Stopping Border Surges Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1901 To close loopholes in the immigration laws that serve as incentives to aliens to attempt to enter the United States unlawfully, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 16, 2021 Mr. BIGGS (for himself, Mr. JORDAN, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, Ms. HERRELL, Mr. BUDD, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. HICE of Georgia, Mr. GAETZ, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. BABIN, Mr. ROY, Mr. CLOUD, Mrs. MILLER of Illinois, Mr. ARRINGTON, Mr. ROSENDALE, Mr. NORMAN, Mrs. BOEBERT, Mr. PERRY, Mr. GOODEN of Texas, Mr. GOOD of Virginia, Mr. TIFFANY, Mr. STEUBE, and Mr. SMITH of Nebraska) introduced the following bill; which was re- ferred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Com- mittee on Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall with- in the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To close loopholes in the immigration laws that serve as incentives to aliens to attempt to enter the United States unlawfully, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Stopping Border Surges Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:39 May 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1901.IH H1901 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1901 IH (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 1 this Act is as follows: 2 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. TITLE I—UNACCOMPANIED ALIEN CHILDREN Sec. 101. Repatriation of unaccompanied alien children. Sec. 102. Clarification of standards for family detention. Sec. 103. Special immigrant juvenile status for immigrants unable to reunite with either parent. TITLE II—ASYLUM REFORM Sec. 201. Credible fear interviews. Sec. 202. Jurisdiction of asylum applications. Sec. 203. Recording expedited removal and credible fear interviews. Sec. 204. Safe third country. Sec. 205. Renunciation of asylum status pursuant to return to home country. Sec. 206. Notice concerning frivolous asylum applications. Sec. 207. Anti-fraud investigative work product. Sec. 208. Clarification of asylum eligibility. Sec. 209. Application timing. Sec. 210. Clarification of burden of proof. Sec. 211. Additional exception. Sec. 212. Clarification regarding employment eligibility. Sec. 213. Penalties for asylum fraud. Sec. 214. Statute of limitations for asylum fraud. Sec. 215. Technical amendments. TITLE I—UNACCOMPANIED 3 ALIEN CHILDREN 4 SEC. 101. REPATRIATION OF UNACCOMPANIED ALIEN CHIL- 5 DREN. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 235 of the William Wil- 7 berforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization 8 Act of 2008 (8 U.S.C. 1232) is amended— 9 (1) in subsection (a)— 10 (A) in paragraph (2)— 11 (i) by amending the heading to read 12 as follows: ‘‘RULES FOR UNACCOMPANIED 13 ALIEN CHILDREN.—’’; 14 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:39 May 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1901.IH H1901 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1901 IH (ii) in subparagraph (A)— 1 (I) in the matter preceding clause 2 (i), by striking ‘‘who is a national or 3 habitual resident of a country that is 4 contiguous with the United States’’; 5 (II) in clause (i), by inserting 6 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 7 (III) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘; 8 and’’ and inserting a period; and 9 (IV) by striking clause (iii); 10 (iii) in subparagraph (B)— 11 (I) in the matter preceding clause 12 (i), by striking ‘‘(8 U.S.C. 1101 et 13 seq.) may—’’ and inserting ‘‘(8 14 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.)—’’; 15 (II) in clause (i), by inserting be- 16 fore ‘‘permit such child to withdraw’’ 17 the following: ‘‘may’’; and 18 (III) in clause (ii), by inserting 19 before ‘‘return such child’’ the fol- 20 lowing: ‘‘shall’’; and 21 (iv) in subparagraph (C)— 22 (I) by amending the heading to 23 read as follows: ‘‘AGREEMENTS WITH 24 FOREIGN COUNTRIES.—’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:39 May 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1901.IH H1901 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1901 IH (II) in the matter preceding 1 clause (i), by striking ‘‘The Secretary 2 of State shall negotiate agreements 3 between the United States and coun- 4 tries contiguous to the United States’’ 5 and inserting ‘‘The Secretary of State 6 may negotiate agreements between the 7 United States and any foreign country 8 that the Secretary determines appro- 9 priate’’; 10 (B) by redesignating paragraphs (3) 11 through (5) as paragraphs (4) through (6), re- 12 spectively, and inserting after paragraph (2) the 13 following: 14 ‘‘(3) SPECIAL RULES FOR INTERVIEWING UNAC- 15 COMPANIED ALIEN CHILDREN.—An unaccompanied 16 alien child shall be interviewed by an immigration 17 officer with specialized training in interviewing child 18 trafficking victims.’’; and 19 (C) in paragraph (6)(D) (as so redesig- 20 nated)— 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 exceptions under subsection (a)(2),’’ 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:39 May 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1901.IH H1901 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1901 IH and inserting ‘‘who does not meet the cri- 1 teria listed in paragraph (2)(A)’’; and 2 (ii) in clause (i), by inserting before 3 the semicolon at the end the following: ‘‘, 4 which shall include a hearing before an im- 5 migration judge not later than 14 days 6 after being screened under paragraph (4)’’; 7 (2) in subsection (b)— 8 (A) in paragraph (2)— 9 (i) in subparagraph (A), by inserting 10 before the semicolon the following: ‘‘be- 11 lieved not to meet the criteria listed in sub- 12 section (a)(2)(A)’’; and 13 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by inserting 14 before the period the following: ‘‘and does 15 not meet the criteria listed in subsection 16 (a)(2)(A)’’; and 17 (B) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘an un- 18 accompanied alien child in custody shall’’ and 19 all that follows, and inserting the following: ‘‘an 20 unaccompanied alien child in custody— 21 ‘‘(A) in the case of a child who does not 22 meet the criteria listed in subsection (a)(2)(A), 23 shall transfer the custody of such child to the 24 Secretary of Health and Human Services not 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:39 May 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1901.IH H1901 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1901 IH later than 30 days after determining that such 1 child is an unaccompanied alien child who does 2 not meet such criteria; or 3 ‘‘(B) in the case of child who meets the 4 criteria listed in subsection (a)(2)(A), may 5 transfer the custody of such child to the Sec- 6 retary of Health and Human Services after de- 7 termining that such child is an unaccompanied 8 alien child who meets such criteria.’’; and 9 (3) in subsection (c)— 10 (A) in paragraph (3), by inserting at the 11 end the following: 12 ‘‘(D) INFORMATION ABOUT INDIVIDUALS 13 WITH WHOM CHILDREN ARE PLACED.— 14 ‘‘(i) INFORMATION TO BE PROVIDED 15 TO HOMELAND SECURITY.—Before placing 16 a child with an individual, the Secretary of 17 Health and Human Services shall provide 18 to the Secretary of Homeland Security, re- 19 garding the individual with whom the child 20 will be placed, the following information: 21 ‘‘(I) The name of the individual. 22 ‘‘(II) The social security number 23 of the individual, if available. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:39 May 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1901.IH H1901 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1901 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 the 11 effective date of this clause, and before the 12 date of the enactment of this subpara- 13 graph, who the Secretary of Health and 14 Human Services placed with an individual, 15 the Secretary shall provide the information 16 listed in clause (i) to the Secretary of 17 Homeland Security not later than 90 days 18 after such date of enactment.’’; and 19 (B) in paragraph (5)— 20 (i) by inserting after ‘‘to the greatest 21 extent practicable’’ the following: ‘‘(at no 22 expense to the Government)’’; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:39 May 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1901.IH H1901 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 1901 IH (ii) by striking ‘‘have counsel to rep- 1 resent them’’ and inserting ‘‘have access to 2 counsel to represent them’’. 3 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 4 this section shall apply to any unaccompanied alien child 5 apprehended on or after the date of enactment. 6 SEC. 102. CLARIFICATION OF STANDARDS FOR FAMILY DE- 7 TENTION. 8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 235 of the William Wil- 9 berforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization 10 Act of 2008 (8 U.S.C. 1232) is amended by adding at 11 the end the following: 12 ‘‘(j) CONSTRUCTION.— 13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 14 provision of law, judicial determination, consent de- 15 cree, or settlement agreement, the detention of any 16 alien child who is not an unaccompanied alien child 17 shall be governed by sections 217, 235, 236, and 18 241 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 19 U.S.C. 1187, 1225, 1226, and 1231). There is no 20 presumption that an alien child who is not an unac- 21 companied alien child should not be detained, and all 22 such determinations shall be in the discretion of the 23 Secretary of Homeland Security. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:39 May 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1901.IH H1901 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 1901 IH ‘‘(2) RELEASE OF MINORS OTHER THAN UNAC- 1 COMPANIED ALIENS.—In no circumstances shall an 2 alien minor who is not an unaccompanied alien child 3 be released by the Secretary of Homeland Security 4 other than to a parent or legal guardian, who is law- 5 fully present in the United States. 6 ‘‘(3) FAMILY DETENTION.—The Secretary of 7 Homeland Security shall— 8 ‘‘(A) maintain the care and custody of an 9 alien, during the period during which the 10 charges described in clause (i) are pending, 11 who— 12 ‘‘(i) is charged only with a mis- 13 demeanor offense under section 275(a) of 14 the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 15 U.S.C. 1325(a)); and 16 ‘‘(ii) entered the United States with 17 the alien’s child who has not attained 18 18 years of age; and 19 ‘‘(B) detain the alien with the alien’s 20 child.’’. 21 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con- 22 gress that the amendments in this section to section 235 23 of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection 24 Reauthorization Act of 2008 (8 U.S.C. 1232) are intended 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:39 May 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1901.IH H1901 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 1901 IH to satisfy the requirements of the Settlement Agreement 1 in Flores v. Meese, No. 85–4544 (C.D. Cal) as approved 2 by the court on January 28, 1997, with respect to its in- 3 terpretation in Flores v. Johnson, 212 F. Supp. 3d 864 4 (C.D. Cal. 2015), that the agreement applies to accom- 5 panied minors. 6 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 7 subsection (a) shall take effect on the date of the enact- 8 ment of this Act and shall apply to all actions that occur 9 before, on, or after the date of the enactment of this Act. 10 (d) PREEMPTION OF STATE LICENSING REQUIRE- 11 MENTS.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, ju- 12 dicial determination, consent decree, or settlement agree- 13 ment, no State may require that an immigration detention 14 facility used to detain children who have not attained 18 15 years of age, or families consisting of one or more of such 16 children and the parents or legal guardians of such chil- 17 dren, that is located in that State, be licensed by the State 18 or any political subdivision thereof. 19 SEC. 103. SPECIAL IMMIGRANT JUVENILE STATUS FOR IM- 20 MIGRANTS UNABLE TO REUNITE WITH EI- 21 THER PARENT. 22 Section 101(a)(27)(J) of the Immigration and Na- 23 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(27)(J)) is amended— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:39 May 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1901.IH H1901 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 1901 IH (1) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘, and whose reuni- 1 fication with 1 or both of the immigrant’s parents 2 is not viable due to abuse, neglect, abandonment, or 3 a similar basis found under State law’’; and 4 (2) in clause (iii)— 5 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of sub- 6 clause (I); 7 (B) by inserting ‘‘and’’ at the end of sub- 8 clause (II); and 9 (C) by adding at the end the following: 10 ‘‘(III) an alien may not be grant- 11 ed special immigrant juvenile status 12 under this subparagraph if his or her 13 reunification with any one parent or 14 legal guardian is not precluded by 15 abuse, neglect, abandonment, or any 16 similar cause under State law;’’. 17 TITLE II—ASYLUM REFORM 18 SEC. 201. CREDIBLE FEAR INTERVIEWS. 19 Section 235(b)(1)(B)(v) of the Immigration and Na- 20 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1225(b)(1)(B)(v)) is amended by 21 striking ‘‘claim’’ and all that follows, and inserting ‘‘claim, 22 as determined pursuant to section 208(b)(1)(B)(iii), and 23 such other facts as are known to the officer, that the alien 24 could establish eligibility for asylum under section 208, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:39 May 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1901.IH H1901 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 1901 IH and it is more probable than not that the statements made 1 by, and on behalf of, the alien in support of the alien’s 2 claim are true.’’. 3 SEC. 202. JURISDICTION OF ASYLUM APPLICATIONS. 4 Section 208(b)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality 5 Act (8 U.S.C. 1158) is amended by striking subparagraph 6 (C). 7 SEC. 203. RECORDING EXPEDITED REMOVAL AND CRED- 8 IBLE FEAR INTERVIEWS. 9 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Homeland Secu- 10 rity shall establish quality assurance procedures and take 11 steps to effectively ensure that questions by employees of 12 the Department of Homeland Security exercising expe- 13 dited removal authority under section 235(b) of the Immi- 14 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1225(b)) are asked 15 in a uniform manner, to the extent possible, and that both 16 these question [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]