HUMANE Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2522 To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to address the protective custody of alien children accompanied by parents, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 3, 2019 Mr. CUELLAR introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Foreign Affairs, Homeland Security, Ways and Means, Agriculture, and Trans- portation and Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to address the protective custody of alien children accompanied by parents, 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 ‘‘Humanitarian Upgrades to Manage and Assist our Na- 5 tion’s Enforcement Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘HUMANE Act 6 of 2019’’. 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:50 May 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2522.IH H2522 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2522 IH (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 1 this Act is as follows: 2 Sec. 1. Short titles; table of contents. Sec. 2. Family unification. Sec. 3. Repatriation of unaccompanied alien children. Sec. 4. Child welfare and law enforcement information sharing. Sec. 5. Accountability for children and taxpayers. Sec. 6. Custody of unaccompanied alien children in removal proceedings under section 240 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Sec. 7. Fraud in connection with the transfer of custody of unaccompanied alien children. Sec. 8. Notification of States and foreign governments, reporting, and moni- toring. Sec. 9. Reports to Congress. Sec. 10. Asylum processing. Sec. 11. Biometric and DNA collection. Sec. 12. Standard operating procedures; facilities standards. Sec. 13. Regional processing centers. Sec. 14. Authorization to hire additional U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel. Sec. 15. Ports of entry infrastructure improvements. Sec. 16. Foreign engagement strategy. Sec. 17. Deterring visa overstays. SEC. 2. FAMILY UNIFICATION. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 235 of the Immigration 4 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1225) is amended by add- 5 ing at the end the following: 6 ‘‘(e) PROTECTIVE CUSTODY OF ARRIVING ALIEN 7 CHILDREN ACCOMPANIED BY PARENTS.— 8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 9 provision of law, including section 3142 of title 18, 10 United States Code, any judicial determination (in- 11 cluding any judicial determination made in Flores v. 12 Sessions et. al. (9th Cir. July 5, 2017; C.D. CA. 13 July 24, 2015)), consent decree, or settlement agree- 14 ment issued before the date of enactment of the 15 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:03 May 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2522.IH H2522 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2522 IH HUMANE Act of 2019, and section 236.3 of title 1 8, Code of Federal Regulations (or a successor regu- 2 lation), the Secretary of Homeland Security is not 3 required to implement the terms of the stipulated 4 settlement agreement filed on January 17, 1997, in 5 the United States District Court for the Central 6 District of California in Flores v. Reno, CV 85– 7 4544–RJK (commonly known as the ‘‘Flores settle- 8 ment agreement’’), and may not use any Federal 9 Funds to implement such agreement, with respect to 10 an alien child who is younger than 18 years of age 11 if such child is accompanied by a parent or legal 12 guardian. 13 ‘‘(2) FAMILY RESIDENTIAL CENTERS.— 14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 15 subparagraph (B), the Secretary of Homeland 16 Security shall house any alien child described in 17 paragraph (1) who is unlawfully present in the 18 United States together with the parent of such 19 child in a family residential center or a regional 20 processing center maintained by the Secretary 21 of Homeland Security during the pendency of 22 civil or criminal proceedings. 23 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—The Secretary of 24 Homeland Security may not temporarily house 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:03 May 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2522.IH H2522 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2522 IH an alien child referred to in subparagraph (A) 1 in the manner described in such subparagraph 2 if the Secretary— 3 ‘‘(i) is unable to verify that an indi- 4 vidual accompanying the alien child is the 5 parent of the alien child; 6 ‘‘(ii) determines that the accom- 7 panying parent of the alien child— 8 ‘‘(I) has a violent criminal his- 9 tory; or 10 ‘‘(II) has committed or been con- 11 victed of— 12 ‘‘(aa) an aggravated felony; 13 ‘‘(bb) a crime involving the 14 attempted use of physical force 15 or the threatened use of a deadly 16 weapon; 17 ‘‘(cc) an assault resulting in 18 bodily injury (as defined in sec- 19 tion 2266 of title 18, United 20 States Code); or 21 ‘‘(dd) an offense described 22 in section 212(a)(2) or 23 237(a)(2); 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:58 May 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2522.IH H2522 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2522 IH ‘‘(iii) determines that the alien child 1 has been a victim of domestic abuse or sex- 2 ual abuse; or 3 ‘‘(iv) the alien child is— 4 ‘‘(I) a victim of trafficking; 5 ‘‘(II) at risk of becoming a victim 6 of trafficking; 7 ‘‘(III) in danger of abuse or ne- 8 glect at the hands of the accom- 9 panying parent of the alien child; or 10 ‘‘(IV) a danger to himself or her- 11 self or to others. 12 ‘‘(C) CONDITIONS FOR CUSTODY.—The 13 Secretary of Homeland Security shall ensure 14 that— 15 ‘‘(i) each family residential facility or 16 regional processing center, as applicable, is 17 secure and safe; and 18 ‘‘(ii) each alien child and each accom- 19 panying parent at a family residential fa- 20 cility or regional processing center— 21 ‘‘(I) has suitable living accom- 22 modations; 23 ‘‘(II) has access to drinking 24 water and food; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:58 May 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2522.IH H2522 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2522 IH ‘‘(III) has timely access to med- 1 ical assistance, including mental 2 health assistance; 3 ‘‘(IV) has access to recreational 4 facilities, educational services, enter- 5 tainment options, clothing, family visi- 6 tation, and legal counsel (to the great- 7 est extent practicable in accordance 8 with section 292); and 9 ‘‘(V) has access to any other 10 service necessary for the adequate 11 care of a minor child. 12 ‘‘(3) PROTECTIVE CUSTODY OF ACCOMPANIED 13 ALIEN CHILDREN INELIGIBLE FOR HOUSING IN A 14 FAMILY RESIDENTIAL CENTER.—If an alien child de- 15 scribed in paragraph (1) may not be housed with the 16 accompanying parent of the alien child in a family 17 residential center or regional processing center in ac- 18 cordance with paragraph (2)(A), the child shall be 19 treated as an unaccompanied alien child under the 20 William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection 21 Reauthorization Act of 2008 (8 U.S.C. 1232 et 22 seq.). 23 ‘‘(4) PRIORITIZATION OF ACCOMPANIED MINOR 24 AND FAMILY UNIT PROCEEDINGS.—To the maximum 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:58 May 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2522.IH H2522 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2522 IH extent practicable, the Secretary of Homeland Secu- 1 rity and the Attorney General shall prioritize civil 2 and criminal proceedings and decisions on requests 3 for relief from removal of accompanied alien children 4 and families who are in custody under this sub- 5 section.’’. 6 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendments made by this 7 Act shall apply regardless of the date of the occurrence 8 of an action giving rise to the admissibility or custody of 9 the accompanied child or parent. 10 (c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec- 11 tion, or in the amendments made by this section, may be 12 construed as terminating the settlement agreement filed 13 on January 17, 1997, in the United States District Court 14 for the Central District of California in Flores v. Reno, 15 CV 85–4544–RJK (commonly known as the ‘‘Flores set- 16 tlement agreement’’), with respect to an unaccompanied 17 alien child (as defined in section 462(g)(2) of the Home- 18 land Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 279(g)(2))). 19 SEC. 3. REPATRIATION OF UNACCOMPANIED ALIEN CHIL- 20 DREN. 21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 235(a) of the William 22 Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthoriza- 23 tion Act of 2008 (8 U.S.C. 1232(a)) is amended— 24 (1) in paragraph (2)— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:58 May 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2522.IH H2522 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 2522 IH (A) by amending the paragraph heading to 1 read as follows: ‘‘RULES FOR UNACCOMPANIED 2 ALIEN CHILDREN.—’’; 3 (B) in subparagraph (A), in the matter 4 preceding clause (i), by striking ‘‘who is a na- 5 tional or habitual resident of a country that is 6 contiguous with the United States shall be 7 treated in accordance with subparagraph (B)’’ 8 and inserting ‘‘shall be treated in accordance 9 with subparagraph (B) or subsection (b), as ap- 10 propriate’’; and 11 (C) in subparagraph (C)— 12 (i) by amending the subparagraph 13 heading to read as follows: ‘‘AGREEMENTS 14 WITH FOREIGN COUNTRIES.—’’; and 15 (ii) in the matter preceding clause (i), 16 by inserting ‘‘and any other foreign coun- 17 try that the Secretary determines to be ap- 18 propriate’’ after ‘‘countries contiguous to 19 the United States’’; 20 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (3), (4), and 21 (5) as paragraphs (4), (5), and (6), respectively; and 22 (3) inserting after paragraph (2) the following: 23 ‘‘(3) MANDATORY EXPEDITED REMOVAL OF 24 CRIMINALS AND GANG MEMBERS.—Notwithstanding 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:58 May 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2522.IH H2522 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 2522 IH any other provision of law, the Secretary of Home- 1 land Security shall place an unaccompanied alien 2 child in a proceeding in accordance with section 235 3 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 4 1225), if the Secretary determines or has reason to 5 believe that the alien— 6 ‘‘(A) has been convicted of any offense car- 7 rying a maximum term of imprisonment of 8 more than 180 days; 9 ‘‘(B) has been convicted of, or found to be 10 a juvenile offender based on, an offense that in- 11 volved— 12 ‘‘(i) the use or attempted use of phys- 13 ical force, or threatened use of a deadly 14 weapon; 15 ‘‘(ii) the purchase, sale, offering for 16 sale, exchange, use, ownership, possession, 17 or carrying, or, of attempting or conspiring 18 to purchase, sell, offer for sale, exchange, 19 use, own, possess, or carry, any weapon, 20 part, or accessory which is a firearm or de- 21 structive device (as defined in section 22 921(a) of title 18, United States Code) in 23 violation of any law; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:58 May 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2522.IH H2522 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 2522 IH ‘‘(iii) child abuse and neglect (as de- 1 fined in section 40002(a)(3) of the Vio- 2 lence Against Women Act of 1994 (34 3 U.S.C. 12291(a)(3))); 4 ‘‘(iv) assault resulting in bodily injury 5 (as defined in section 2266 of title 18, 6 United States Code); 7 ‘‘(v) the violation of a protection order 8 (as defined in section 2266 of title 18, 9 United States Code); 10 ‘‘(vi) driving while intoxicated or driv- 11 ing under the influence (as such terms are 12 defined in section 164 of title 23, United 13 States Code); or 14 ‘‘(vii) any offense under foreign law 15 (except a purely political offense) that, if 16 the offense had been committed in the 17 United States, would render the alien inad- 18 missible under section 212(a) of the Immi- 19 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 20 1182(a)); 21 ‘‘(C) has been convicted of, or found to be 22 a juvenile offender based on, more than 1 crimi- 23 nal offense (other than minor traffic offenses); 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:58 May 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2522.IH H2522 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 2522 IH ‘‘(D) has been convicted of, or found to be 1 a juvenile offender based on a crime of violence 2 or an offense under Federal, State, or Tribal 3 law, that has, as an element, the use or at- 4 tempted use of physical force or the threatened 5 use of physical force or a deadly weapon; 6 ‘‘(E) has engaged in, is engaged in, or is 7 likely to engage after entry in any terrorist ac- 8 tivity (as defined in section 212(a)(3)(B)(iii) of 9 the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 10 1182(a)(3)(B)(iii))), or intends to participate or 11 has participated in the activities of a foreign 12 terrorist organization (as designated under sec- 13 tion 219 of the Immigration and Nationality 14 Act (8 U.S.C. 1189)); 15 ‘‘(F) has engaged in, is engaged in, or any 16 time after a prior admission engages in activity 17 described in section 237(a)(4) of the Immigra- 18 tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1227(a)(4)); 19 ‘‘(G) is or was a member of a criminal 20 gang (as defined in section 101(a)(53) of the 21 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 22 1101(a)(53))); 23 ‘‘(H) provided materially false, fictitious, 24 or fraudulent information regarding age or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:58 May 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2522.IH H2522 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 2522 IH identity to the United States Government with 1 the intent to inaccurately classified as an unac- 2 companied alien child; or 3 ‘‘(I) has entered the United States more 4 than once in violation of section 275(a) of the 5 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 6 1325(a)), knowing that the entry was unlaw- 7 ful.’’. 8 (b) PRIORITIZATION OF PROCEEDINGS.—The Sec- 9 retary of Homeland Security and the Attorney General 10 shall ensure that immigration proceedings and any claims 11 for relief, including asylum, for an unaccompanied minor 12 child are prioritized and expeditiously adjudicated. 13 SEC. 4. CHILD WELFARE AND LAW ENFORCEMENT INFOR- 14 MATION SHARING. 15 Section 235(b) of the William Wilberforce Trafficking 16 Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (8 U.S.C. 17 1232(b)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 18 ‘‘(5) INFOR [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]