II
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 716
To extend title 42 expulsion authority, to resume border wall system construc-
tion, to preserve the exclusive authority of immigration judges over asy-
lum claims, and to codify the Migrant Protection Protocols.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH8, 2023
Mr. R
ISCH(for himself, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. HAGERTY, Mr. BUDD, Mr. TILLIS,
and Mr. B
OOZMAN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice
and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs
A BILL
To extend title 42 expulsion authority, to resume border
wall system construction, to preserve the exclusive au-
thority of immigration judges over asylum claims, and
to codify the Migrant Protection Protocols.
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) S
HORTTITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4
‘‘Solving the Border Crisis Act’’. 5
(b) T
ABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents for 6
this Act is as follows: 7
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Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Sense of Congress.
Sec. 4. Definitions.
Sec. 5. Termination of suspension of entries and imports from designated
places related to the COVID–19 pandemic.
Sec. 6. Resumption of border wall system construction.
Sec. 7. Congressional resolution of disapproval regarding termination of the ex-
clusive authority of immigration judges over asylum claims.
Sec. 8. Treatment of aliens arriving from contiguous territory.
Sec. 9. Minimum staffing levels.
Sec. 10. Mandatory detention funding.
Sec. 11. Report requirement.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
1
Congress finds the following: 2
(1) The current situation at the southern bor-3
der presents a border security and humanitarian cri-4
sis that threatens core national security interests 5
and constitutes a national emergency. 6
(2) The southern border is a major entry point 7
for criminals, gang members, and illicit narcotics. 8
(3) Recent years have seen sharp increases in 9
the number of family units entering and seeking 10
entry to the United States. 11
(4) If not detained, such aliens are often re-12
leased into the country and are often difficult to re-13
move from the United States because they fail to ap-14
pear for hearings, do not comply with orders of re-15
moval, or are otherwise difficult to locate. 16
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 17
It is the sense of Congress that the President should 18
use the authorities granted under sections 201 and 301 19
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of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1621 and 1
1631) to declare that a national emergency exists at the 2
southern border of the United States. 3
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 4
In this Act: 5
(1) A
PPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -6
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-7
mittees’’ means— 8
(A) the Committee on Homeland Security 9
and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; 10
(B) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 11
Senate; 12
(C) the Committee on Appropriations of 13
the Senate; 14
(D) the Committee on Homeland Security 15
of the House of Representatives; 16
(E) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 17
House of Representatives; and 18
(F) the Committee on Appropriations of 19
the House of Representatives. 20
(2) T
ACTICAL INFRASTRUCTURE .—The term 21
‘‘tactical infrastructure’’ includes boat ramps, access 22
gates, checkpoints, lighting, and roads associated 23
with a border wall system. 24
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(3) TECHNOLOGY.—The term ‘‘technology’’ in-1
cludes border surveillance and detection technology, 2
including linear ground detection systems, cameras, 3
underground detection sensors, and autonomous sen-4
sor towers, associated with a border wall system. 5
SEC. 5. TERMINATION OF SUSPENSION OF ENTRIES AND 6
IMPORTS FROM DESIGNATED PLACES RE-7
LATED TO THE COVID–19 PANDEMIC. 8
(a) I
NGENERAL.—An order of suspension issued 9
under section 362 of the Public Health Service Act (42 10
U.S.C. 265) as a result of the public health emergency 11
relating to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID–19) 12
pandemic declared by the Secretary of Health and Human 13
Services on January 31, 2020 under section 319 of such 14
Act (42 U.S.C. 247d), and any continuation of such dec-15
laration, shall be lifted not earlier than 120 days after the 16
date on which the Surgeon General provides written notifi-17
cation to the appropriate committees of Congress that 18
such public health emergency declaration and all such con-19
tinuations have been terminated. 20
(b) P
ROCEDURES DURING60-DAYTERMINATION 21
W
INDOW.— 22
(1) P
LAN.—Not later than 30 days after the 23
date on which a written notification is provided pur-24
suant to subsection (a) with respect to an order of 25
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suspension, the Secretary of Homeland Security, in 1
consultation with the Surgeon General and the head 2
of any other Federal agency, State, Tribal, or local 3
government, or nongovernmental organization that 4
has a role in managing outcomes associated with 5
such suspension (as determined by the Secretary or 6
his or her designee), shall develop and submit a plan 7
to the appropriate committees of Congress that ad-8
dresses any possible influx of entries or imports (as 9
described in such order of suspension) related to the 10
termination of such order. 11
(2) F
AILURE TO SUBMIT.—If the plan required 12
under paragraph (1) is not submitted to the appro-13
priate committees of Congress before the end of the 14
30-day period described in such paragraph— 15
(A) the Secretary of Homeland Security 16
shall submit, not later than 7 days after the ex-17
piration of such 30-day period, written notifica-18
tion to the appropriate committees of Congress 19
of the status of preparing such plan and the 20
date on by such plan will be submitted in ac-21
cordance with paragraph (1); and 22
(B) the termination of the order of suspen-23
sion described in subsection (a) shall be delayed 24
until the date that is 30 days after the date on 25
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which such plan is submitted to the appropriate 1
committees of Congress. 2
SEC. 6. RESUMPTION OF BORDER WALL SYSTEM CON-3
STRUCTION. 4
(a) B
ORDERWALLSYSTEMCONSTRUCTION.— 5
(1) I
N GENERAL.— 6
(A) I
MMEDIATELY RESUME BORDER WALL 7
SYSTEM CONSTRUCTION .—Not later than 24 8
hours after the date of the enactment of this 9
Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall 10
resume all activities related to the construction 11
of the border wall system along the inter-12
national border between the United States and 13
Mexico that were underway or being planned 14
for before January 20, 2021. 15
(B) N
O CANCELLATIONS.—The Secretary 16
of Homeland Security may not cancel any con-17
tract for activities related to border wall system 18
construction described in paragraph (1) that 19
was entered into on or before January 20, 20
2021. 21
(C) U
SE OF FUNDS.—The Secretary of 22
Homeland Security shall expend all funds ap-23
propriated or explicitly obligated for border wall 24
system construction described in paragraph (1) 25
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that were appropriated or obligated, as the case 1
may be, on or after October 1, 2016. 2
(D) I
MPLEMENTATION PLAN .—Not later 3
than 30 days after the date of enactment of 4
this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security 5
shall submit an implementation plan to the ap-6
propriate congressional committees for the com-7
pletion, by not later than September 30, 2024, 8
of the border wall system construction described 9
in paragraph (1) and funded in accordance with 10
subparagraph (C). 11
(2) P
LAN TO COMPLETE TACTICAL INFRA -12
STRUCTURE AND TECHNOLOGY ELEMENTS OF BOR -13
DER WALL SYSTEM .—Not later than 90 days after 14
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 15
of Homeland Security shall submit an implementa-16
tion plan to the appropriate congressional commit-17
tees that includes quarterly benchmarks and cost es-18
timates for satisfying all of the requirements of the 19
border wall system construction described in para-20
graph (1)(A), including tactical infrastructure, tech-21
nology, and other elements identified by the Depart-22
ment of Homeland Security before January 20, 23
2021, through the expenditure of funds appropriated 24
or explicitly obligated, as the case may be, for use 25
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beginning on October 1, 2016, and any additional 1
funds appropriated by Congress for such purpose. 2
(3) U
PHOLD NEGOTIATED AGREEMENTS .—The 3
Secretary of Homeland Security shall ensure that all 4
agreements relating to current and future border 5
wall system construction that were executed in writ-6
ing between the Department of Homeland Security 7
and private citizens, State, Tribal, and local govern-8
ments, and other stakeholders are honored by the 9
Department in accordance with the terms of such 10
agreements. 11
(b) DNA C
OLLECTIONCONSISTENTWITHFEDERAL 12
L
AW.—Not later than 14 days after the date of the enact-13
ment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall 14
ensure and certify to the Committee on Homeland Secu-15
rity and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Com-16
mittee on Homeland Security of the House of Representa-17
tives that U.S. Customs and Border Protection is fully 18
compliant with the DNA Fingerprint Act of 2005 (title 19
X of Public Law 109–162) at all border facilities that 20
process adults (including as part of a family unit) in the 21
custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. 22
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SEC. 7. CONGRESSIONAL RESOLUTION OF DISAPPROVAL 1
REGARDING TERMINATION OF THE EXCLU-2
SIVE AUTHORITY OF IMMIGRATION JUDGES 3
OVER ASYLUM CLAIMS. 4
Congress disapproves the interim final rule submitted 5
by the Executive Office for Immigration Review and U.S. 6
Citizenship and Immigration Services, relating to ‘‘Proce-7
dures for Credible Fear Screening and Consideration of 8
Asylum, Withholding of Removal, and CAT Protection 9
Claims by Asylum Officers’’ (87 Fed. Reg. 18078) and 10
such rule shall have no force or effect. 11
SEC. 8. TREATMENT OF ALIENS ARRIVING FROM CONTIG-12
UOUS TERRITORY. 13
Section 235(b)(2)(C) of the Immigration and Nation-14
ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1225(b)(2)(C)) is amended by striking 15
‘‘may return’’ and all that follows and inserting the fol-16
lowing: ‘‘shall—’’ 17
‘‘(i) return the alien to such territory, 18
or to a safe third country (as described in 19
section 208), pending a proceeding under 20
section 240; or 21
‘‘(ii) detain the alien for further con-22
sideration of an application for asylum, 23
which shall include a determination of 24
credible fear of persecution.’’. 25
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SEC. 9. MINIMUM STAFFING LEVELS. 1
(a) O
FFICE OFENFORCEMENT AND REMOVALOPER-2
ATIONS.—The Secretary of Homeland Security shall en-3
sure that there are always not fewer than 10,000 full-time 4
equivalent employees in the Office of Enforcement and Re-5
moval Operations of U.S. Immigration and Customs En-6
forcement. 7
(b) U.S. B
ORDERPATROL.—The Secretary of Home-8
land Security shall ensure that the authorized personnel 9
level for United States Border Patrol agents is not fewer 10
than 25,000 agents, excluding Border Patrol Reserve 11
Agents and Border Patrol Processing Coordinators. 12
(c) O
FFICE OFFIELDOPERATIONS.—The Secretary 13
of Homeland Security shall ensure that the authorized 14
personnel level for U.S. Customs and Border Protection 15
officers in the Office of Field Operations is not fewer than 16
25,000 officers, excluding Agriculture Specialists. 17
SEC. 10. MANDATORY DETENTION FUNDING. 18
Section 386(a) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and 19
Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1368(a)) 20
is amended to read as follows: 21
‘‘(a) I
NCREASE INDETENTIONFACILITIES.— 22
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary of Homeland 23
Security shall ensure that sufficient detention facili-24
ties are available for U.S. Immigration and Customs 25
Enforcement to comply with the mandatory deten-26
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tion requirements under section 235 of the Immigra-1
tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1225). 2
‘‘(2) F
UNDING.—In addition to any amounts 3
otherwise appropriated for such purpose, the Sec-4
retary of Homeland Security may use any manda-5
tory fees collected by the Department of Homeland 6
Security for expenses incurred by the Secretary to 7
inspect, detain, transport, and provide medical care 8
and any other needed goods or services to aliens who 9
have been detained pursuant to section 235 of the 10
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1225).’’. 11
SEC. 11. REPORT REQUIREMENT. 12
Not later than 60 days after the date of the enact-13
ment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall 14
submit a report to the appropriate congressional commit-15
tees that outlines how the Department of Homeland Secu-16
rity is attempting to mitigate border encounters. 17
Æ
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