Protection of Children Act of 2023

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2417 To the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection 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. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 30, 2023 Mr. CARTER of Texas (for himself, Mr. BIGGS, and Mr. NEHLS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protection of Children 4 Act of 2023’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:11 Apr 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2417.IH H2417 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 2417 IH SEC. 2. REPATRIATION OF UNACCOMPANIED ALIEN CHIL- 1 DREN. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 235 of the William Wil- 3 berforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization 4 Act of 2008 (8 U.S.C. 1232) is amended— 5 (1) in subsection (a)— 6 (A) in paragraph (2)— 7 (i) by amending the heading to read 8 as follows: ‘‘RULES FOR UNACCOMPANIED 9 ALIEN CHILDREN.—’’; 10 (ii) in subparagraph (A)— 11 (I) in the matter preceding clause 12 (i), by striking ‘‘who is a national or 13 habitual resident of a country that is 14 contiguous with the United States’’; 15 (II) in clause (i), by inserting 16 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 17 (III) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘; 18 and’’ and inserting a period; and 19 (IV) by striking clause (iii); and 20 (iii) in subparagraph (B)— 21 (I) in the matter preceding clause 22 (i), by striking ‘‘(8 U.S.C. 1101 et 23 seq.) may—’’ and inserting ‘‘(8 24 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.)—’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:11 Apr 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2417.IH H2417 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 2417 IH (II) in clause (i), by inserting be- 1 fore ‘‘permit such child to withdraw’’ 2 the following: ‘‘may’’; and 3 (III) in clause (ii), by inserting 4 before ‘‘return such child’’ the fol- 5 lowing: ‘‘shall’’; and 6 (B) in paragraph (5)(D)— 7 (i) in the matter preceding clause (i), 8 by striking ‘‘, except for an unaccompanied 9 alien child from a contiguous country sub- 10 ject to the exceptions under subsection 11 (a)(2),’’ and inserting ‘‘who does not meet 12 the criteria listed in paragraph (2)(A)’’; 13 and 14 (ii) in clause (i), by inserting before 15 the semicolon at the end the following: ‘‘, 16 which shall include a hearing before an im- 17 migration judge not later than 14 days 18 after being screened under paragraph (4)’’; 19 (2) in subsection (b)— 20 (A) in paragraph (2)— 21 (i) in subparagraph (A), by inserting 22 before the semicolon the following: ‘‘be- 23 lieved not to meet the criteria listed in sub- 24 section (a)(2)(A)’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:11 Apr 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2417.IH H2417 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 2417 IH (ii) in subparagraph (B), by inserting 1 before the period the following: ‘‘and does 2 not meet the criteria listed in subsection 3 (a)(2)(A)’’; and 4 (B) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘an un- 5 accompanied alien child in custody shall’’ and 6 all that follows, and inserting the following: ‘‘an 7 unaccompanied alien child in custody— 8 ‘‘(A) in the case of a child who does not 9 meet the criteria listed in subsection (a)(2)(A), 10 shall transfer the custody of such child to the 11 Secretary of Health and Human Services not 12 later than 30 days after determining that such 13 child is an unaccompanied alien child who does 14 not meet such criteria; or 15 ‘‘(B) in the case of a child who meets the 16 criteria listed in subsection (a)(2)(A), may 17 transfer the custody of such child to the Sec- 18 retary of Health and Human Services after de- 19 termining that such child is an unaccompanied 20 alien child who meets such criteria.’’; and 21 (3) in subsection (c)— 22 (A) in paragraph (3), by inserting at the 23 end the following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:11 Apr 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2417.IH H2417 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 2417 IH ‘‘(D) INFORMATION ABOUT INDIVIDUALS 1 WITH WHOM CHILDREN ARE PLACED.— 2 ‘‘(i) INFORMATION TO BE PROVIDED 3 TO HOMELAND SECURITY.—Before placing 4 a child with an individual, the Secretary of 5 Health and Human Services shall provide 6 to the Secretary of Homeland Security, re- 7 garding the individual with whom the child 8 will be placed, the following information: 9 ‘‘(I) The name of the individual. 10 ‘‘(II) The social security number 11 of the individual. 12 ‘‘(III) The date of birth of the in- 13 dividual. 14 ‘‘(IV) The location of the individ- 15 ual’s residence where the child will be 16 placed. 17 ‘‘(V) The immigration status of 18 the individual, if known. 19 ‘‘(VI) Contact information for 20 the individual. 21 ‘‘(ii) ACTIVITIES OF THE SECRETARY 22 OF HOMELAND SECURITY.—Not later than 23 30 days after receiving the information 24 listed in clause (i), the Secretary of Home- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:11 Apr 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2417.IH H2417 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 2417 IH land Security, upon determining that an 1 individual with whom a child is placed is 2 unlawfully present in the United States 3 and not in removal proceedings pursuant 4 to chapter 4 of title II of the Immigration 5 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1221 et 6 seq.), shall initiate such removal pro- 7 ceedings.’’; and 8 (B) in paragraph (5)— 9 (i) by inserting after ‘‘to the greatest 10 extent practicable’’ the following: ‘‘(at no 11 expense to the Government)’’; and 12 (ii) by striking ‘‘have counsel to rep- 13 resent them’’ and inserting ‘‘have access to 14 counsel to represent them’’. 15 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 16 this section shall apply to any unaccompanied alien child 17 apprehended on or after the date that is 30 days after 18 the date of enactment of this Act. 19 SEC. 3. SPECIAL IMMIGRANT JUVENILE STATUS FOR IMMI- 20 GRANTS UNABLE TO REUNITE WITH EITHER 21 PARENT. 22 Section 101(a)(27)(J) of the Immigration and Na- 23 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(27)(J)) is amended— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:11 Apr 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2417.IH H2417 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 2417 IH (1) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘, and whose reuni- 1 fication with 1 or both of the immigrant’s parents 2 is not viable due to abuse, neglect, abandonment, or 3 a similar basis found under State law’’; and 4 (2) in clause (iii)— 5 (A) in subclause (I), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 6 the end; 7 (B) in subclause (II), by inserting ‘‘and’’ 8 after the semicolon; and 9 (C) by adding at the end the following: 10 ‘‘(III) an alien may not be grant- 11 ed special immigrant status under this 12 subparagraph if the alien’s reunifica- 13 tion with any one parent or legal 14 guardian is not precluded by abuse, 15 neglect, abandonment, or any similar 16 cause under State law;’’. 17 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:11 Apr 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2417.IH H2417 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB