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. J. Res. 46
This resolution would terminate President Trump’s national emergency declaration to build a border wall in the Southern border.
Sponsored by Representative Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) (233 cosponsors – 1 Republican, 232 Democrats)
2/22/2019 Introduced in the House by Representative Castro
2/26/2019 Passed in the House by a 245 to 182 vote
2/27/2019 Received in the Senate and referred to the Committee on Armed Services
3/14/2019 Passed in the Senate by a 59-41 vote
H.R. 6
American Dream and Promise Act of 2019
This bill would provide Dreamers, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders and individuals with Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) with protection from deportation and an opportunity to obtain permanent legal status in the United States if they meet certain requirements.
Sponsored by Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-California) (210 cosponsors – 210 Democrats)
3/12/2019 Introduced in the House by Representative Roybal-Allard
3/12/2019 Referred to the House Committees on the Judiciary, and Education and Labor
H.R. 1778
The Dairy and Sheep H-2A Visa Enhancement Act
This bill would allow foreign dairy workers and sheepherders to use the H-2A visas, a program for temporary agricultural workers, and come to work in the United States for an initial period of three years with an additional three-year extension period. Dairy workers do not currently qualify for H-2A visas.
Sponsored by Representative Anthony Brindisi (D-New York) (1 cosponsor – 1 Republican)
3/14/2019 Introduced in the House by Representative Brindisi
3/14/2019 Referred to the House Committees on the Judiciary and Education and Labor
H.R. 1640
Uniting Families Act
This bill would create a special visa category for the children of veterans who live abroad and wish to move to the United States.
Sponsored by Representative Ron Kind (D-Wisconsin) (1 cosponsors – 1 Republican)
3/8/2019 Introduced in the House by Representative Kind
3/8/2019 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary
H.R. 1232
Rescinding DHS’ Waiver Authority for Border Wall Act
This bill would amend the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA) to repeal certain waiver authority relating to the construction of new border barriers. Currently, DHS has authority to waive a number of laws relating to Native American lands and environmental laws to expedite the construction of border barriers.
Sponsored by Representative Kathleen Rice (D-New York) (7 cosponsors – 7 Democrats)
2/14/2019 Introduced in the House by Representative Rice
2/14/2019 Referred to the House Committee on Homeland Security
3/13/2019 Passed the House Homeland Security Committee in 17-12 vote
LEGISLATIVE FLOOR CALENDAR
The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives will be out of session the week of Monday, March 18, 2019.
UPCOMING HEARINGS AND MARKUPS
There are no immigration-related hearings or markups scheduled for the week of Monday, March 18, 2019.
THEMES IN WASHINGTON THIS WEEK
Federal
House Democrats Introduce Bill to Protect Dreamers and TPS Recipients
On March 12, House Democrats introduced legislation to protect about 2.5 million Dreamers, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) recipients from deportation and provide them with an opportunity to obtain permanent legal status in the U.S. if they meet certain criteria. Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-California) introduced the Dream and Promise Act of 2019 (H.R. 6) together with Representatives Nydia Velazquez (D-New York) and Yvette Clarke (D-New York) as lead co-sponsors of the bill.
Specifically, the bill would create a “conditional permanent resident” status valid for up to 10 years that would allow the 2.3 million Dreamers, including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, to stay and work legally in the U.S., permit them to travel outside the country, and eventually obtain U.S. citizenship if they fulfill certain education, employment or military requirements. The bill would also provide the 300,000 current TPS holders and other TPS-eligible individuals from El Salvador, Guinea, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen, as well as the 3,600 individuals with DED from Liberia with lawful permanent resident status (LPR) if they meet certain requirements, and allow them to naturalize after five years as permitted by U.S. law.
Most of the groups of immigrants covered in the Dream and Promise Act are at risk of losing their protections, which are currently being litigated in the courts after President Trump ended the DACA program and terminated TPS and DED for nearly all designated countries. While the bill is expected to pass the Democratic House, it faces an uphill challenge getting a vote in the Republican-controlled Senate and/or receiving a presidential signature.
