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. 3513
Deterring Authoritarian Hostilities Act of 2022
The bill would prohibit the issuance of any type of visas to Russian officials engaged in any act that infringes on the integrity of the territory of Ukraine.
Sponsored by Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida) (0 cosponsors)
01/13/2022 Introduced in the Senate by Senator Rubio
01/13/2022 Referred to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
S. 3526
Sanctions Targeting Aggressors of Neighboring Democracies (STAND) with Taiwan Act of 2022
The bill would prohibit the issuance of any type of visas to any member of the Chinese Communist Party.
Sponsored by Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Arkansas) (0 cosponsors)
01/19/2022 Introduced in the Senate by Senator Sullivan
01/13/2022 Referred to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
S. 3532
A bill to require the imposition of sanctions with respect to Ansarallah and its officials, agents, or affiliates for acts of international terrorism
The bill would prohibit the issuance of any type of visas to any member of the Ansarallah or Houthi movement. The Houthi movement is a Zaydi Shiite movement that has been fighting Yemen’s Sunni-majority government since 2004.
Sponsored by Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) (8 cosponsors— 8 Republicans, 0 Democrats)
01/20/2022 Introduced in the Senate by Senator Cruz
01/20/2022 Referred to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
H.R. 6378
Local Control Act
The bill would require the Secretary of Homeland Security to notify the governor of a state when an undocumented immigrant is to be transported to, housed in, or resettled in such state. The bill would also authorize governors to refuse the resettlement of undocumented immigrants in their respective states.
Sponsored by Representative Mo Brooks (R-Alabama) (1 cosponsor— 1 Republican, 0 Democrats)
01/12/2022 Introduced in the House by Representative Brooks
01/12/2022 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary
H.R. 6418
Rescue Endangered SIVs and Citizens and Urgently Evacuate to Safety (RESCUES) Act of 2022
The bill would require the Secretary of State to submit to Congress a strategy to fund nongovernmental entities for the purposes of evacuating eligible SIVs and U.S. citizens from Afghanistan.
Sponsored by Representative Young Kim (R-California) (7 cosponsors— 7 Republicans, 0 Democrats)
01/18/2022 Introduced in the House by Representative Kim
01/18/2022 Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs
H.R. 6422
Putin Accountability Act
The bill would prohibit the issuance of any type of visas to any person engaged in providing specialized financial messaging services to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation
Sponsored by Representative Jim Banks (R-Indiana) (38 cosponsors— 38 Republicans, 0 Democrats)
01/19/2022 Introduced in the House by Representative Banks
01/19/2022 Referred to the House Committees on Foreign Affairs, the Judiciary, and Financial Services
H.R. 6430
Iceland Commercial and Economic Leadership for Arctic and National Development (ICELAND) Act
The bill would include Iceland in the list of foreign states whose nationals are eligible for admission into the United States as E1 and E2 nonimmigrants, on the condition that nationals of the United States are treated similarly by the Government of Iceland.
Sponsored by Representative Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) (3 cosponsors – 2 Democrats, 1 Republican)
01/19/2022 Introduced in the House by Representative Pingree
01/19/2022 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary
H.R. 6470
Defending Ukraine Sovereignty Act of 2022
The bill would prohibit the issuance of any type of visas to Russian officials engaged in or knowingly supporting a significant escalation in hostilities against Ukraine. This is a companion bill of S. 3488.
Sponsored by Representative Gregory Meeks (D-New York) (13 cosponsors – 13 Democrats, 0 Republicans)
01/21/2022 Introduced in the House by Representative Meeks
01/21/2022 Referred to the House Committees on the Judiciary, Financial Services, Armed Services, and Intelligence
H.R. 6479
Put Trafficking Victims First Act of 2021
The bill would require the Attorney General to establish a human trafficking working group, which shall include survivors, experts on sex and labor trafficking, representatives from organizations collecting data on human trafficking, and law enforcement officers. The bill also encourages states to adopt procedures to allow human trafficking victims to clear records, expunge convictions, and vacate adjudications related to prostitution and nonviolent offenses that arose as a direct result of being trafficked.
Sponsored by Representative Karen Bass (D-California) (1 cosponsor – 1 Republican, 0 Democrats)
01/25/2022 Introduced in the House by Representative Bass
01/25/2022 Referred to the House Committees on the Judiciary and Education and Labor
H.R. 6495
To prohibit the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration from accepting warrants for the arrest of aliens as valid proof of identification at aviation security checkpoints
Sponsored by Representative Nicole Malliotakis (R-New York) (13 cosponsors – 13 Republicans, 0 Democrats)
01/25/2022 Introduced in the House by Representative Malliotakis
01/25/2022 Referred to the House Committees on the Judiciary and Education and Labor
H.R. 6501
Corporal Fernando Ruiz Baltazar Posthumous Citizenship Act
The bill would extend posthumous citizenship to noncitizen service members in the Philippines who enlisted, reenlisted, extended enlistment, or were inducted in the Philippines and died during the period beginning September 1, 1939, and ending December 31, 1946.
Sponsored by Representative Grace Napolitano (D-California) (1 cosponsor – 1 Republican, 0 Democrats)
01/25/2022 Introduced in the House by Representative Napolitano
01/25/2022 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary
LEGISLATIVE FLOOR CALENDAR
The U.S. Senate will be in session the week of Monday, January 31, 2022.
The U.S. House of Representatives will be in session from Tuesday, February 1, through Friday, February 4, 2022.
UPCOMING HEARINGS AND MARKUPS
There are no immigration-related hearings scheduled for the week of January 31, 2022.
THEMES IN WASHINGTON THIS WEEK
Federal
House Version of Competitiveness Legislation Includes Immigration Provisions to Attract STEM Talent and Protect Persecuted Groups
On January 25, House democrats unveiled the text of the America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology and Economic Strength (America COMPETES) Act of 2022. The bill – which aims to outcompete China in innovation, research, and development – contains multiple immigration provisions, including those designed to help attract and retain global talent in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and those designed to protect refugees persecuted in China.
Concerning high-skilled immigration, the proposed text includes Rep. Zoe Lofgren’s (D-California) Let Immigrants Kickstart Employment (LIKE) Act, which seeks to establish a new class of nonimmigrant visas (W) for international entrepreneurs and essential employees affiliated with start-up entities. The proposed text would also exempt from annual green card limits individuals with PhDs in STEM fields. Under the proposal, noncitizens could gain permanent residence without being placed in a green card backlog – or be subject to per-country limits – if they have earned a doctoral degree in a STEM-related program.
The legislation also includes provisions designed to protect refugees from Hong Kong and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) who have been persecuted in China. The bill would provide Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to Hong Kongers who are currently in the U.S., and it would allow direct access to the refugee admissions program to Uyghurs who have fled China.
The announcement of the America COMPETES Act of 2022 came just days after the White House unveiled a new plan to help attract and retain global talent in STEM fields. In a statement, the White House recognized the bipartisan work behind the America COMPETES Act of 2022 as an “important step forward in advancing legislation that will make our supply chains stronger and reinvigorate the innovation engine of our economy.”
The bill is the House counterpart to the Senate-passed U.S. Innovation and Competitiveness Act (USICA), which did not include similar immigration-related provisions.
December Data Shows Slight Rise in Encounters Along the Southern Border
On January 24, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released official data on the number of migrants the agency had apprehended or encountered at the border in the month of December. The data showed a marginal increase in overall monthly arrivals as the numbers rose approximately 2% to 178,840 in December from 173,620 in November. The overall numbers continue to be inflated by a high number of repeat crossers, with recidivism rates reported at 23%. Taking this repeat crosser rate into account, CBP reported that the total number of “unique” crossers encountered was 135,040.
The slight increase in overall apprehensions was fueled by an increase in migration from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba, and Haiti, four countries from which migration has risen a collective 87% since October 2021. Finally, approximately 44% of all arriving migrants — and 59% all single adults — were expelled immediately under a public health order called Title 42.
December border data also provided the final numbers for the entire calendar year — Biden’s first in office. From January to December 2021, there were over 2 million encounters at the border. However, consistently high recidivism rates mean these high arrest numbers do not necessarily indicate an unheralded number of unique crossers. Of the 2 million encounters, about 1.1 million individuals — including most single adults — were immediately returned under Title 42 with no access to the asylum system. Also, of the 2 million, 779,525 were either family units or unaccompanied children. Unlike single adults, most families and almost all unaccompanied children have been able to stay in the country and pursue asylum claims in immigration court.
MPP Reimplementation Expands to Rio Grande Valley, Texas
On January 21, the Biden administration expanded the implementation of the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) — commonly known as the Remain in Mexico Program — to the Rio Grande Valley. Under the latest expansion, migrants enrolled in the program will be processed in Brownsville, Texas, and returned to Matamoros, in the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico, while they await their U.S. immigration court hearings.
Soon after taking office, the Biden administration stopped enrollment in MPP, and it officially terminated the program in June 2021. However, on August 13, a federal judge in Texas ruled that the termination of MPP violated the Administrative Procedures Act. In compliance with court orders, the Biden administration resumed the implementation of MPP on December 6. After an appeals court sided with the initial ruling and against the Biden administration, in late December the administration has asked the Supreme Court to consider its attempt to end MPP.
MPP was first implemented by the Trump administration in 2019, and it immediately resulted in significant human rights and due process concerns. A regularly updated Human Rights First report has documented 1,544 publicly reported cases of murder, rape, kidnapping, and other violent assaults experienced by those forced to wait in Mexico under MPP. According to available data, just 7.5% of asylum seekers in MPP were able to hire a lawyer, and less than 2% of all applicants ultimately received some form of protection in the U.S., far below the average success of asylum claims made from within the U.S.
Biden Administration Plans to Accelerate Resettlement of Afghan Refugees
On January 26, an Axios report revealed that the Biden administration plans to introduce an expedited resettlement process for Afghan refugees and allies who were at risk following the U.S. withdrawal from the country and the subsequent fall of Kabul to the Taliban. The proposed plan would create a 30-day process in a military base in Qatar where Afghans could be screened, vetted, and approved for refugee status.
The U.S. has already evacuated, screened, and resettled approximately 70,000 Afghans into the U.S., almost all of them under humanitarian parole rather than the refugee admissions process. Humanitarian parole was used in the context of the evacuation because it is a more rapid and flexible process, but it does not guarantee the same access to benefits or a path to permanent status upon resettlement. With an expedited refugee process in place in Qatar, future evacuees could face a more standardized screening process and have access to more stability upon arriving in the U.S.
According to the Axios report, the administration is also considering 90- and 120- day expedited refugee processes to be used to update and modernize the broader refugee admissions program. Currently, it takes prospective refugees well over two years to go through the entire screening and interview process.
There has been bipartisan support for resettling Afghans who helped U.S. forces in Afghanistan, as well as women leaders, activists, human rights defenders, judges, parliamentarians, journalists, and other Afghans who are under threat of the Taliban.
Citizenship and Employment Authorization Applications Stuck in USCIS Backlog
Multiple outlets reported that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) — the federal agency that processes green cards, visas, and employment authorization documents for immigrants — continues to struggle with a massive backlog and processing delays. According to a January 25 azcentral report, USCIS has more than 8 million pending applications. The report highlights that the number of pending employment authorization applications surged from 676,000 in March 2020 to 1.4 million as of October 2021. According to a January 24 Wall Street Journal report, citizenship application-processing times have surged during the pandemic, from an average of nine months in 2019 to a year now. Furthermore, there are 281,259 pending Temporary Protected Status applications, 412,796 pending applications for asylum, and 770,386 pending green card applications.
The reports were published three weeks after the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General (DHS OIG) highlighted that the primary operational challenge for the agency is its continued reliance on paper files to process and deliver immigration benefits. The OIG report noted that USCIS had limited capability to electronically process more than 80 types of benefits, which require some manual workflows and paper files to complete cases.
Biden Administration Makes Available 20,000 Additional H-2B Visas for FY 2022
On January 27, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Labor (DOL) announced the availability of 20,000 additional H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker visas for the first half of fiscal year (FY) 2022. These visas will be set aside for U.S. employers seeking to employ additional workers on or before March 31, 2022. Of the 20,000 visas, 13,500 will be available to returning H-2B workers, and 6,500 will be reserved for nationals of Haiti, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, regardless of whether they are H-2B returning workers.
The H-2B program permits employers to temporarily hire noncitizens to perform nonagricultural temporary labor or services in the United States. Employers seeking H-2B workers must certify there are not enough U.S. workers who are able, willing, qualified, and available to do the temporary work for which they seek a prospective foreign worker. In addition, they must certify that employing H-2B workers will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers.
In the announcement of the policy, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas stated that additional H-2B visas will “provide employers with the resources and support needed to sustain their businesses while expanding lawful pathways to the United States.”
Legal
Texas Files Lawsuit Against Biden Administration’s Central American Minors Program
On January 28, Texas filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration for its implementation of the Central American Minors (CAM) Refugee and Parole Program. The CAM program, first created by the Obama administration in 2014, allows parents and family members in the U.S. to apply to have their children in El Salvador, Honduras, or Guatemala join them in the U.S. if the children are facing threats of violence in their home countries. Texas argues that the CAM program violates the law and has forced many states to take more immigrants.
The CAM program was terminated by the Trump administration in 2017, but reimplemented by the Biden administration on March 10, 2021. Initially, the Biden administration was only using the program to process those who had pending cases before 2017. However, on June 15, the Biden administration expanded the eligibility of the CAM program to allow legal guardians, U visa petitioners, and those in the U.S. with pending asylum applications, to bring their children to the United States.
Texas’ lawsuit, which was joined by Arkansas, Alaska, Florida, Indiana, Missouri, Montana, and Oklahoma, is the ninth that the state has filed against the Biden administration.
Local
Florida and New Hampshire Legislatures Introduce Anti-Sanctuary Cities Bills
On January 24, the Florida State Senate’s Judiciary Committee voted in favor of a bill, SB 1808, that would ban so-called “sanctuary cities” in the state. The bill, which has yet to face a vote on the Senate floor, would require counties to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to enforce immigration laws. The bill would also ban state and local governments from contracting transportation companies that bring undocumented immigrants into the state.
On January 5, New Hampshire’s legislature introduced bill H.B. 1266 that would also ban sanctuary jurisdictions in the state. The bill would make it illegal for state or local governments to refuse to adopt or help enforce federal immigration laws.
Sanctuary jurisdictions are those which limit state and local officials’ involvement in federal immigration enforcement functions. Some immigration advocates and law enforcement officials have argued that requiring local law enforcement to conduct federal immigration enforcement functions can undermine public trust in local law enforcement and make communities less safe.
GOVERNMENT REPORTS
There were no immigration-related government reports the week of January 24, 2022.
SPOTLIGHT ON NATIONAL IMMIGRATION FORUM RESOURCES
Bill Analysis: Let Immigrants Kickstart Employment (LIKE) Act
The bill seeks to establish a new class of nonimmigrant visas for international entrepreneurs and essential employees affiliated with start-up entities. The proposed W visa would be available for individuals who possess an ownership interest in a start-up entity or play a central role in its management or operations.
One Year In: The Biden Administration’s Treatment of Vulnerable Migrants
The report focuses on three separate pathways to protection: Asylum at the border, refugee resettlement, and Afghan evacuation. The report also makes a series of recommendations for how the administration should approach year two.
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.
* * *
*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 acastellanos@immigrationforum.org. Thank you.