Protection of Children Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3940 To amend the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthor- ization Act of 2008 to provide for the expedited removal of unaccom- panied alien children who are not victims of a severe form of trafficking in persons and who do not have a fear of returning to their country of nationality or last habitual residence, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 24, 2019 Mr. CARTER of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on For- eign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris- diction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Pro- tection Reauthorization Act of 2008 to provide for the expedited removal of unaccompanied alien children who are not victims of a severe form of trafficking in persons and who do not have a fear of returning to their country of nationality or last habitual residence, 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:15 Aug 04, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3940.IH H3940 Pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3940 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protection of Children 2 Act of 2019’’. 3 SEC. 2. REPATRIATION OF UNACCOMPANIED ALIEN CHIL- 4 DREN. 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— 8 (1) in subsection (a)— 9 (A) in paragraph (2)— 10 (i) by amending the heading to read 11 as follows: ‘‘RULES FOR UNACCOMPANIED 12 ALIEN CHILDREN.’’; 13 (ii) in subparagraph (A); 14 (I) in the matter preceding clause 15 (i), by striking ‘‘who is a national or 16 habitual resident of a country that is 17 contiguous with the United States’’; 18 (II) in clause (i), by inserting 19 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 20 (III) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘; 21 and’’ and inserting a period; and 22 (IV) by striking clause (iii); 23 (iii) in subparagraph (B)— 24 (I) in the matter preceding clause 25 (i), by striking ‘‘(8 U.S.C. 1101 et 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:15 Aug 04, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3940.IH H3940 Pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3940 IH seq.) may—’’ and inserting ‘‘(8 1 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.)—’’; 2 (II) in clause (i), by inserting be- 3 fore ‘‘permit such child to withdraw’’ 4 the following: ‘‘may’’; and 5 (III) in clause (ii), by inserting 6 before ‘‘return such child’’ the fol- 7 lowing: ‘‘shall’’; and 8 (iv) in subparagraph (C)— 9 (I) by amending the heading to 10 read as follows: ‘‘AGREEMENTS WITH 11 FOREIGN COUNTRIES.’’; and 12 (II) in the matter preceding 13 clause (i), by striking ‘‘The Secretary 14 of State shall negotiate agreements 15 between the United States and coun- 16 tries contiguous to the United States’’ 17 and inserting ‘‘The Secretary of State 18 may negotiate agreements between the 19 United States and any foreign country 20 that the Secretary determines appro- 21 priate’’; and 22 (B) in paragraph (5)(D)— 23 (i) in the matter preceding clause (i), 24 by striking ‘‘, except for an unaccompanied 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:15 Aug 04, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3940.IH H3940 Pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3940 IH alien child from a contiguous country sub- 1 ject to the exceptions under subsection 2 (a)(2),’’ and inserting ‘‘who does not meet 3 the criteria listed in paragraph (2)(A)’’; 4 and 5 (ii) in clause (i), by inserting before 6 the semicolon at the end the following: ‘‘, 7 which shall include a hearing before an im- 8 migration judge not later than 14 days 9 after being screened under paragraph (4)’’; 10 (2) in subsection (b)— 11 (A) in paragraph (2)— 12 (i) in subparagraph (A), by inserting 13 before the semicolon the following: ‘‘be- 14 lieved not to meet the criteria listed in sub- 15 section (a)(2)(A)’’; and 16 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by inserting 17 before the period the following: ‘‘and does 18 not meet the criteria listed in subsection 19 (a)(2)(A)’’; and 20 (B) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘an un- 21 accompanied alien child in custody shall’’ and 22 all that follows, and inserting the following: ‘‘an 23 unaccompanied alien child in custody— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:15 Aug 04, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3940.IH H3940 Pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3940 IH ‘‘(A) in the case of a child who does not 1 meet the criteria listed in subsection (a)(2)(A), 2 shall transfer the custody of such child to the 3 Secretary of Health and Human Services not 4 later than 30 days after determining that such 5 child is an unaccompanied alien child who does 6 not meet such criteria; or 7 ‘‘(B) in the case of a child who meets the 8 criteria listed in subsection (a)(2)(A), may 9 transfer the custody of such child to the Sec- 10 retary of Health and Human Services after de- 11 termining that such child is an unaccompanied 12 alien child who meets such criteria.’’; and 13 (3) in subsection (c)— 14 (A) in paragraph (3), by inserting at the 15 end the following: 16 ‘‘(D) INFORMATION ABOUT INDIVIDUALS 17 WITH WHOM CHILDREN ARE PLACED.— 18 ‘‘(i) INFORMATION TO BE PROVIDED 19 TO HOMELAND SECURITY.—Before placing 20 a child with an individual, the Secretary of 21 Health and Human Services shall provide 22 to the Secretary of Homeland Security, re- 23 garding the individual with whom the child 24 will be placed, the following information: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:15 Aug 04, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3940.IH H3940 Pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3940 IH ‘‘(I) The name of the individual. 1 ‘‘(II) The social security number 2 of the individual. 3 ‘‘(III) The date of birth of the in- 4 dividual. 5 ‘‘(IV) The location of the individ- 6 ual’s residence where the child will be 7 placed. 8 ‘‘(V) The immigration status of 9 the individual, if known. 10 ‘‘(VI) Contact information for 11 the individual. 12 ‘‘(ii) SPECIAL RULE.—In the case of a 13 child who was apprehended on or after 14 June 15, 2012, and before the date of the 15 enactment of the Protection of Children 16 Act of 2019, who the Secretary of Health 17 and Human Services placed with an indi- 18 vidual, the Secretary shall provide the in- 19 formation listed in clause (i) to the Sec- 20 retary of Homeland Security not later than 21 90 days after the date of the enactment of 22 the Protection of Children Act of 2019. 23 ‘‘(iii) ACTIVITIES OF THE SECRETARY 24 OF HOMELAND SECURITY.—Not later than 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:15 Aug 04, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3940.IH H3940 Pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3940 IH 30 days after receiving the information 1 listed in clause (i), the Secretary of Home- 2 land Security shall— 3 ‘‘(I) in the case that the immi- 4 gration status of an individual with 5 whom a child is placed is unknown, 6 investigate the immigration status of 7 that individual; and 8 ‘‘(II) upon determining that an 9 individual with whom a child is placed 10 is unlawfully present in the United 11 States, initiate removal proceedings 12 pursuant to chapter 4 of title II of the 13 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 14 U.S.C. 1221 et seq.).’’; and 15 (B) in paragraph (5)— 16 (i) by inserting after ‘‘to the greatest 17 extent practicable’’ the following: ‘‘(at no 18 expense to the Government)’’; 19 (ii) by striking ‘‘have counsel to rep- 20 resent them’’ and inserting ‘‘have access to 21 counsel to represent them’’. 22 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 23 this section shall apply to any unauthorized alien child ap- 24 prehended on or after June 15, 2012. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:15 Aug 04, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3940.IH H3940 Pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3940 IH SEC. 3. SPECIAL IMMIGRANT JUVENILE STATUS FOR IMMI- 1 GRANTS UNABLE TO REUNITE WITH EITHER 2 PARENT. 3 Section 101(a)(27)(J)(i) of the Immigration and Na- 4 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(27)(J)(i)) is amended by 5 striking ‘‘1 or both of the immigrant’s parents’’ and in- 6 serting ‘‘either of the immigrant’s parents’’. 7 SEC. 4. JURISDICTION OF ASYLUM APPLICATIONS. 8 Section 208(b)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality 9 Act (8 U.S.C. 1158) is amended by striking subparagraph 10 (C). 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:15 Aug 04, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3940.IH H3940 Pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS