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. ____
HUMANE Act
This bill seeks to streamline processing of families and children seeking asylum while increasing resources at ports of entry. It would limit the Flores settlement agreement to permit longer-term family detention and would amend the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) to permit the voluntary return of unaccompanied minors from non-contiguous countries. This bill is a companion to the House version of the HUMANE Act.
Sponsored by Senator John Cornyn (R – Texas) (0 cosponsors)
5/2/2019 Introduced in the Senate by Senator Cornyn
S. ____
Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act
This bill seeks to improve conditions in U.S. detention centers and would mandate that all detained immigrants have access to a bond hearing before an immigration judge.
Sponsored by Senator Cory Booker (D – New Jersey) (2 cosponsors – 2 Democrats)
4/30/2019 Introduced in the Senate by Senator Booker
H.R. ____
HUMANE Act
This bill seeks to streamline processing of families and children seeking asylum while increasing resources at ports of entry. It would limit the Flores settlement agreement to permit longer-term family detention and would amend the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) to permit the voluntary return of unaccompanied minors from non-contiguous countries. This bill is a companion to the Senate version of the HUMANE Act.
Sponsored by Representative Henry Cuellar (D – Texas) (0 cosponsors)
5/2/2019 Introduced in the House by Representative Cuellar
H.R. 2430
Protecting Immigrants from Legal Exploitation Act
This bill would allow immigrants, who were victims of fraud, to have their cases reconsidered, create penalties for individuals that provide fraudulent immigration legal services, and establish grant programs to educate immigrants on how to avoid fraud.
Sponsored by Representative Bill Foster (D-Illinois) (37 cosponsors – 37 Democrats)
5/1/2019 Introduced in the House by Representative Foster
5/1/2019 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary
H.R. 2413
Nicaragua TPS Act of 2019
This bill would provide Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to Nicaraguan nationals already in the United States.
Sponsored by Representative Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Florida) (1 cosponsor – 1 Democrat)
4/30/2019 Introduced in the House by Representative Diaz-Balart
4/30/2019 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary
H.R. 2378
Kerrie Orozco First Responders Family Support Act
This bill would allow for naturalization processes for the immediate relatives of public safety officers who die as a result of their employment.
Sponsored by Representative Don Bacon (R-Nebraska) (5 cosponsors – 2 Republicans and 3 Democrats)
4/29/2019 Introduced in the House by Representative Bacon
4/29/2019 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary
LEGISLATIVE FLOOR CALENDAR
The U.S. Senate will be in session the week of Monday, May 6, 2019.
The U.S. House of Representatives will be in session Tuesday, May 7, 2019 through Friday, May 10, 2019.
UPCOMING HEARINGS AND MARKUPS
At the Breaking Point: The Humanitarian and Security Crisis at our Southern Border
Date: Wednesday, May 8, 2019 at 2:30 p.m. (Senate Judiciary Committee)
Location: 226 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Witnesses:
Manuel Padilla Jr., Director, Joint Task Force – West, Department of Homeland Security, San Antonio, TX
Carla L. Provost, Chief, United States Border Patrol U.S. Customs and Border Protection Department of Homeland Security, Washington, DC
Todd C. Owen, Executive Assistant Commissioner, Office of Field Operations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland Security, Washington, DC
Nathalie R. Asher, Acting Executive Associate Director, Enforcement and Removal Operations, Department of Homeland Security, Washington, DC
Jonathan Hayes, Director, Office of Refugee Resettlement, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC
THEMES IN WASHINGTON THIS WEEK
Federal
Trump Administration Releases Memo Calling for Major Changes to Asylum Rules
In an April 29 presidential memorandum, the Trump administration called upon the U.S. Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security to propose new regulations to implement significant policy changes to the U.S. asylum system.
The new proposed regulations would be issued within 90 days – July 28, 2019 – and would restrict access to asylum for broad categories of asylum seekers. The new rules would create a new application fee for asylum seekers and place limits on their ability to work in the U.S., barring asylum seekers who have entered between ports of entry from obtaining employment authorization. The memo also provides that the new regulations would immediately terminate the employment authorization of asylum seekers who are denied asylum or who have received a final order of removal.
The memorandum also provides for procedural changes to the asylum process, requiring immigration judges to resolve all asylum claims within 180 days and limiting the ability of asylum seekers to seek alternative forms of relief beyond asylum or withholding of removal and directing the DHS Secretary to assign immigration officers and other personnel to assist with tasks at the border to support more efficient adjudication of asylum claims, potentially including having Border Patrol officers conduct credible fear interviews.
Immigration advocates condemned the memorandum, arguing that the proposed changes will limit access to asylum and threaten to undermine America’s commitment to those seeking protection from persecution. They argued that asylum seekers in desperate circumstances will struggle to to pay new asylum fees and noted that barring asylum seekers from getting work authorization will prevent them from supporting themselves. Groups also criticized the proposal for setting the 180-day adjudication requirement, which they argued was not feasible in the absence of significant additional resources given the current backlog in the immigration courts, while expressing concern about deploying Border Patrol officers and others who do not possess appropriate knowledge and training to conduct credible fear interviews.
Trump Administration Continues Focus on Southern Border, Requests Additional Funds
On May 1, the Trump administration asked Congress for an additional $4.5 billion in supplemental funding to address the situation at the Southern border. According to the administration, $3.3 billion would be used for humanitarian assistance, $1.1 billion for border operations and $178 million for mission support. While House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Rep. Nita Lowey (D – New York) said the committee would “carefully review this request in its totality,” House Democrats are likely to be skeptical of the request following President Trump’s emergency declaration and shifting of funds in February.
Senior administration officials claim the additional funds are necessary due to limits on how the authorities can use the $8.6 billion emergency declaration funding and pledged that none of the new money would be used to build a border wall.
The request for additional funds for border operations comes two days after the Department of Defense (DoD) deployed 320 additional military personnel to the Southern border at an estimated cost of $7.2 billion. The troops and other support employees are supposed to stay at the border through September 30, assisting with transfer of migrants and administrative support such as meal distribution and ensuring well-being of people in the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) custody, but not performing any law enforcement functions. The new troops join the roughly 5,000 active-duty and National Guard members already at the U.S-Mexico border.
The administration also announced plans to set up two new “tent cities” to house families near Southern border in El Paso and Rio Grande Valley. The cost of these temporary detention centers, which are intended to remain open through the end of 2019, is expected to amount in about $37 million to house approximately 1,000 parents and children.
Trump Administration Considers Rule to Deport Immigrants that Use Public Benefits
On May 3, Reuters reported that the Trump administration is weighing a proposal that would allow for the deportation of legal permanent residents who have used public benefits. While under the current policy immigrants can be deported if they are deemed a “public charge,” meaning that they are primarily dependent on government subsidies, the draft regulation from the Department of Justice would dramatically expand the meaning of “public charge.” Under the draft regulation under consideration, legal permanent residents who have legally used any used benefits they are entitled to receive, including food stamps, housing aid or Medicaid, may be deemed “public charges” and would be subject to removal. The draft regulation has yet to be published in the Federal Register and go through the public comment period. If implemented, immigration advocates are likely to challenge it in courts.
The proposal is in line with a similar Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regulation proposed in October 2018. That proposed regulation, which has received public comments, but has not yet been finalized, would expand the definition of “public charge” to reject more immigrant visa applications or temporary visas if the applicant previously accessed or are deemed likely to rely on certain forms of public assistance in the future. In fiscal year (FY) 2018, the State Department rejected 13,450 applications for immigrant visas based on a determination that the applicant could become a “public charge,” a 316 percent increase from FY 2017 when it denied 3,237 applications for the same reason.
USCIS to Conduct DNA Testing of Families under New Pilot Program
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (USCIS) plans to launch a pilot program at the Southern border that would permit DNA testing of families suspected of fraud. The initiative will consist of “rapid DNA testing” that involves cheek swab from both the child and the accompanying adult and is supposed to provide results confirming the genetic relationship within 90 minutes. DHS officials confirmed that the pilot program will run for two to three days during the week of May 6 at two border locations. It has pledged that the testing results will be destroyed and not used in any criminal cases.
DHS claims that the initiative will help the agency identify cases in which adults travel with children who are not their own and fraudulently claim to be a family unit to avoid detention and deportation, including cases where children have been trafficked for this purpose. Immigration advocates have opposed the pilot program, stressing the testing raises privacy and civil liberties concerns and noting that it places adopted children and step-children at risk of being separated from their parents and step-parents.
DHS Returned over 1,600 Asylum Seekers under MPP
The Department of Homeland Security said it returned more than 1,600 migrants to Mexico as of April 26, following the Trump administration’s Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), originally known as the “Remain in Mexico” policy. The MPP allows CBP officers to prevent asylum seekers from entering the U.S. and requires them to wait in Mexico while their requests for asylum proceed through the immigration courts.
MPP remains in effect after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals placed a temporary hold on a lower court’s decision to block the policy on April 12. After being mplemented as a pilot program at the San Ysidro border crossing near San Diego in January 2019, MPP has been expanded to the Calexico and Paso del Norte port of entry, as well as the San Diego, El Paso and El Centro sectors.
Legal
Federal Court Permits Challenges to Travel Ban to Continue
On May 2, a federal judge in Maryland ruled in favor of plaintiffs challenging the latest version of President Trump’s travel ban. The ban, which bars individuals from six Muslim-majority nations from entering the U.S. – Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen —as well those from North Korea and certain government officials from Venezuela, was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2018.
Applying the standard set out the by Supreme Court, the court rejected the Trump administration’s motion to dismiss a series of related lawsuits challenging the ban. The court noted that plaintiffs now have new information regarding the administration’s enforcement of the ban, which may demonstrate that the ban is “not rationally related to its stated national security interests and is instead grounded in the illegitimate and unconstitutional purpose of disadvantaging Muslims.”
The decision allows immigration advocates involved in the case to gather additional supporting evidence as they continue challenging the ban.
Judge Blocks USCIS Memo Targeting Foreign Students
On May 3, a federal judge in North Carolina temporarily halted implementation of a memo that modified when international students, who are in the U.S. on F and M visas, are determined to be unlawfully present. The policy memo, which the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released in August 2018, directed immigration authorities to consider the foreign students’ presence unlawful upon the date they complete their course of study.
Under the original policy, which will again be in effect during the duration of the lawsuit, students were only considered to be unlawfully present after immigration authorities issued a notice of their overstay or issued a deportation order, affording many of these students a short grace period to apply for new immigration benefits. In the decision, the judge confirmed plaintiff American Federation of Teachers’ argument that the Trump administration policy memo would unlawfully penalized international students in violation of federal law, causing “irreparable harm” to the students as well as teachers and colleges.
State and Local
Florida Ban on “Sanctuary Jurisdictions” Moves to Gov. DeSantis’s Desk
The Florida legislature has passed a controversial bill to bar “sanctuary jurisdictions,” forcing local law enforcement agencies to use their “best efforts to support federal immigration law” and requiring that they honor federal immigration detainers. By a 22-18 vote, the Senate approved the S.B. 168 largely along party lines, with one Republican in opposition. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R – Florida), who strongly supports the bill and has pledged to sign it.
Although Florida doesn’t have any official “sanctuary jurisdictions,” supporters of the bill claim that at the measures are supposed to enhance overall respect towards U.S. immigration laws. Critics have noted that the policies are likely to create a hostile environment for Florida immigrants, undermine community safety by discouraging immigrants from cooperating with local law enforcement, and hurt Florida businesses.
GOVERNMENT REPORTS
Congressional Research Service (CRS): Trends in the Timing and Size of DHS Appropriations: In Brief, April 4, 2019 (by William L. Painter)
This CRS Insight report examines trends in the timing and size of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) appropriations measures.
Congressional Research Service (CRS): Can the President Close the Border? Relevant Laws and Considerations, April 12, 2019 (by Ben Harrington)
This CRS Legal Sidebar identifies the statutes and legal issues that are most relevant to the President’s statements about closing the U.S. Southern border.
Congressional Research Service (CRS): Nielsen v. Preap: High Court Clarifies Application of Immigration Detention Statute to Criminal Aliens , April 12, 2019 (by Hillel R. Smith)
This CRS report reviews legal background, procedural history and Supreme Court’s decision in in the Nielsen v. Preap case that interpreted mandatory detention provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
Congressional Research Service (CRS): “Sanctuary” Jurisdictions: Federal, State, and Local Policies and Related Litigation, April 16, 2019 (by Sarah Herman Peck)
This CRS report discusses legal issues related to state and local measures limiting law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration authorities, as well as the federal government’s efforts to counter those measures.
Congressional Research Service (CRS): DHS Budget v. DHS Appropriations: Fact Sheet, April 17, 2019 (by William L. Painter)
This CRS report provides a comparison of DHS’s budget with its appropriations over time.
Congressional Research Service (CRS): Selected Homeland Security Issues in the 116th Congress, April 26, 2019
This CRS report is a compilation of a range of homeland security issues that may come before the 116th Congress.
Government Accountability Office (GAO): DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: Continued Leadership Is Critical to Addressing a Range of Management Challenges, May 1, 2019 (by Christopher P. Currie)
This GAO report examines progress that DHS has made in strengthening its management functions and makes recommendations on how the department can maintain and strengthen its advancement in this area going forward.
SPOTLIGHT ON NATIONAL IMMIGRATION FORUM RESOURCES
Fact Sheet: International Refugee Protection System
This fact sheet describes international refugee and asylum laws and provides an overview of UNHCR refugee processing and global refugee data.
Fact Sheet: U.S. Refugee Resettlement
This fact sheet summarizes basic facts and statistics about refugee resettlement in the United States. It describes the refugee screening process and provides basic information about refugees in the U.S.
‘Sanctuary City’ is Being Used as a Catch-All. It Shouldn’t.
This blog discusses the term “sanctuary city” and the need for good-faith efforts to clarify immigration enforcement responsibilities consistent with the principle that immigration enforcement should be primarily a federal responsibility.
* * *
*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.