Unaccompanied Alien Children Assistance Control Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2049 To reduce the amount of foreign assistance to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras based on the number of unaccompanied alien children who are nationals or citizens of such countries and who in the preceding fiscal year are placed in Federal custody by reason of their immigration status. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 3, 2019 Mr. BURGESS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs A BILL To reduce the amount of foreign assistance to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras based on the number of unac- companied alien children who are nationals or citizens of such countries and who in the preceding fiscal year are placed in Federal custody by reason of their immigra- tion status. 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 ‘‘Unaccompanied Alien 4 Children Assistance Control Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:30 Apr 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2049.IH H2049 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2049 IH SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1 Congress finds the following: 2 (1) Gang violence, poverty, and corruption are 3 the main drivers of illegal immigration from El Sal- 4 vador, Guatemala, and Honduras to the United 5 States. 6 (2) According to an independent task force re- 7 port by the Atlantic Council’s Latin America Cen- 8 ter— 9 (A) systemic corruption stagnates eco- 10 nomic growth; 11 (B) eight in ten poll respondents see cor- 12 ruption as widespread; 13 (C) citizens in El Salvador, Guatemala, 14 and Honduras do not trust the government in- 15 stitutions responsible for curtailing corruption; 16 and 17 (D) investigations have revealed massive 18 networks dedicated to co-opting public funds for 19 the personal enrichment of government officials. 20 (3) There exists the potential for foreign assist- 21 ance from the United States to be misused by cen- 22 tral government officials in El Salvador, Guatemala, 23 and Honduras in order to reduce the success of anti- 24 corruption efforts. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:30 Apr 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2049.IH H2049 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2049 IH (4) Systemic corruption in El Salvador, Guate- 1 mala, and Honduras undermines efforts to address 2 the driving causes of illegal immigration into the 3 United States from such countries. 4 (5) The United States provided more than 5 $2,600,000,000 in foreign assistance to Central 6 American countries during fiscal years 2015 through 7 2018, and Congress appropriated over $500,000,000 8 in such assistance for fiscal year 2019. 9 (6) For the past 5 fiscal years, 225,463 unac- 10 companied alien children from El Salvador, Guate- 11 mala, and Honduras were referred to the Office of 12 Refugee Resettlement (ORR) of the Department of 13 Health and Human Services, an average of 45,092 14 per year. 15 (7) On average, providing care for unaccom- 16 panied alien children in ORR custody costs $500 per 17 child, per day. 18 (8) In fiscal year 2018, the average length of 19 stay in ORR custody for an unaccompanied alien 20 child was 60 days. 21 (9) On average, the total cost of care for an un- 22 accompanied alien child in ORR custody is $30,000 23 per child and $1,352,760,000 per year for all chil- 24 dren. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:30 Apr 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2049.IH H2049 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2049 IH SEC. 3. REDUCTION OF AMOUNT OF FOREIGN ASSISTANCE 1 TO EL SALVADOR, GUATEMALA, AND HON- 2 DURAS. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President shall reduce from 4 amounts made available under the Foreign Assistance Act 5 of 1961 or any other Act and allocated for a covered coun- 6 try for a fiscal year an amount equal to— 7 (1) the number of unaccompanied alien children 8 who— 9 (A) are nationals or citizens of the covered 10 country; and 11 (B) in the preceding fiscal year are placed 12 in Federal custody by reason of their immigra- 13 tion status; multiplied by 14 (2) $30,000. 15 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 16 (1) the term ‘‘covered country’’ means El Sal- 17 vador, Guatemala, or Honduras; and 18 (2) the term ‘‘unaccompanied alien child’’ has 19 the meaning given the term in section 462(g)(2) of 20 the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 21 279(g)(2)). 22 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This Act takes effect on the 23 date of the enactment of this Act and applies with respect 24 to amounts made available under the Foreign Assistance 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:30 Apr 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2049.IH H2049 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2049 IH Act of 1961 or any other Act for fiscal year 2020 and 1 each subsequent fiscal year. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:30 Apr 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2049.IH H2049 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS