Remedies for Refusal of Repatriation Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2890 To provide penalties for countries that systematically and unreasonably refuse or delay repatriation of certain nationals, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 22, 2019 Mr. COURTNEY (for himself and Mr. WOODALL) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently de- termined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To provide penalties for countries that systematically and unreasonably refuse or delay repatriation of certain na- tionals, 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. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Remedies for Refusal 4 of Repatriation Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 In this Act: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:05 Jun 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2890.IH H2890 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 2890 IH (1) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON- 1 GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con- 2 gress’’ means— 3 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations of 4 the Senate; 5 (B) the Committee on Homeland Security 6 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; 7 (C) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 8 Senate; 9 (D) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 10 the House of Representatives; 11 (E) the Committee on Homeland Security 12 of the House of Representatives; and 13 (F) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 14 House of Representatives. 15 (2) CRIME OF VIOLENCE.—The term ‘‘crime of 16 violence’’ has the meaning given that term in section 17 16 of title 18, United States Code. 18 (3) FELONY.—The term ‘‘felony’’ means— 19 (A) a crime classified as a felony in the 20 convicting jurisdiction, excluding State or local 21 offenses for which an essential element was the 22 alien’s immigration status; or 23 (B) in the case of an offense under section 24 276 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:05 Jun 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2890.IH H2890 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 2890 IH U.S.C. 1326), or other Federal immigration-re- 1 lated offense that the Secretary may designate 2 by regulation, an offense for which the term of 3 imprisonment imposed on the defendant exceed- 4 ed 1 year. 5 SEC. 3. REMEDIES FOR SYSTEMATIC REFUSAL OF REPATRI- 6 ATION. 7 (a) CRITERIA FOR SYSTEMATIC REFUSAL OR 8 DELAY.—Not later than 60 days after the date of the en- 9 actment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security 10 shall establish procedures for determining whether the 11 government of a foreign country systematically and unrea- 12 sonably refuses or delays the repatriation of nationals of 13 such country who— 14 (1) have been ordered removed from the United 15 States; and 16 (2)(A) have been convicted of a felony; 17 (B) have been convicted of a crime of violence; 18 or 19 (C) are a threat to national security or public 20 safety. 21 (b) REQUIREMENTS FOR INCLUSION ON REFUSAL OR 22 DELAY LIST.—A country shall be deemed to systemati- 23 cally and unreasonably refuse or delay the repatriation of 24 its nationals if— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:05 Jun 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2890.IH H2890 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 2890 IH (1) the country refuses— 1 (A) to repatriate an individual described in 2 subsection (a) who has been ordered removed 3 notwithstanding the designation of such country 4 as the place to which the individual is to be re- 5 moved by the United States under section 6 241(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act 7 (8 U.S.C. 1231(b)); and 8 (B)(i) to secure and analyze all documents 9 within its control that could tend to identify the 10 nationality of such individual; or 11 (ii) to ensure that a government official ca- 12 pable of determining that such individual is a 13 national of such country interviews such indi- 14 vidual and, if additional evidence is needed, 15 such individual’s family; or 16 (2) other factors indicate that the country sys- 17 tematically and unreasonably refuses or delays the 18 repatriation of nationals of such country who are de- 19 scribed in subsection (a) and have been ordered re- 20 moved to such country by the United States. 21 (c) NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS.—Upon deter- 22 mining that a country systematically and unreasonably re- 23 fuses or delays repatriation of its nationals— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:05 Jun 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2890.IH H2890 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 2890 IH (1) the Secretary of Homeland Security shall 1 notify the Secretary of State of such determination 2 in writing not later than 5 days after such deter- 3 mination; and 4 (2) the Secretary of State and the Secretary of 5 Homeland Security shall— 6 (A) meet concurrently with representatives 7 of the foreign government in the United States 8 and in the foreign country about such deter- 9 mination; and 10 (B) notify such representatives that the 11 United States may discontinue issuance of visas 12 to nationals of such country under section 13 243(d) of the Immigration and Nationality Act 14 (8 U.S.C. 1253(d)). 15 (d) DISCONTINUANCE OF VISAS.—In furtherance of 16 section 243(d) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 17 U.S.C. 1253) and except as provided under subsection (e), 18 if a country described in subsection (c) continues to sys- 19 tematically and unreasonably refuse or delay the repatri- 20 ation of its nationals described in subsection (a) after re- 21 ceiving notification under subsection (c)(2)(B)— 22 (1) the Secretary of Homeland Security shall 23 notify the Secretary of State that the country meets 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:05 Jun 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2890.IH H2890 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 2890 IH the criteria described in section 243(d) of the Immi- 1 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1253(d)); and 2 (2) the Secretary of State shall discontinue the 3 issuance of visas in accordance with such section. 4 (e) EXCEPTION.—If the Secretary of Homeland Se- 5 curity determines that it is not in the interests of the 6 United States to discontinue the issuance of visas to na- 7 tionals of a country described in subsection (d), the Sec- 8 retary of Homeland Security shall submit to the appro- 9 priate committees of Congress a report documenting the 10 reasons for such determination. 11 (f) PUBLIC DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.—The 12 Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of 13 State shall list countries that systematically and unreason- 14 ably refuse or delay repatriation of their nationals de- 15 scribed in subsection (a) on the websites of their respective 16 departments. 17 (g) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—Not later than March 18 1 of each year, the Secretary of Homeland Security and 19 the Secretary of State shall jointly submit to the appro- 20 priate committees of Congress a report that— 21 (1) identifies the countries that met the criteria 22 developed pursuant to subsection (a) in the previous 23 calendar year; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:05 Jun 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2890.IH H2890 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 2890 IH (2) describes the actions taken by the Secretary 1 of Homeland Security and the Secretary of State 2 after determining that a country met the criteria de- 3 veloped pursuant to subsection (a); 4 (3) identifies the countries included in the noti- 5 fications described in subsections (c) and (d) and the 6 actions taken by the Secretary of State as a result 7 of such notifications; 8 (4) identifies the countries that do not meet the 9 criteria described in subsection (b), but have refused 10 or delayed the repatriation of their nationals; and 11 (5) describes the actions taken by the Secretary 12 of Homeland Security and the Secretary of State 13 with respect to the countries described in paragraph 14 (4). 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:05 Jun 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2890.IH H2890 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS