Protect Americans from Foreign Criminals Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3504 To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to conduct criminal history background checks on aliens who unlawfully entered the United States prior to releasing such aliens from custody, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 25, 2021 Ms. HERRELL (for herself, Mr. GOOD of Virginia, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. WEBER of Texas, and Mr. ADERHOLT) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to conduct criminal history background checks on aliens who unlaw- fully entered the United States prior to releasing such aliens from custody, 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 ‘‘Protect Americans 4 from Foreign Criminals Act of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:54 Jul 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3504.IH H3504 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3504 IH SEC. 2. BACKGROUND CHECKS REQUIRED ON ALIENS UN- 1 LAWFULLY ENTERING THE UNITED STATES. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi- 3 sion of law, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall de- 4 tain and may not release from custody any alien who is 5 inadmissible under section 212(a)(6)(A)(i) of the Immi- 6 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(6)(A)(i)), 7 prior to conducting a criminal history background check 8 on the alien in accordance with this section. 9 (b) BACKGROUND CHECK REQUIREMENTS.—The 10 Secretary of Homeland Security shall conduct a criminal 11 history background check of the alien using— 12 (1) appropriate criminal history databases in 13 the United States; and 14 (2) appropriate criminal history databases in 15 the alien’s country of origin, and each country of 16 transit. 17 (c) RESULTS OF BACKGROUND CHECK.—If the Sec- 18 retary determines, based on a criminal history background 19 check required to be conducted under this section, that 20 an alien— 21 (1) has been convicted of or has pending 22 charges for an aggravated felony (as such term is 23 defined in section 101(a)(43) of the Immigration 24 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(43))) in the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:54 Jul 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3504.IH H3504 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3504 IH United States, the alien’s country of origin, or a 1 country of transit; 2 (2) is a member of a criminal street gang (as 3 such term is defined in section 521 of title 18, 4 United States Code); or 5 (3) is described in section 236(c)(1) of the Im- 6 migration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 7 1226(c)(1)), 8 the Secretary may not release the alien from custody pend- 9 ing removal proceedings. 10 (d) FOREIGN BACKGROUND CHECK SYSTEMS.— 11 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Homeland 12 Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State 13 and the Director of National Intelligence, shall im- 14 mediately conduct a worldwide review to determine 15 whether the Secretary of Homeland Security has the 16 ability to access the databases of criminal history 17 databases of any country to perform the background 18 checks described in subsection (b)(2). 19 (2) STANDARDS.—The review described in 20 paragraph (1) shall consider whether the databases 21 of a country are up to date, digitized, searchable, 22 and otherwise meet the standards of the Federal 23 Bureau of Investigations for criminal history data- 24 bases maintained by State and local governments. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:54 Jul 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3504.IH H3504 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3504 IH (3) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after 1 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 2 Homeland Security shall provide a report to the 3 Committees on the Judiciary of the House of Rep- 4 resentatives and the Senate, the Committee on 5 Homeland Security of the House of Representatives, 6 and the Comittee on Homeland Security and Gov- 7 ernmental Affairs of the Senate, on results of the re- 8 view conducted under paragraph (1). 9 (4) FAILURE TO MEET STANDARDS.—When the 10 Secretary of Homeland Security finds that the crimi- 11 nal history databases of a country described in sub- 12 section (b)(2) are not up to date, digitized, search- 13 able, or otherwise fail to meet the standards of the 14 Federal Bureau of Investigations for criminal his- 15 tory databases maintained by State and local gov- 16 ernments, as determined applicable by the Secretary, 17 the Secretary may not release from custody an alien 18 who originated from or transited through such coun- 19 try. 20 (e) CERTIFICATION.—On an annual basis, the Sec- 21 retary of Homeland Security shall submit to the Commit- 22 tees on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives and 23 of the Senate, the Committee on Homeland Security of 24 the House of Representatives, and the Committee on 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:54 Jul 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3504.IH H3504 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3504 IH Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Sen- 1 ate, a certification that each database described in sub- 2 section (b)(2), which the Secretary accessed or sought to 3 access pursuant to this section, met the standards de- 4 scribed in subsection (d). Prior to submission, the Inspec- 5 tor General of the Department of Homeland Security shall 6 review each certification under this subsection. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:54 Jul 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3504.IH H3504 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS