I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1283 To establish a nonpartisan commission on immigration reform and border security. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 14, 2019 Mr. RYAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Homeland Secu- rity, and Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speak- er, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the ju- risdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To establish a nonpartisan commission on immigration reform and border security. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. NONPARTISAN COMMISSION ON IMMIGRATION 3 REFORM AND BORDER SECURITY. 4 (a) ESTABLISHMENT AND COMPOSITION OF COMMIS- 5 SION.— 6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Effective on the date of the 7 enactment of this Act, there is established a Non- 8 partisan Commission on Immigration Reform and 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:08 Mar 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1283.IH H1283 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1283 IH Border Security (in this section referred to as the 1 ‘‘Commission’’) which shall be composed of nine 2 members to be appointed as follows: 3 (A) One member, who shall serve as Chair- 4 person, to be appointed jointly by the Speaker 5 of the House of Representatives and the major- 6 ity leader of the Senate. 7 (B) One member to be appointed by the 8 Speaker of the House of Representatives who 9 shall select such members from a list of nomi- 10 nees provided by the Chairman of the Sub- 11 committee on Immigration and Citizenship of 12 the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 13 Representatives. 14 (C) One member to be appointed by the 15 Speaker of the House of Representatives who 16 shall select such members from a list of nomi- 17 nees provided by the Chairman of the Sub- 18 committee on Border Security, Facilitation, and 19 Operations of the Committee on Homeland Se- 20 curity of the House of Representatives. 21 (D) One member to be appointed by the 22 minority leader of the House of Representatives 23 who shall select such members from a list of 24 nominees provided by the ranking minority 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:08 Mar 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1283.IH H1283 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1283 IH member of the Subcommittee on Immigration 1 and Citizenship of the Committee on the Judici- 2 ary of the House of Representatives. 3 (E) One member to be appointed by the 4 minority leader of the House of Representatives 5 who shall select such members from a list of 6 nominees provided by the ranking minority 7 member of the Subcommittee on Border Secu- 8 rity, Facilitation, and Operations of the Com- 9 mittee on Homeland Security of the House of 10 Representatives. 11 (F) Two members to be appointed by the 12 majority leader of the Senate who shall select 13 such members from a list of nominees provided 14 by the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Bor- 15 der Security and Immigration of the Committee 16 on the Judiciary of the Senate. 17 (G) Two members to be appointed by the 18 minority leader of the Senate who shall select 19 such members from a list of nominees provided 20 by the ranking minority member of the Sub- 21 committee on Border Security and Immigration 22 of the Committee on the Judiciary of the Sen- 23 ate. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:08 Mar 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1283.IH H1283 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1283 IH (2) NO ELECTED OFFICIALS.—No member may 1 be a Federal, State, or local elected official or polit- 2 ical appointee. 3 (3) DEADLINE.—Initial appointments to the 4 Commission shall be made not later than 45 days 5 after the date of the enactment of this Act. A va- 6 cancy in the Commission shall be filled in the same 7 manner in which the original appointment was 8 made. 9 (4) TERM OF SERVICE.—Members shall be ap- 10 pointed to serve for the life of the Commission. 11 (b) FUNCTIONS OF COMMISSION.—The Commission 12 shall— 13 (1) in accordance with subsection (c), review 14 and assess— 15 (A) the security of the borders of the 16 United States and methods to enhance the in- 17 tegrity and efficacy of security at such borders; 18 and 19 (B) the immigration system of the United 20 States in general; and 21 (2) transmit to the Congress— 22 (A) not later than 90 days after the initial 23 appointments to the Commission are completed, 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:08 Mar 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1283.IH H1283 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1283 IH a first report describing the progress made in 1 carrying out paragraph (1); and 2 (B) not later than 270 days after the ini- 3 tial appointments to the Commission are com- 4 pleted, a final report setting forth the Commis- 5 sion’s findings and recommendations, including 6 recommendations for additional changes that 7 should be made with respect to border security 8 as the Commission deems appropriate. 9 (c) PARTICULAR CONSIDERATIONS.—In particular, 10 the Commission shall consider the following: 11 (1) Vulnerabilities in border security screening 12 and surveillance programs, inspection and detection 13 technologies, and physical infrastructure. 14 (2) U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. 15 Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Office 16 of Refugee Resettlement operations and personnel. 17 (3) Cross-border criminal activity. 18 (4) Drug trafficking and interdiction activities. 19 (5) Severe forms of trafficking and smuggling 20 of persons. 21 (6) Migrant interdiction and detention oper- 22 ations. 23 (7) Protocols pertaining to migrant families and 24 unaccompanied alien minors. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:08 Mar 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1283.IH H1283 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1283 IH (8) Protocols pertaining to asylum seekers and 1 refugees. 2 (9) Protection of the human rights of immi- 3 grants, refugees, and asylum seekers, in particular 4 minor children. 5 (10) Protection of the physical and mental 6 health of migrants in custody, in particular minor 7 children. 8 (11) Asylum and immigration court system 9 backlog. 10 (12) Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. 11 (13) Family-sponsored immigrants. 12 (14) Employee-based immigrants. 13 (15) Diversity immigrants. 14 (16) Temporary protected status. 15 (17) Nonimmigrant visitors. 16 (18) Visa overstays. 17 (19) Naturalization and a pathway to citizen- 18 ship. 19 (20) Criminal aliens. 20 (21) Removal proceedings. 21 (d) COMPENSATION OF MEMBERS.— 22 (1) PAY.—Each member of the Commission 23 who is not an officer or employee of the Federal 24 Government is entitled to receive, subject to such 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:08 Mar 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1283.IH H1283 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1283 IH amounts as are provided in advance in appropria- 1 tions Acts, pay at the daily equivalent of the min- 2 imum annual rate of basic pay in effect for grade 3 GS–18 of the General Schedule. Each member of 4 the Commission who is such an officer or employee 5 shall serve without additional pay. 6 (2) TRAVEL EXPENSES.—While away from 7 their homes or regular places of business in the per- 8 formance of services for the Commission, members 9 of the Commission shall be allowed travel expenses, 10 including per diem in lieu of subsistence. 11 (e) MEETINGS, STAFF, AND AUTHORITY OF COMMIS- 12 SION.—The provisions of subsections (e) through (g) of 13 section 304 of the Immigration Reform and Control Act 14 of 1986 shall apply to the Commission in the same manner 15 as they apply to the Commission established under such 16 section, except that paragraph (2) of subsection (e) there- 17 of shall not apply. 18 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 19 (1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be 20 appropriated to the Commission such sums as may 21 be necessary to carry out this section. 22 (2) SUBJECT TO APPROPRIATIONS.—Notwith- 23 standing any other provision of this section, the au- 24 thority to make payments, or to enter into contracts, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:08 Mar 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1283.IH H1283 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 1283 IH under this section shall be effective only to such ex- 1 tent, or in such amounts, as are provided in advance 2 in appropriations Acts. 3 (g) TERMINATION DATE.—The Commission shall ter- 4 minate on the date on which a final report is required to 5 be transmitted under subsection (b)(2)(B), except that the 6 Commission may continue to function until January 20, 7 2021, for the purpose of concluding its activities, including 8 providing testimony to standing committees of Congress 9 concerning its final report under this section and dissemi- 10 nating that report. 11 (h) CONGRESSIONAL RESPONSE.— 12 (1) HEARINGS.—Not later than 90 days after 13 the date of receipt of each report transmitted under 14 subsection (b)(2), the Committees on the Judiciary 15 of the House of Representatives and of the Senate 16 shall initiate hearings to consider the findings and 17 recommendations of the report. 18 (2) FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.—Not 19 later than 180 days after the date of receipt of such 20 a report, each such Committee shall report to its re- 21 spective House its oversight findings and any legisla- 22 tion it deems appropriate. 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:08 Mar 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1283.IH H1283 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS