Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2417 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	118THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 2417
5	5	To the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization
6	6	Act of 2008 to provide for the expedited removal of unaccompanied
7	7	alien children who are not victims of a severe form of trafficking in
8	8	persons and who do not have a fear of returning to their country
9	9	of nationality or last habitual residence, and for other purposes.
10	10	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
11	11	MARCH30, 2023
12	12	Mr. C
13	13	ARTERof Texas (for himself, Mr. BIGGS, and Mr. NEHLS) introduced
14	14	the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
15	15	A BILL
16	16	To the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection
17	17	Reauthorization Act of 2008 to provide for the expedited
18	18	removal of unaccompanied alien children who are not
19	19	victims of a severe form of trafficking in persons and
20	20	who do not have a fear of returning to their country
21	21	of nationality or last habitual residence, and for other
22	22	purposes.
23	23	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
24	24	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
25	25	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
26	26	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protection of Children 4
27	27	Act of 2023’’. 5
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30	30	•HR 2417 IH
31	31	SEC. 2. REPATRIATION OF UNACCOMPANIED ALIEN CHIL-1
32	32	DREN. 2
33	33	(a) I
34	34	NGENERAL.—Section 235 of the William Wil-3
35	35	berforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization 4
36	36	Act of 2008 (8 U.S.C. 1232) is amended— 5
37	37	(1) in subsection (a)— 6
38	38	(A) in paragraph (2)— 7
39	39	(i) by amending the heading to read 8
40	40	as follows: ‘‘R
41	41	ULES FOR UNACCOMPANIED 9
42	42	ALIEN CHILDREN.—’’; 10
43	43	(ii) in subparagraph (A)— 11
44	44	(I) in the matter preceding clause 12
45	45	(i), by striking ‘‘who is a national or 13
46	46	habitual resident of a country that is 14
47	47	contiguous with the United States’’; 15
48	48	(II) in clause (i), by inserting 16
49	49	‘‘and’’ at the end; 17
50	50	(III) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘; 18
51	51	and’’ and inserting a period; and 19
52	52	(IV) by striking clause (iii); and 20
53	53	(iii) in subparagraph (B)— 21
54	54	(I) in the matter preceding clause 22
55	55	(i), by striking ‘‘(8 U.S.C. 1101 et 23
56	56	seq.) may—’’ and inserting ‘‘(8 24
57	57	U.S.C. 1101 et seq.)—’’; 25
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60	60	•HR 2417 IH
61	61	(II) in clause (i), by inserting be-1
62	62	fore ‘‘permit such child to withdraw’’ 2
63	63	the following: ‘‘may’’; and 3
64	64	(III) in clause (ii), by inserting 4
65	65	before ‘‘return such child’’ the fol-5
66	66	lowing: ‘‘shall’’; and 6
67	67	(B) in paragraph (5)(D)— 7
68	68	(i) in the matter preceding clause (i), 8
69	69	by striking ‘‘, except for an unaccompanied 9
70	70	alien child from a contiguous country sub-10
71	71	ject to the exceptions under subsection 11
72	72	(a)(2),’’ and inserting ‘‘who does not meet 12
73	73	the criteria listed in paragraph (2)(A)’’; 13
74	74	and 14
75	75	(ii) in clause (i), by inserting before 15
76	76	the semicolon at the end the following: ‘‘, 16
77	77	which shall include a hearing before an im-17
78	78	migration judge not later than 14 days 18
79	79	after being screened under paragraph (4)’’; 19
80	80	(2) in subsection (b)— 20
81	81	(A) in paragraph (2)— 21
82	82	(i) in subparagraph (A), by inserting 22
83	83	before the semicolon the following: ‘‘be-23
84	84	lieved not to meet the criteria listed in sub-24
85	85	section (a)(2)(A)’’; and 25
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88	88	•HR 2417 IH
89	89	(ii) in subparagraph (B), by inserting 1
90	90	before the period the following: ‘‘and does 2
91	91	not meet the criteria listed in subsection 3
92	92	(a)(2)(A)’’; and 4
93	93	(B) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘an un-5
94	94	accompanied alien child in custody shall’’ and 6
95	95	all that follows, and inserting the following: ‘‘an 7
96	96	unaccompanied alien child in custody— 8
97	97	‘‘(A) in the case of a child who does not 9
98	98	meet the criteria listed in subsection (a)(2)(A), 10
99	99	shall transfer the custody of such child to the 11
100	100	Secretary of Health and Human Services not 12
101	101	later than 30 days after determining that such 13
102	102	child is an unaccompanied alien child who does 14
103	103	not meet such criteria; or 15
104	104	‘‘(B) in the case of a child who meets the 16
105	105	criteria listed in subsection (a)(2)(A), may 17
106	106	transfer the custody of such child to the Sec-18
107	107	retary of Health and Human Services after de-19
108	108	termining that such child is an unaccompanied 20
109	109	alien child who meets such criteria.’’; and 21
110	110	(3) in subsection (c)— 22
111	111	(A) in paragraph (3), by inserting at the 23
112	112	end the following: 24
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115	115	•HR 2417 IH
116	116	‘‘(D) INFORMATION ABOUT INDIVIDUALS 1
117	117	WITH WHOM CHILDREN ARE PLACED .— 2
118	118	‘‘(i) I
119	119	NFORMATION TO BE PROVIDED 3
120	120	TO HOMELAND SECURITY .—Before placing 4
121	121	a child with an individual, the Secretary of 5
122	122	Health and Human Services shall provide 6
123	123	to the Secretary of Homeland Security, re-7
124	124	garding the individual with whom the child 8
125	125	will be placed, the following information: 9
126	126	‘‘(I) The name of the individual. 10
127	127	‘‘(II) The social security number 11
128	128	of the individual. 12
129	129	‘‘(III) The date of birth of the in-13
130	130	dividual. 14
131	131	‘‘(IV) The location of the individ-15
132	132	ual’s residence where the child will be 16
133	133	placed. 17
134	134	‘‘(V) The immigration status of 18
135	135	the individual, if known. 19
136	136	‘‘(VI) Contact information for 20
137	137	the individual. 21
138	138	‘‘(ii) A
139	139	CTIVITIES OF THE SECRETARY 22
140	140	OF HOMELAND SECURITY .—Not later than 23
141	141	30 days after receiving the information 24
142	142	listed in clause (i), the Secretary of Home-25
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145	145	•HR 2417 IH
146	146	land Security, upon determining that an 1
147	147	individual with whom a child is placed is 2
148	148	unlawfully present in the United States 3
149	149	and not in removal proceedings pursuant 4
150	150	to chapter 4 of title II of the Immigration 5
151	151	and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1221 et 6
152	152	seq.), shall initiate such removal pro-7
153	153	ceedings.’’; and 8
154	154	(B) in paragraph (5)— 9
155	155	(i) by inserting after ‘‘to the greatest 10
156	156	extent practicable’’ the following: ‘‘(at no 11
157	157	expense to the Government)’’; and 12
158	158	(ii) by striking ‘‘have counsel to rep-13
159	159	resent them’’ and inserting ‘‘have access to 14
160	160	counsel to represent them’’. 15
161	161	(b) E
162	162	FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 16
163	163	this section shall apply to any unaccompanied alien child 17
164	164	apprehended on or after the date that is 30 days after 18
165	165	the date of enactment of this Act. 19
166	166	SEC. 3. SPECIAL IMMIGRANT JUVENILE STATUS FOR IMMI-20
167	167	GRANTS UNABLE TO REUNITE WITH EITHER 21
168	168	PARENT. 22
169	169	Section 101(a)(27)(J) of the Immigration and Na-23
170	170	tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(27)(J)) is amended— 24
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173	173	•HR 2417 IH
174	174	(1) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘, and whose reuni-1
175	175	fication with 1 or both of the immigrant’s parents 2
176	176	is not viable due to abuse, neglect, abandonment, or 3
177	177	a similar basis found under State law’’; and 4
178	178	(2) in clause (iii)— 5
179	179	(A) in subclause (I), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 6
180	180	the end; 7
181	181	(B) in subclause (II), by inserting ‘‘and’’ 8
182	182	after the semicolon; and 9
183	183	(C) by adding at the end the following: 10
184	184	‘‘(III) an alien may not be grant-11
185	185	ed special immigrant status under this 12
186	186	subparagraph if the alien’s reunifica-13
187	187	tion with any one parent or legal 14
188	188	guardian is not precluded by abuse, 15
189	189	neglect, abandonment, or any similar 16
190	190	cause under State law;’’. 17
191	191	Æ
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