Protection of Children Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1958 To amend the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthor- ization Act of 2008 to provide for the expedited removal of unaccom- panied alien children who are not victims of a severe form of trafficking in persons and who do not have a fear of returning to their country of nationality or last habitual residence, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 17, 2021 Mr. CARTER of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs A BILL To amend the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Pro- tection Reauthorization Act of 2008 to provide for the expedited removal of unaccompanied alien children who are not victims of a severe form of trafficking in persons and who do not have a fear of returning to their country of nationality or last habitual residence, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protection of Children 4 Act of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:04 May 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1958.IH H1958 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1958 IH SEC. 2. REPATRIATION OF UNACCOMPANIED ALIEN CHIL- 1 DREN. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 235 of the William Wil- 3 berforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization 4 Act of 2008 (8 U.S.C. 1232) is amended— 5 (1) in subsection (a)— 6 (A) in paragraph (2)— 7 (i) by amending the heading to read 8 as follows: ‘‘RULES FOR UNACCOMPANIED 9 ALIEN CHILDREN.’’; 10 (ii) in subparagraph (A); 11 (I) in the matter preceding clause 12 (i), by striking ‘‘who is a national or 13 habitual resident of a country that is 14 contiguous with the United States’’; 15 (II) in clause (i), by inserting 16 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 17 (III) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘; 18 and’’ and inserting a period; and 19 (IV) by striking clause (iii); 20 (iii) in subparagraph (B)— 21 (I) in the matter preceding clause 22 (i), by striking ‘‘(8 U.S.C. 1101 et 23 seq.) may—’’ and inserting ‘‘(8 24 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.)—’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:04 May 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1958.IH H1958 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1958 IH (II) in clause (i), by inserting be- 1 fore ‘‘permit such child to withdraw’’ 2 the following: ‘‘may’’; and 3 (III) in clause (ii), by inserting 4 before ‘‘return such child’’ the fol- 5 lowing: ‘‘shall’’; and 6 (iv) in subparagraph (C)— 7 (I) by amending the heading to 8 read as follows: ‘‘AGREEMENTS WITH 9 FOREIGN COUNTRIES.’’; and 10 (II) in the matter preceding 11 clause (i), by striking ‘‘The Secretary 12 of State shall negotiate agreements 13 between the United States and coun- 14 tries contiguous to the United States’’ 15 and inserting ‘‘The Secretary of State 16 may negotiate agreements between the 17 United States and any foreign country 18 that the Secretary determines appro- 19 priate’’; and 20 (B) in paragraph (5)(D)— 21 (i) in the matter preceding clause (i), 22 by striking ‘‘, except for an unaccompanied 23 alien child from a contiguous country sub- 24 ject to the exceptions under subsection 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:04 May 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1958.IH H1958 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1958 IH (a)(2),’’ and inserting ‘‘who does not meet 1 the criteria listed in paragraph (2)(A)’’; 2 and 3 (ii) in clause (i), by inserting before 4 the semicolon at the end the following: ‘‘, 5 which shall include a hearing before an im- 6 migration judge not later than 14 days 7 after being screened under paragraph (4)’’; 8 (2) in subsection (b)— 9 (A) in paragraph (2)— 10 (i) in subparagraph (A), by inserting 11 before the semicolon the following: ‘‘be- 12 lieved not to meet the criteria listed in sub- 13 section (a)(2)(A)’’; and 14 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by inserting 15 before the period the following: ‘‘and does 16 not meet the criteria listed in subsection 17 (a)(2)(A)’’; and 18 (B) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘an un- 19 accompanied alien child in custody shall’’ and 20 all that follows, and inserting the following: ‘‘an 21 unaccompanied alien child in custody— 22 ‘‘(A) in the case of a child who does not 23 meet the criteria listed in subsection (a)(2)(A), 24 shall transfer the custody of such child to the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:04 May 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1958.IH H1958 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1958 IH Secretary of Health and Human Services not 1 later than 30 days after determining that such 2 child is an unaccompanied alien child who does 3 not meet such criteria; or 4 ‘‘(B) in the case of a child who meets the 5 criteria listed in subsection (a)(2)(A), may 6 transfer the custody of such child to the Sec- 7 retary of Health and Human Services after de- 8 termining that such child is an unaccompanied 9 alien child who meets such criteria.’’; and 10 (3) in subsection (c)— 11 (A) in paragraph (3), by inserting at the 12 end the following: 13 ‘‘(D) INFORMATION ABOUT INDIVIDUALS 14 WITH WHOM CHILDREN ARE PLACED.— 15 ‘‘(i) INFORMATION TO BE PROVIDED 16 TO HOMELAND SECURITY.—Before placing 17 a child with an individual, the Secretary of 18 Health and Human Services shall provide 19 to the Secretary of Homeland Security, re- 20 garding the individual with whom the child 21 will be placed, the following information: 22 ‘‘(I) The name of the individual. 23 ‘‘(II) The social security number 24 of the individual. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:04 May 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1958.IH H1958 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1958 IH ‘‘(III) The date of birth of the in- 1 dividual. 2 ‘‘(IV) The location of the individ- 3 ual’s residence where the child will be 4 placed. 5 ‘‘(V) The immigration status of 6 the individual, if known. 7 ‘‘(VI) Contact information for 8 the individual. 9 ‘‘(ii) SPECIAL RULE.—In the case of a 10 child who was apprehended on or after 11 June 15, 2012, and before the date of the 12 enactment of the Protection of Children 13 Act of 2021, who the Secretary of Health 14 and Human Services placed with an indi- 15 vidual, the Secretary shall provide the in- 16 formation listed in clause (i) to the Sec- 17 retary of Homeland Security not later than 18 90 days after the date of the enactment of 19 the Protection of Children Act of 2021. 20 ‘‘(iii) ACTIVITIES OF THE SECRETARY 21 OF HOMELAND SECURITY.—Not later than 22 30 days after receiving the information 23 listed in clause (i), the Secretary of Home- 24 land Security shall— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:04 May 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1958.IH H1958 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1958 IH ‘‘(I) in the case that the immi- 1 gration status of an individual with 2 whom a child is placed is unknown, 3 investigate the immigration status of 4 that individual; and 5 ‘‘(II) upon determining that an 6 individual with whom a child is placed 7 is unlawfully present in the United 8 States, initiate removal proceedings 9 pursuant to chapter 4 of title II of the 10 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 11 U.S.C. 1221 et seq.).’’; and 12 (B) in paragraph (5)— 13 (i) by inserting after ‘‘to the greatest 14 extent practicable’’ the following: ‘‘(at no 15 expense to the Government)’’; 16 (ii) by striking ‘‘have counsel to rep- 17 resent them’’ and inserting ‘‘have access to 18 counsel to represent them’’. 19 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 20 this section shall apply to any unauthorized alien child ap- 21 prehended on or after June 15, 2012. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:04 May 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1958.IH H1958 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 1958 IH SEC. 3. SPECIAL IMMIGRANT JUVENILE STATUS FOR IMMI- 1 GRANTS UNABLE TO REUNITE WITH EITHER 2 PARENT. 3 Section 101(a)(27)(J)(i) of the Immigration and Na- 4 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(27)(J)(i)) is amended by 5 striking ‘‘1 or both of the immigrant’s parents’’ and in- 6 serting ‘‘either of the immigrant’s parents’’. 7 SEC. 4. JURISDICTION OF ASYLUM APPLICATIONS. 8 Section 208(b)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality 9 Act (8 U.S.C. 1158) is amended by striking subparagraph 10 (C). 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:04 May 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1958.IH H1958 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS