I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 586 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 JANUARY 16, 2019 Mr. COLLINS of Georgia (for himself and Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Ju- diciary, and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider- ation of such provisions as fall within 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 ‘‘Fix the Immigration Loopholes 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. VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:42 Jan 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\H586.IH H586 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 586 IH 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. Penalties for asylum fraud. Sec. 209. Statute of limitations for asylum fraud. Sec. 210. Technical amendments. TITLE I—UNACCOMPANIED 1 ALIEN CHILDREN 2 SEC. 101. REPATRIATION OF UNACCOMPANIED ALIEN CHIL- 3 DREN. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 235 of the William Wil- 5 berforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization 6 Act of 2008 (8 U.S.C. 1232) is amended— 7 (1) in subsection (a)— 8 (A) in paragraph (2)— 9 (i) by amending the heading to read 10 as follows: ‘‘RULES FOR UNACCOMPANIED 11 ALIEN CHILDREN.—’’; 12 (ii) in subparagraph (A)— 13 (I) in the matter preceding clause 14 (i), by striking ‘‘who is a national or 15 habitual resident of a country that is 16 contiguous with the United States’’; 17 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:42 Jan 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H586.IH H586 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 586 IH (II) in clause (i), by inserting 1 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 2 (III) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘; 3 and’’ and inserting a period; and 4 (IV) by striking clause (iii); 5 (iii) in subparagraph (B)— 6 (I) in the matter preceding clause 7 (i), by striking ‘‘(8 U.S.C. 1101 et 8 seq.) may—’’ and inserting ‘‘(8 9 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.)—’’; 10 (II) in clause (i), by inserting be- 11 fore ‘‘permit such child to withdraw’’ 12 the following: ‘‘may’’; and 13 (III) in clause (ii), by inserting 14 before ‘‘return such child’’ the fol- 15 lowing: ‘‘shall’’; and 16 (iv) in subparagraph (C)— 17 (I) by amending the heading to 18 read as follows: ‘‘AGREEMENTS WITH 19 FOREIGN COUNTRIES.—’’; and 20 (II) in the matter preceding 21 clause (i), by striking ‘‘The Secretary 22 of State shall negotiate agreements 23 between the United States and coun- 24 tries contiguous to the United States’’ 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:42 Jan 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H586.IH H586 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 586 IH and inserting ‘‘The Secretary of State 1 may negotiate agreements between the 2 United States and any foreign country 3 that the Secretary determines appro- 4 priate’’; 5 (B) by redesignating paragraphs (3) 6 through (5) as paragraphs (4) through (6), re- 7 spectively, and inserting after paragraph (2) the 8 following: 9 ‘‘(3) SPECIAL RULES FOR INTERVIEWING UNAC- 10 COMPANIED ALIEN CHILDREN.—An unaccompanied 11 alien child shall be interviewed by a dedicated U.S. 12 Citizenship and Immigration Services immigration 13 officer with specialized training in interviewing child 14 trafficking victims. Such officer shall be in plain 15 clothes and shall not carry a weapon. The interview 16 shall occur in a private room.’’; and 17 (C) in paragraph (6)(D) (as so redesig- 18 nated)— 19 (i) in the matter preceding clause (i), 20 by striking ‘‘, except for an unaccompanied 21 alien child from a contiguous country sub- 22 ject to exceptions under subsection (a)(2),’’ 23 and inserting ‘‘who does not meet the cri- 24 teria listed in paragraph (2)(A)’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:42 Jan 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H586.IH H586 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 586 IH (ii) in clause (i), by inserting before 1 the semicolon at the end the following: ‘‘, 2 which shall include a hearing before an im- 3 migration judge not later than 14 days 4 after being screened under paragraph (4)’’; 5 (2) in subsection (b)— 6 (A) in paragraph (2)— 7 (i) in subparagraph (A), by inserting 8 before the semicolon the following: ‘‘be- 9 lieved not to meet the criteria listed in sub- 10 section (a)(2)(A)’’; and 11 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by inserting 12 before the period the following: ‘‘and does 13 not meet the criteria listed in subsection 14 (a)(2)(A)’’; and 15 (B) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘an un- 16 accompanied alien child in custody