrived in the U.S.
between Feb. 24 and April 25, 2022 and were granted humanitarian parole
for just one year may now be eligible for a one-year extension. Over the
next month, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will review
<[link removed]>such
cases, without any need to file additional paperwork.

Monday's announcement has relieved Ukrainians' short-term anxieties
about whether they would be kicked out of the U.S. and forced to seek
refuge elsewhere if their parole expired. Long term, however, Ukrainians
- as well as Afghans, Venezuelans, Cubans, Nicaraguans, and Haitians
also granted parole - face an uncertain future, as many of them do not
have a clear path to citizenship outside of the U.S.'s beleaguered
asylum system. 

With so many vulnerable populations  facing imminent deadlines,
advocates are urging
<[link removed]>
the Biden administration not to wait to announce extensions and
solutions. 

**Democrats Call for Improvements to CBP One Amid Continued Frustrations
With the App**On March 13, a number of House Democrats wrote a letter
<[link removed]> to
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas expressing concerns
<[link removed]>
over the Biden administration's continued reliance on the CBP One app
to process vulnerable migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. 

As the app has increasingly become a required resource for asylum
seekers to access protection, despite widespread glitches, the 35
members of Congress who signed the letter said they "have received
numerous reports of unusability, inaccessibility, and inequity that have
already resulted in grave harm to asylum seekers." They urged federal
officials not to turn away asylum seekers who are unable to use CBP One,
and they suggested updates to the app that might help keep families
together and avoid discrimination.

The lawmakers also asked DHS to "reverse course" on a new proposed rule
<[link removed]>
advanced by the Biden administration in February, warning that its
implementation would "undermine the fundamental right to asylum,
violating the letter and spirit of the law."

Meanwhile, frustrations at the U.S.'s southern border have grown in
recent days, as migrants have been forced to navigate a complicated
system and buggy technology to exercise their statutory right to seek
asylum. Last Sunday, hundreds of mostly Venezuelan migrants
<[link removed]> tired
of waiting on the app to work walked up to the top of the Paso del Norte
Bridge between El Paso and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, causing disruptions
and blocking the bridge.

"We've been trying to use the application for three months," a man
named Alián told the Texas Tribune. "Every day we try (the
application), and nothing. When we have money, we rent a place to sleep.
When we don't, we sleep on the street." 

**U.S. Losing International College Grads to Canada**On March 14, a new
report
<[link removed]>
by the Niskanen Center found that the United States is losing
international students educated stateside to jobs in Canada, largely
because of the U.S.'s byzantine immigration system. 

The Niskanen Center found that between 2017 and 2021, around 45,000
invitations for Canada's Express Entry - a recruitment tactic for
global skilled talent - went to applicants with postsecondary
educations from the U.S. Nearly nine in ten of those applicants were not
U.S. citizens, demonstrating a clear connection between the U.S.'s
antiquated immigration system and the departure of top-tier talent who
could fill much-needed gaps in the U.S. economy. Here, H-1B visas for
high-skilled employment are hard to obtain and partly a game of chance,
as aspiring workers are selected through a lottery. With a low capacity
for applicants, "the most recent rate of selection was about one in
four," the report found, "meaning that nearly 75 percent of H-1B
hopefuls never had a chance to put their credentials before U.S.
immigration officials." 

****State and Local****

**Texas Lawmakers Propose New 'Border Protection Unit' to
'Repel' Migrants at Border **On March 10, Texas State
Representative Matt Schaefer (R-TX) filed
<[link removed]>
House Bill (H.B.) 20, the Border Protection Unit Act, which would create
a state unit of officers with the ability to arrest and return migrants
to Mexico if they cross the border between a port of entry or are seen
trying to cross unlawfully into the United States. Texas House Speaker
Dan Phelan (R-TX) announced his support of the legislation and included
it in his package of priority legislation.  

The "Border Protection Unit" would include officers who could arrest,
detain, and remove those who cross the border unlawfully with the use of
"non-deadly force" and would require its officers to be U.S. citizens,
lawful permanent residents, or individuals with law enforcement
experience. The bill would also allow the unit chief to employ
"law-abiding citizens without a felony conviction to participate in unit
operations and functions," although they would not have the ability to
arrest anyone unless authorized by the governor. 

Schaefer's bill would make trespassing by migrants entering from
Mexico onto Texas private property a felony and would grant the state
the ability to remove migrants quickly if the federal government ever
declares another national public health emergency over COVID-19. If
passed, the legislation would represent a major test of states'
abilities to enforce immigration laws - a responsibility that the
courts have historically categorized as falling under federal purview.

Meanwhile, in the State Senate, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R-TX) announced
<[link removed]>
that he will support legislation introduced by State Sen. Brian Birdwell
(R-TX) to make it a state crime for people to enter Texas unlawfully.
Migrants could face up to a year in prison - or two years if they
unlawfully enter a second time. 

**GOVERNMENT REPORTS**

**The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO);****Haiti: USAID and
State Should Improve Management and Assessment of Reconstruction
Activities** <[link removed]>

**; March 16, 2023**This report
<[link removed]> details U.S. reconstruction
activities in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. It focuses on the U.S.
Agency for International Development's work on infrastructure and
development and the U.S. Department of State's efforts to develop the
Haitian National Police. 

**SPOTLIGHT ON NATIONAL IMMIGRATION FORUM RESOURCES****Mexico's Asylum
System: Good in Theory, Insufficient in Practice**
<[link removed]>This
paper details Mexico's asylum system - its progress and deficiencies
- amid the Biden administration's proposed rule that would push
migrants to apply for asylum elsewhere, including in Mexico. 

**Bill Analysis: The Secure and Protect Act of 2023**
<[link removed]>This
bill analysis summarizes legislation that was recently introduced by
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina). The Secure and Protect Act of
2023 would make significant changes to the asylum process, remove limits
on the length of time children can be held in family detention, limit
the ability of the executive branch to use humanitarian parole, and try
to mitigate the immigration court backlog by providing additional
funding for staff, among other reforms.

**The Reasons Behind the Increased Migration from Venezuela, Cuba, and
Nicaragua**
<[link removed]>This
paper explores the reasons behind the increased migration from
Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua. While irregular migration from these
three countries ruled by autocratic governments is not new, the
situation in these countries has worsened in recent years. Commonalities
include domestic political crises, weakening economies, Covid-19,
natural disasters, and strict U.S.-led economic sanctions. Facing
precarious conditions and the threat of political persecution, a growing
number of people from these nations have opted to seek safety in the
United States.

* * *

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

 

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