Senate Passes Joint Resolution to Block Trump’s Emergency Declaration at Southern Border; Trump Issues First Veto
On March 14, a dozen Republican Senators voted with Democrats to pass a joint resolution terminating President Trump’s declaration of national emergency and preventing the administration from directing funds to build a wall along the U.S. Southern border. The chamber passed the resolution in a 59-41 vote with support of 12 Republican and all 47 Democratic Senators. The passage of the joint resolution occurred after Trump rejected a Republican-backed compromise proposal to vote down the joint resolution while scaling back executive authority to declare emergencies in the future. On March 15, Trump vetoed the joint resolution.
The House, which passed the resolution on February 26 by a 245 to 182 vote with 13 Republicans joining all Democrats, is expected to vote on overriding the upcoming veto on March 26, 2019, but it seems unlikely that either house of Congress would be able to gather the required two-thirds support to override.
President’s Budget Requests Additional Funding for Border Wall, Immigration Enforcement
On March 11, the White House published President Trump’s proposed budget for fiscal year (FY) 2020, which calls $2.7 trillion in nondefense discretionary spending cuts. The budget calls for major cuts to the Department of Education (12 percent decrease), the Department of Agriculture (15 percent decrease) and other departments, while requesting significant increases in immigration enforcement funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), an increasing DHS’ budget 7.8 percent to $51.7 billion in FY 2020.
Less than two months after the end of the 35-day government shutdown over funding Trump’s proposed border wall and Trump’s controversial national emergency declaration, the budget requests $8.6 billion in new funds for constructing new barriers along the Southern border. This includes $5 billion for DHS to construct approximately 200 miles of barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border, as well as $3.6 billion to restore the Department of Defense’s (DOD) military-construction funds that President Trump has attempted to divert to for wall construction under his national emergency declaration.
In addition, the budget requests $2.7 billion to maintain an average daily capacity of 54,000 beds in immigration detention centers, nearly 60 percent above FY 2010-16 levels, and a significant increase from the current daily count of about 49,000 detention beds. The budget also calls for additional funding to monitor approximately 120,000 individuals through Alternatives to Detention (ATDs). In addition, the budget request also calls for an additional $314 million to hire an additional 1,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and $192 million to hire an additional 750 Border Patrol agents. The budget proposal would cut the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) overall budget by 2 percent, while providing an additional $72 million to hire about 100 immigration judges to help reduce the backlog of cases in the DOJ’s immigration courts.
Other provisions in the budget proposal would target so-called sanctuary jurisdictions. These include proposed amendments to current law (8 U.S.C. 1373) that would permit DHS and DOJ to unilaterally add immigration enforcement-related conditions to certain federal grants, including the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grants (JAG) program, and would require that states and localities honor warrantless immigration detainers. These provisions follow a series of adverse federal court decisions limiting the administration’s ability to compel states and localities to carry out federal immigration enforcement priorities.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi released a statement on March 11 calling the budget a “cruel and shortsighted” plan that demands “billions for his wasteful, ineffective wall.” More detailed budget justification reports from the departments are expected to come out on March 18. Because Congress retains the “power of the purse” and ultimately enacts appropriations into law, requiring a majority in the House and 60 votes in the Senate, much of the administration’s budget proposal is unlikely to be adopted.
Honduran and Nepali TPS Holders to Maintain Protections during Ongoing Litigation
On March 12, the Trump administration agreed to allow Nepali and Honduran Temporary Protection Status (TPS) holders to maintain their protections from deportation during ongoing litigation over the administration’s termination of TPS for people from those two countries. TPS holders from the two countries will stay protected at least until the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decides an appeal of a related case over the termination of TPS for El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua and Sudan.
On October 3, 2018, a federal court judge in California issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration from terminating TPS for over 250,000 immigrants from El Salvador, Nicaragua, Haiti and Sudan. The ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed in March 2018, claiming that the government terminated TPS designations without adequate justification as a result of a predetermined agenda, in violation of the law. The judge noted that there were legitimate questions over “whether a discriminatory purpose was a motivating factor” in the terminations, in violation of the U.S. Constitution. The judge’s preliminary injunction did not address TPS terminations for Nepal and Honduras because the administration ended their designations after the case was filed in March 2018. On February 10, 2019, a group of Nepali and Honduran TPS holders filed a separate lawsuit, claiming that termination of the two countries’ TPS designations violated the law.
Trump Administration Readies to Close USCIS Offices Abroad
The Trump administration announced its plan to close many of its international U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) offices and transfer their operations to State Department sites abroad. Currently, the agency operates 23 international offices that process refugee applications, assist with family reunification, and help U.S. citizens who wish to adopt children internationally. The USCIS claims the decision is motivated by desire to maximize the resources designated to address the increasing asylum application backlog. USCIS officials said the closures will help streamline operations and reduce government’s costs.
Advocates oppose the plan to close the overseas offices, arguing that it will lower quality of immigration services abroad, and criticize the administration for undercutting legal immigration, despite administration claims that it supports legal immigration. Advocates believe that the transfer of duties will overburden the State Department staff and result in substantial delays in providing key immigration services. However, the actual impact of the plan on immigrants and asylum seekers abroad has been unclear so far.
Trump Administration Expands “Remain in Mexico” Policy to Calexico Port of Entry
On March 12, the Trump administration began the expansion of its “Migration Protection Protocols,” implementing it at the Calexico, California port of entry. Previously, the policy, informally known as “Remain in Mexico” policy, had been implemented as a pilot program only at the San Ysidro border crossing near San Diego. The expansion eastward followed reports that the administration planned to implement the policy at more ports of entry along the Southern border in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and California.
The Migration Protection Protocols allow Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers to block asylum seekers from entering the U.S., requiring them to wait in Mexico while their requests for asylum move forward in the U.S. At least 240 asylum seekers, have been returned to Mexico under the policy so far. On February 14, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a legal challenge to the policy on behalf of 11 asylum seekers, arguing that it violates federal and administrative law, and that asylum seekers returned to Mexico are likely to “face a heightened risk” of crimes, including kidnapping, trafficking and murder. The policy has faced criticisms from immigration advocates, border specialists and even the leadership of the National Border Patrol Council, which has strongly backed previous Trump administration initiatives.
According to a March 15 report in the San Diego Union Tribune, a scheduling “glitch” prevented two of the first three asylum seekers in the program with court dates from being permitted to enter the United States to attend their immigration court hearings. The immigration judge declined to order the absent asylum seekers deported and raised concerns about the policy.
Over 2,000 Migrants in Detention Centers Quarantined Due to Mumps Outbreak
The U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) revealed that a mumps outbreak forced the agency to quarantine 2,287 detainees as of March 7, 2019. The epidemic began at the Pine Prairie Processing Center, from where the detainees are often transferred to other facilities around the country. Before the outbreak, ICE health officials have been notified of 236 confirmed or probable cases of mumps in 51 detention centers during the past 12 months. Between January 2016 and February 2018, the agency hasn’t reported any mumps cases. The outbreak is likely to postpone or cancel many of the detainees’ court hearings, although in some cases, staff members at the Pine Prairie Processing Center reportedly transferred potentially exposed detainees out of quarantine to facilitate their deportations.
ACLU: ICE Tracks Immigrants Through License Plate Database
On March 13, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) released documents showing over 9,000 ICE agents have access to a database with scans of hundreds of millions of license plates from across the U.S. The database access allows ICE agents to track individuals, including undocumented immigrants.
According to the documents, more than 80 law enforcement agencies in over a dozen states have approved sharing license plate location information from commercial cameras going back as much as five years. The ACLU, which received the documents via Freedom of Information Act request, expressed concerns over civil liberties of the affected individuals.
Legal
Organizations Sue Trump Administration Over Termination of Liberian DED
On March 8, 2019, a group of immigration advocates filed a lawsuit on behalf of fifteen Liberian immigrants against the Trump administration’s decision to end the Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) program for Liberians, which permitted them to temporarily live and work in the U.S. Liberian DED, which currently protects approximately 4,000 immigrants from deportation, is set to expire on March 31, 2019.
The plaintiff organizations claim that the Trump administration terminated DED for Liberians for discriminatory reasons in violation of the U. S. Constitution. The Trump Administration justifies the DED termination, claiming that conditions in Liberia have improved considerably. However, proponents of DED argue there isn’t enough evidence supporting the administration’s stance and that rescission of the program would separate families and harm our communities.
The Trump administration is facing separate legal challenges for its termination of DACA and TPS designations for several countries.
District Judge: Trump Administration Responsible for All Children Separated at Border after July 2017
On March 11, U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw declared the Trump administration responsible for all children separated from their parents at the U.S. Southern border after July 1, 2017. The new ruling broadened Sabraw’s previous decision ordering reunification of the families after the administration’s “zero-tolerance policy” that took place from April to June 2018. On June 26, 2018, Sabraw issued a preliminary injunction barring family separations going forward and requiring the Trump administration to reunite families that had already been separated.
The new decision ordering reunification of children separated before “zero-tolerance” follows a report from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) that showed thousands more immigrant children might have been separated from their parents at the U.S. border than the government had previously acknowledged. An HHS official noted that the number of separated children is certainly larger than the 2,737 listed by the government in court documents.
The Trump administration increased its separation of families at the border after then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the “zero-tolerance policy,” calling for the criminal prosecution of all individuals crossing the U.S. border without authorization.
State and Local
Arkansas House Passes New Bill Allowing DACA Recipients to Become Nurses; Bill Awaits Action in the State Senate
On March 7, the Arkansas House or Representatives passed a bill that would allow DACA recipients to obtain nursing licenses. Representative Megan Godfrey (D-89) introduced HB 1552 to help address the state’s growing nursing shortage. Out of the 75 Arkansas counties, 73 have been listed as medically underserved. The bill passed the House on a voice vote with no opposition and is headed to the Senate Committee on Public Health, Welfare and Labor, which will consider it on March 18, 2019.
Although DACA recipients are generally granted work permits, some professions that require postsecondary education do not recognize them as eligible for certifications or licensures in certain states. In Arkansas, the current policies allow DACA students to take courses in nursing but prevent them from taking the state nursing licensing exam.
GOVERNMENT REPORTS
Congressional Research Service (CRS): DHS Unity of Effort: Homeland Security Issues in the 116th Congress, March 8, 2019 (by William L. Painter)
This CRS Insight report examines the management of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), notably efforts since 2014 to create a “unity of effort” in management. The short report briefly describes these efforts at improving management within DHS, while touching on potential areas where Congress may become involved in these efforts.
Government Accountability Office (GAO): U.S. PORTS OF ENTRY: Update on CBP Public-Private Partnership Programs, March 14, 2019
This GAO report examines the status of Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Reimbursable Services Program (RSP) and Donations Acceptance Program (DAP) agreements, including the purposes for which the agency uses funds and donations from these agreements.
SPOTLIGHT ON NATIONAL IMMIGRATION FORUM RESOURCES
American Dream and Promise Act: Bill Summary
This is a summary of the American Dream and Promise Act of 2019 (H.R. 6) introduced on March 12, 2019 by Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-California) and more than 200 cosponsors. The bill would provide Dreamers, TPS holders and individuals with DED with protection from deportation and an opportunity to obtain permanent legal status in the United States if they meet certain requirements.
Temporary Protected Status (TPS) Advocacy Resources
This page provides resources to advocate for TPS holders in the United States.
Border Security Along the Southwest Border: Fact Sheet
This fact sheet provides an overview of border security resources and migration trends along America’s Southwest border.
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*This Bulletin is not intended to be comprehensive. Please contact Zuzana Cepla, National Immigration Forum Policy and Advocacy Associate, with comments and suggestions of additional items to be included. Zuzana can be reached at zcepla@immigrationforum.org. Thank you.