shall’’ and 17 all that follows, and inserting the following: ‘‘an 18 unaccompanied alien child in custody— 19 ‘‘(A) in the case of a child who does not 20 meet the criteria listed in subsection (a)(2)(A), 21 shall transfer the custody of such child to the 22 Secretary of Health and Human Services not 23 later than 30 days after determining that such 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:42 Jan 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H586.IH H586 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 586 IH child is an unaccompanied alien child who does 1 not meet such criteria; or 2 ‘‘(B) in the case of child who meets the 3 criteria listed in subsection (a)(2)(A), may 4 transfer the custody of such child to the Sec- 5 retary of Health and Human Services after de- 6 termining that such child is an unaccompanied 7 alien child who meets such criteria.’’; and 8 (3) in subsection (c)— 9 (A) in paragraph (3), by inserting at the 10 end the following: 11 ‘‘(D) INFORMATION ABOUT INDIVIDUALS 12 WITH WHOM CHILDREN ARE PLACED.— 13 ‘‘(i) INFORMATION TO BE PROVIDED 14 TO HOMELAND SECURITY.—Before placing 15 a child with an individual, the Secretary of 16 Health and Human Services shall provide 17 to the Secretary of Homeland Security, re- 18 garding the individual with whom the child 19 will be placed, the following information: 20 ‘‘(I) The name of the individual. 21 ‘‘(II) The social security number 22 of the individual, if available. 23 ‘‘(III) The date of birth of the in- 24 dividual. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:42 Jan 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H586.IH H586 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 586 IH ‘‘(IV) The location of the individ- 1 ual’s residence where the child will be 2 placed. 3 ‘‘(V) The immigration status of 4 the individual, if known. 5 ‘‘(VI) Contact information for 6 the individual. 7 ‘‘(ii) SPECIAL RULE.—In the case of a 8 child who was apprehended on or after the 9 effective date of this clause, and before the 10 date of the enactment of this subpara- 11 graph, who the Secretary of Health and 12 Human Services placed with an individual, 13 the Secretary shall provide the information 14 listed in clause (i) to the Secretary of 15 Homeland Security not later than 90 days 16 after such date of enactment.’’; and 17 (B) in paragraph (5)— 18 (i) by inserting after ‘‘to the greatest 19 extent practicable’’ the following: ‘‘(at no 20 expense to the Government)’’; and 21 (ii) by striking ‘‘have counsel to rep- 22 resent them’’ and inserting ‘‘have access to 23 counsel to represent them’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:42 Jan 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H586.IH H586 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 586 IH (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 1 this section shall apply to any unaccompanied alien child 2 apprehended on or after the date of enactment. 3 SEC. 102. CLARIFICATION OF STANDARDS FOR FAMILY DE- 4 TENTION. 5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 235 of the William Wil- 6 berforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization 7 Act of 2008 (8 U.S.C. 1232) is amended by adding at 8 the end the following: 9 ‘‘(j) CONSTRUCTION.— 10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 11 provision of law, judicial determination, consent de- 12 cree, or settlement agreement, the detention of any 13 alien child who is not an unaccompanied alien child 14 shall be governed by sections 217, 235, 236, and 15 241 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 16 U.S.C. 1187, 1225, 1226, and 1231). There exists 17 no presumption that an alien child who is not an un- 18 accompanied alien child should not be detained, and 19 all such determinations shall be in the discretion of 20 the Secretary of Homeland Security. 21 ‘‘(2) RELEASE OF MINORS OTHER THAN UNAC- 22 COMPANIED ALIENS.—In no circumstances shall an 23 alien minor who is not an unaccompanied alien child 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:42 Jan 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H586.IH H586 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 586 IH be released by the Secretary of Homeland Security 1 other than to a parent or legal guardian. 2 ‘‘(3) FAMILY DETENTION.—The Secretary of 3 Homeland Security shall— 4 ‘‘(A) maintain the care and custody of an 5 alien, during the period during which the 6 charges described in clause (i) are pending, 7 who— 8 ‘‘(i) is charged only with a mis- 9 demeanor offense under section 275(a) of 10 the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 11 U.S.C. 1325(a)); and 12 ‘‘(ii) entered the United States with 13 the alien’s child who has not attained 18 14 years of age; and 15 ‘‘(B) detain the alien with the alien’s 16 child.’’. 17 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 18 subsection (a) shall take effect on the date of the enact- 19 ment of this Act and shall apply to all actions that occur 20 before, on, or after the date of the enactment of this Act. 21 (c) PREEMPTION OF STATE LICENSING REQUIRE- 22 MENTS.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, ju- 23 dicial determination, consent decree, or settlement agree- 24 ment, no State may require that an immigration detention 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:42 Jan 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H586.IH H586 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •HR 586 IH facility used to detain children who have not attained 18 1 years of age, or families consisting of one or more of such 2 children and the parents or legal guardians of such chil- 3 dren, that is located in that State, be licensed by the State 4 or any political subdivision thereof. 5 SEC. 103. SPECIAL IMMIGRANT JUVENILE STATUS FOR IM- 6 MIGRANTS UNABLE TO REUNITE WITH EI- 7 THER PARENT. 8 Section 101(a)(27)(J) of the Immigration and Na- 9 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(27)(J)) is amended— 10 (1) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘, and whose reuni- 11 fication with 1 or both of the immigrant’s parents 12 is not viable due to abuse, neglect, abandonment, or 13 a similar basis found under State law’’; and 14 (2) in clause (iii)— 15 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of sub- 16 clause (I); 17 (B) by inserting ‘‘and’’ at the end of sub- 18 clause (II); and 19 (C) by adding at the end the following: 20 ‘‘(III) an alien may not be grant- 21 ed special immigrant juvenile status 22 under this subparagraph if his or her 23 reunification with any one parent or 24 legal guardian is not precluded by 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:42 Jan 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H586.IH H586 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •HR 586 IH abuse, neglect, abandonment, or any 1 similar cause under State law;’’. 2 TITLE II—ASYLUM REFORM 3 SEC. 201. CREDIBLE FEAR INTERVIEWS. 4 Section 235(b)(1)(B)(v) of the Immigration and Na- 5 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1225(b)(1)(B)(v)) is amended by 6 striking ‘‘claim’’ and all that follows, and inserting ‘‘claim, 7 as determined pursuant to section 208(b)(1)(B)(iii), and 8 such other facts as are known to the officer, that the alien 9 could establish eligibility for asylum under section 208, 10 and it is more probable than not that the statements made 11 by, and on behalf of, the alien in support of the alien’s 12 claim are true.’’. 13 SEC. 202. JURISDICTION OF ASYLUM APPLICATIONS. 14 Section 208(b)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality 15 Act (8 U.S.C. 1158) is amended by striking subparagraph 16 (C). 17 SEC. 203. RECORDING EXPEDITED REMOVAL AND CRED- 18 IBLE FEAR INTERVIEWS. 19 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Homeland Secu- 20 rity shall establish quality assurance procedures and take 21 steps to effectively ensure that questions by employees of 22 the Department of Homeland Security exercising expe- 23 dited removal authority under section 235(b) of the Immi- 24 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1225(b)) are asked 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:42 Jan 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H586.IH H586 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 12 •HR 586 IH in a uniform manner, to the extent possible, and that both 1 these questions and the answers provided in response to 2 them are recorded in a uniform fashion. 3 (b) FACTORS RELATING TO SWORN STATEMENTS.— 4 Where practicable, any sworn or signed written statement 5 taken of an alien as part of the record of a proceeding 6 under section 235(b)(1)(A) of the Immigration and Na- 7 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1225(b)(1)(A)) shall be accom- 8 panied by a recording of the interview which served as the 9 basis for that sworn statement. 10 (c) INTERPRETERS.—The Secretary shall ensure that 11 a competent interpreter, not affiliated with the govern- 12 ment of the country from which the alien may claim asy- 13 lum, is used when the interviewing officer does not speak 14 a language understood by the alien. 15 (d) RECORDINGS IN IMMIGRATION PROCEEDINGS.— 16 There shall be an audio or audio visual recording of inter- 17 views of aliens subject to expedited removal. The recording 18 shall be included in the record of proceeding and shall be 19 conside [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]