Equal Protection of Unaccompanied Minors Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 574 To clarify standards of family detention and the treatment of unaccompanied alien children, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 15, 2019 Mr. MEADOWS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Foreign Affairs, and Homeland Security, for a period to be subsequently deter- mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To clarify standards of family detention and the treatment of unaccompanied alien children, 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 ‘‘Equal Protection of Unaccompanied Minors Act’’. 5 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 6 this Act is as follows: 7 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. TITLE I—UNACCOMPANIED ALIEN CHILDREN; INTERIOR IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:59 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\H574.IH H574 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 574 IH Sec. 1101. Repatriation of unaccompanied alien children. Sec. 1102. Clarification of standards for family detention. Sec. 1103. Detention of dangerous aliens. Sec. 1104. Definition of aggravated felony. Sec. 1105. Crime of violence. Sec. 1106. Grounds of inadmissibility and deportability for alien gang members. Sec. 1107. Special immigrant juvenile status for immigrants unable to reunite with either parent. Sec. 1108. Clarification of authority regarding determinations of convictions. Sec. 1109. Adding attempt and conspiracy to commit terrorism-related inadmis- sibility grounds acts to the definition of engaging in terrorist activity. Sec. 1110. Clarifying the authority of ice detainers. Sec. 1111. Department of Homeland Security access to crime information data- bases. Sec. 1112. Clarification of congressional intent. TITLE II—ASYLUM REFORM Sec. 2101. Credible fear interviews. Sec. 2102. Jurisdiction of asylum applications. Sec. 2103. Recording expedited removal and credible fear interviews. Sec. 2104. Safe third country. Sec. 2105. Renunciation of asylum status pursuant to return to home country. Sec. 2106. Notice concerning frivolous asylum applications. Sec. 2107. Anti-fraud investigative work product. Sec. 2108. Penalties for asylum fraud. Sec. 2109. Statute of limitations for asylum fraud. Sec. 2110. Technical amendments. TITLE III—IMMIGRATION JUDGES, FACILITIES, AND PERSONNEL Sec. 3101. Facilities for asylum applicants who retain custody of a child. Sec. 3102. Increasing the number of authorized immigration judges. Sec. 3103. Increasing the number of available Department of Homeland Secu- rity employees. Sec. 3104. Definitions. VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:59 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\H574.IH H574 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 574 IH TITLE I—UNACCOMPANIED 1 ALIEN CHILDREN; INTERIOR 2 IMMIGRATION ENFORCE- 3 MENT 4 SEC. 1101. REPATRIATION OF UNACCOMPANIED ALIEN 5 CHILDREN. 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 (ii) in subparagraph (A)— 15 (I) in the matter preceding clause 16 (i), by striking ‘‘who is a national or 17 habitual resident of a country that is 18 contiguous with the United States’’; 19 (II) in clause (i), by inserting 20 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 21 (III) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘; 22 and’’ and inserting a period; and 23 (IV) by striking clause (iii); 24 (iii) in subparagraph (B)— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:59 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H574.IH H574 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 574 IH (I) in the matter preceding clause 1 (i), by striking ‘‘(8 U.S.C. 1101 et 2 seq.) may—’’ and inserting ‘‘(8 3 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.)—’’; 4 (II) in clause (i), by inserting be- 5 fore ‘‘permit such child to withdraw’’ 6 the following: ‘‘may’’; and 7 (III) in clause (ii), by inserting 8 before ‘‘return such child’’ the fol- 9 lowing: ‘‘shall’’; and 10 (iv) in subparagraph (C)— 11 (I) by amending the heading to 12 read as follows: ‘‘AGREEMENTS WITH 13 FOREIGN COUNTRIES.—’’; and 14 (II) in the matter preceding 15 clause (i), by striking ‘‘The Secretary 16 of State shall negotiate agreements 17 between the United States and coun- 18 tries contiguous to the United States’’ 19 and inserting ‘‘The Secretary of State 20 may negotiate agreements between the 21 United States and any foreign country 22 that the Secretary determines appro- 23 priate’’; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:59 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H574.IH H574 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 574 IH (B) by redesignating paragraphs (3) 1 through (5) as paragraphs (4) through (6), re- 2 spectively, and inserting after paragraph (2) the 3 following: 4 ‘‘(3) SPECIAL RULES FOR INTERVIEWING UNAC- 5 COMPANIED ALIEN CHILDREN.—An unaccompanied 6 alien child shall be interviewed by a dedicated U.S. 7 Citizenship and Immigration Services immigration 8 officer with specialized training in interviewing child 9 trafficking victims. Such officer shall be in plain 10 clothes and shall not carry a weapon. The interview 11 shall occur in a private room.’’; and 12 (C) in paragraph (6)(D) (as so redesig- 13 nated)— 14 (i) in the matter preceding clause (i), 15 by striking ‘‘, except for an unaccompanied 16 alien child from a contiguous country sub- 17 ject to exceptions under subsection (a)(2),’’ 18 and inserting ‘‘who does not meet the cri- 19 teria listed in paragraph (2)(A)’’; and 20 (ii) in clause (i), by inserting before 21 the semicolon at the end the following: ‘‘, 22 which shall include a hearing before an im- 23 migration judge not later than 14 days 24 after being screened under paragraph (4)’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:59 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H574.IH H574 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 574 IH (2) in subsection (b)— 1 (A) in paragraph (2)— 2 (i) in subparagraph (A), by inserting 3 before the semicolon the following: ‘‘be- 4 lieved not to meet the criteria listed in sub- 5 section (a)(2)(A)’’; and 6 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by inserting 7 before the period the following: ‘‘and does 8 not meet the criteria listed in subsection 9 (a)(2)(A)’’; and 10 (B) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘an un- 11 accompanied alien child in custody shall’’ and 12 all that follows, and inserting the following: ‘‘an 13 unaccompanied alien child in custody— 14 ‘‘(A) in the case of a child who does not 15 meet the criteria listed in subsection (a)(2)(A), 16 shall transfer the custody of such child to the 17 Secretary of Health and Human Services not 18 later than 30 days after determining that such 19 child is an unaccompanied alien child who does 20 not meet such criteria; or 21 ‘‘(B) in the case of child who meets the 22 criteria listed in subsection (a)(2)(A), may 23 transfer the custody of such child to the Sec- 24 retary of Health and Human Services after de- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:59 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H574.IH H574 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 574 IH termining that such child is an unaccompanied 1 alien child who meets such criteria.’’; and 2 (3) in subsection (c)— 3 (A) in paragraph (3), by inserting at the 4 end the following: 5 ‘‘(D) INFORMATION ABOUT INDIVIDUALS 6 WITH WHOM CHILDREN ARE PLACED.— 7 ‘‘(i) INFORMATION TO BE PROVIDED 8 TO HOMELAND SECURITY.—Before placing 9 a child with an individual, the Secretary of 10 Health and Human Services shall provide 11 to the Secretary of Homeland Security, re- 12 garding the individual with whom the child 13 will be placed, the following information: 14 ‘‘(I) The name of the individual. 15 ‘‘(II) The social security number 16 of the individual, if available. 17 ‘‘(III) The date of birth of the in- 18 dividual. 19 ‘‘(IV) The location of the individ- 20 ual’s residence where the child will be 21 placed. 22 ‘‘(V) The immigration status of 23 the individual, if known. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:59 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H574.IH H574 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 574 IH ‘‘(VI) Contact information for 1 the individual. 2 ‘‘(ii) SPECIAL RULE.—In the case of a 3 child who was apprehended on or after the 4 effective date of this clause, and before the 5 date of the enactment of this subpara- 6 graph, who the Secretary of Health and 7 Human Services placed with an individual, 8 the Secretary shall provide the information 9 listed in clause (i) to the Secretary of 10 Homeland Security not later than 90 days 11 after such date of enactment. 12 ‘‘(iii) ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY OF 13 HOMELAND SECURITY.—Not later than 30 14 days after receiving the information listed 15 in clause (i), the Secretary of Homeland 16 Security shall— 17 ‘‘(I) in the case that the immi- 18 gration status of an individual with 19 whom a child is placed is unknown, 20 investigate the immigration status of 21 that individual; and 22 ‘‘(II) upon determining that an 23 individual with whom a child is placed 24 is unlawfully present in the United 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:59 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H574.IH H574 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 574 IH States, initiate removal proceedings 1 pursuant to chapter 4 of title II of the 2 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 3 U.S.C. 1221 et seq.).’’; and 4 (B) in paragraph (5)— 5 (i) by inserting ‘‘(at no expense to the 6 Government)’’ after ‘‘to the greatest extent 7 practicable’’; and 8 (ii) by striking ‘‘have counsel to rep- 9 resent them’’ and inserting ‘‘have access to 10 counsel to represent them’’. 11 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 12 this section shall apply to any unauthorized alien child ap- 13 prehended on or after the date of enactment. 14 SEC. 1102. CLARIFICATION OF STANDARDS FOR FAMILY DE- 15 TENTION. 16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 235 of the William Wil- 17 berforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization 18 Act of 2008 (8 U.S.C. 1232) is amended by adding at 19 the end the following: 20 ‘‘(j) CONSTRUCTION.— 21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 22 provision of law, judicial determination, consent de- 23 cree, or settlement agreement, the detention of any 24 alien child who is not an unaccompanied alien child 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:59 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H574.IH H574 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 574 IH shall be governed by sections 217, 235, 236, and 1 241 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 2 U.S.C. 1187, 1225, 1226, and 1231). There exists 3 no presumption that an alien child who is not an un- 4 accompanied alien child should not be detained, and 5 all such determinations shall be in the discretion of 6 the Secretary of Homeland Security. 7 ‘‘(2) RELEASE OF MINORS OTHER THAN UNAC- 8 COMPANIED ALIENS.—In no circumstances shall an 9 alien minor who is not an unaccompanied alien child 10 be released by the Secretary of Homeland Security 11 other than to a parent or legal guardian. 12 ‘‘(3) FAMILY DETENTION.—The Secretary of 13 Homeland Security shall— 14 ‘‘(A) maintain the care and custody of an 15 alien, during the period which the charges de- 16 scribed in clause (i) are pending, who— 17 ‘‘(i) is charged only with a mis- 18 demeanor offense under section 275(a) of 19 the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 20 U.S.C. 1325(a)); and 21 ‘‘(ii) entered the United States with 22 the alien’s child who has not attained 18 23 years of age; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:59 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H574.IH H574 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 574 IH ‘‘(B) detain the alien with the alien’s 1 child.’’. 2 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 3 subsection (a) shall take effect on the date of the enact- 4 ment of this Act and shall apply to all actions that occur 5 before, on, or after the date of the enactment of this Act. 6 (c) PREEMPTION OF STATE LICENSING REQUIRE- 7 MENTS.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, ju- 8 dicial determination, consent decree, or settlement agree- 9 ment, no State may require that an immigration detention 10 facility used to detain children who have not attained 18 11 years of age, families consisting of one or more such chil- 12 dren and the parents or legal guardians of such children, 13 that is located in that State, be licensed by the State or 14 any political subdivision thereof. 15 SEC. 1103. DETENTION OF DANGEROUS ALIENS. 16 Section 241(a) of the Immigration and Nationality 17 Act (8 U.S.C. 1231(a)) is amended— 18 (1) by striking ‘‘Attorney General’’ each place 19 it appears, except for the first reference in para- 20 graph (4)(B)(i), and inserting ‘‘Secretary of Home- 21 land Security’’; 22 (2) in paragraph (1), by amending subpara- 23 graph (B) to read as follows: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:59 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H574.IH H574 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 574 IH ‘‘(B) BEGINNING OF PERIOD.—The re- 1 moval period begins on the latest of the fol- 2 lowing: 3 ‘‘(i) The date the order of removal be- 4 comes administratively final. 5 ‘‘(ii) If the alien is not in the custody 6 of the Secretary on the date the order of 7 removal becomes administratively final, the 8 date the alien is taken into such custody. 9 ‘‘(iii) If the alien is detained or con- 10 fined (except under an immigration proc- 11 ess) on the date the order of removal be- 12 comes administratively final, the date the 13 alien is taken into the custody of the Sec- 14 retary, after the alien is released from such 15 detention or confinement.’’; 16 (3) in paragraph (1), by amending subpara- 17 graph (C) to read as follows: 18 ‘‘(C) SUSPENSION OF PERIOD.— 19 ‘‘(i) EXTENSION.—The removal period 20 shall be extended beyond a period of 90 21 days and the Secretary may, in the Sec- 22 retary’s sole discretion, keep the alien in 23 detention during such extended period if— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:59 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H574.IH H574 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 13 • [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]