I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 116
To close loopholes in the immigration laws that serve as incentives to aliens
to attempt to enter the United States unlawfully, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY3, 2025
Mr. B
IGGSof Arizona 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 close loopholes in the immigration laws that serve as
incentives to aliens to attempt to enter the United States
unlawfully, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3
(a) S
HORTTITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4
‘‘Stopping Border Surges Act’’. 5
(b) T
ABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents for 6
this Act is as follows: 7
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
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TITLE I—UNACCOMPANIED ALIEN CHILDREN
Sec. 101. Repatriation of unaccompanied alien children.
Sec. 102. Clarification of standards for family detention.
Sec. 103. Special immigrant juvenile status for immigrants unable to reunite
with either parent.
TITLE II—ASYLUM REFORM
Sec. 201. Credible fear interviews.
Sec. 202. Jurisdiction of asylum applications.
Sec. 203. Recording expedited removal and credible fear interviews.
Sec. 204. Safe third country.
Sec. 205. Renunciation of asylum status pursuant to return to home country.
Sec. 206. Notice concerning frivolous asylum applications.
Sec. 207. Anti-fraud investigative work product.
Sec. 208. Clarification of asylum eligibility.
Sec. 209. Application timing.
Sec. 210. Clarification of burden of proof.
Sec. 211. Additional exception.
Sec. 212. Clarification regarding employment eligibility.
Sec. 213. Penalties for asylum fraud.
Sec. 214. Statute of limitations for asylum fraud.
Sec. 215. Technical amendments.
TITLE I—UNACCOMPANIED 1
ALIEN CHILDREN 2
SEC. 101. REPATRIATION OF UNACCOMPANIED ALIEN CHIL-3
DREN. 4
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 235 of the William Wil-5
berforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization 6
Act of 2008 (8 U.S.C. 1232) is amended— 7
(1) in subsection (a)— 8
(A) in paragraph (2)— 9
(i) by amending the heading to read 10
as follows: ‘‘R
ULES FOR UNACCOMPANIED 11
ALIEN CHILDREN.—’’; 12
(ii) in subparagraph (A)— 13
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(I) in the matter preceding clause 1
(i), by striking ‘‘who is a national or 2
habitual resident of a country that is 3
contiguous with the United States’’; 4
(II) in clause (i), by inserting 5
‘‘and’’ at the end; 6
(III) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘; 7
and’’ and inserting a period; and 8
(IV) by striking clause (iii); 9
(iii) in subparagraph (B)— 10
(I) in the matter preceding clause 11
(i), by striking ‘‘(8 U.S.C. 1101 et 12
seq.) may—’’ and inserting ‘‘(8 13
U.S.C. 1101 et seq.)—’’; 14
(II) in clause (i), by inserting be-15
fore ‘‘permit such child to withdraw’’ 16
the following: ‘‘may’’; and 17
(III) in clause (ii), by inserting 18
before ‘‘return such child’’ the fol-19
lowing: ‘‘shall’’; and 20
(iv) in subparagraph (C)— 21
(I) by amending the heading to 22
read as follows: ‘‘A
GREEMENTS WITH 23
FOREIGN COUNTRIES.—’’; and 24
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(II) in the matter preceding 1
clause (i), by striking ‘‘The Secretary 2
of State shall negotiate agreements 3
between the United States and coun-4
tries contiguous to the United States’’ 5
and inserting ‘‘The Secretary of State 6
may negotiate agreements between the 7
United States and any foreign country 8
that the Secretary determines appro-9
priate’’; 10
(B) by redesignating paragraphs (3) 11
through (5) as paragraphs (4) through (6), re-12
spectively, and inserting after paragraph (2) the 13
following: 14
‘‘(3) S
PECIAL RULES FOR INTERVIEWING UNAC -15
COMPANIED ALIEN CHILDREN .—An unaccompanied 16
alien child shall be interviewed by an immigration 17
officer with specialized training in interviewing child 18
trafficking victims.’’; and 19
(C) in paragraph (6)(D) (as so redesig-20
nated)— 21
(i) in the matter preceding clause (i), 22
by striking ‘‘, except for an unaccompanied 23
alien child from a contiguous country sub-24
ject to exceptions under subsection (a)(2),’’ 25
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and inserting ‘‘who does not meet the cri-1
teria listed in paragraph (2)(A)’’; and 2
(ii) in clause (i), by inserting before 3
the semicolon at the end the following: ‘‘, 4
which shall include a hearing before an im-5
migration judge not later than 14 days 6
after being screened under paragraph (4)’’; 7
(2) in subsection (b)— 8
(A) in paragraph (2)— 9
(i) in subparagraph (A), by inserting 10
before the semicolon the following: ‘‘be-11
lieved not to meet the criteria listed in sub-12
section (a)(2)(A)’’; and 13
(ii) in subparagraph (B), by inserting 14
before the period the following: ‘‘and does 15
not meet the criteria listed in subsection 16
(a)(2)(A)’’; and 17
(B) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘an un-18
accompanied alien child in custody shall’’ and 19
all that follows, and inserting the following: ‘‘an 20
unaccompanied alien child in custody— 21
‘‘(A) in the case of a child who does not 22
meet the criteria listed in subsection (a)(2)(A), 23
shall transfer the custody of such child to the 24
Secretary of Health and Human Services not 25
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later than 30 days after determining that such 1
child is an unaccompanied alien child who does 2
not meet such criteria; or 3
‘‘(B) in the case of child who meets the 4
criteria listed in subsection (a)(2)(A), may 5
transfer the custody of such child to the Sec-6
retary of Health and Human Services after de-7
termining that such child is an unaccompanied 8
alien child who meets such criteria.’’; and 9
(3) in subsection (c)— 10
(A) in paragraph (3), by inserting at the 11
end the following: 12
‘‘(D) I
NFORMATION ABOUT INDIVIDUALS 13
WITH WHOM CHILDREN ARE PLACED .— 14
‘‘(i) I
NFORMATION TO BE PROVIDED 15
TO HOMELAND SECURITY .—Before placing 16
a child with an individual, the Secretary of 17
Health and Human Services shall provide 18
to the Secretary of Homeland Security, re-19
garding the individual with whom the child 20
will be placed, the following information: 21
‘‘(I) The name of the individual. 22
‘‘(II) The social security number 23
of the individual, if available. 24
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‘‘(III) The date of birth of the in-1
dividual. 2
‘‘(IV) The location of the individ-3
ual’s residence where the child will be 4
placed. 5
‘‘(V) The immigration status of 6
the individual, if known. 7
‘‘(VI) Contact information for 8
the individual. 9
‘‘(ii) S
PECIAL RULE.—In the case of a 10
child who was apprehended on or after the 11
effective date of this clause, and before the 12
date of the enactment of this subpara-13
graph, who the Secretary of Health and 14
Human Services placed with an individual, 15
the Secretary shall provide the information 16
listed in clause (i) to the Secretary of 17
Homeland Security not later than 90 days 18
after such date of enactment.’’; and 19
(B) in paragraph (5)— 20
(i) by inserting after ‘‘to the greatest 21
extent practicable’’ the following: ‘‘(at no 22
expense to the Government)’’; and 23
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(ii) by striking ‘‘have counsel to rep-1
resent them’’ and inserting ‘‘have access to 2
counsel to represent them’’. 3
(b) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 4
this section shall apply to any unaccompanied alien child 5
apprehended on or after the date of enactment. 6
SEC. 102. CLARIFICATION OF STANDARDS FOR FAMILY DE-7
TENTION. 8
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 235 of the William Wil-9
berforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization 10
Act of 2008 (8 U.S.C. 1232) is amended by adding at 11
the end the following: 12
‘‘(j) C
ONSTRUCTION.— 13
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 14
provision of law, judicial determination, consent de-15
cree, or settlement agreement, the detention of any 16
alien child who is not an unaccompanied alien child 17
shall be governed by sections 217, 235, 236, and 18
241 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 19
U.S.C. 1187, 1225, 1226, and 1231). There is no 20
presumption that an alien child who is not an unac-21
companied alien child should not be detained, and all 22
such determinations shall be in the discretion of the 23
Secretary of Homeland Security. 24
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‘‘(2) RELEASE OF MINORS OTHER THAN UNAC -1
COMPANIED ALIENS.—In no circumstances shall an 2
alien minor who is not an unaccompanied alien child 3
be released by the Secretary of Homeland Security 4
other than to a parent or legal guardian, who is law-5
fully present in the United States. 6
‘‘(3) F
AMILY DETENTION .—The Secretary of 7
Homeland Security shall— 8
‘‘(A) maintain the care and custody of an 9
alien, during the period during which the 10
charges described in clause (i) are pending, 11
who— 12
‘‘(i) is charged only with a mis-13
demeanor offense under section 275(a) of 14
the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 15
U.S.C. 1325(a)); and 16
‘‘(ii) entered the United States with 17
the alien’s child who has not attained 18 18
years of age; and 19
‘‘(B) detain the alien with the alien’s 20
child.’’. 21
(b) S
ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-22
gress that the amendments in this section to section 235 23
of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection 24
Reauthorization Act of 2008 (8 U.S.C. 1232) are intended 25
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to satisfy the requirements of the Settlement Agreement 1
in Flores v. Meese, No. 85–4544 (C.D. Cal) as approved 2
by the court on January 28, 1997, with respect to its in-3
terpretation in Flores v. Johnson, 212 F. Supp. 3d 864 4
(C.D. Cal. 2015), that the agreement applies to accom-5
panied minors. 6
(c) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendment made by 7
subsection (a) shall take effect on the date of the enact-8
ment of this Act and shall apply to all actions that occur 9
before, on, or after the date of the enactment of this Act. 10
(d) P
REEMPTION OF STATELICENSINGREQUIRE-11
MENTS.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, ju-12
dicial determination, consent decree, or settlement agree-13
ment, no State may require that an immigration detention 14
facility used to detain children who have not attained 18 15
years of age, or families consisting of one or more of such 16
children and the parents or legal guardians of such chil-17
dren, that is located in that State, be licensed by the State 18
or any political subdivision thereof. 19
SEC. 103. SPECIAL IMMIGRANT JUVENILE STATUS FOR IM-20
MIGRANTS UNABLE TO REUNITE WITH EI-21
THER 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
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(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) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of sub-6
clause (I); 7
(B) by inserting ‘‘and’’ at the end of sub-8
clause (II); and 9
(C) by adding at the end the following: 10
‘‘(III) an alien may not be grant-11
ed special immigrant juvenile status 12
under this subparagraph if his or her 13
reunification with any one parent or 14
legal guardian is not precluded by 15
abuse, neglect, abandonment, or any 16
similar cause under State law;’’. 17
TITLE II—ASYLUM REFORM 18
SEC. 201. CREDIBLE FEAR INTERVIEWS. 19
Section 235(b)(1)(B)(v) of the Immigration and Na-20
tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1225(b)(1)(B)(v)) is amended by 21
striking ‘‘claim’’ and all that follows, and inserting ‘‘claim, 22
as determined pursuant to section 208(b)(1)(B)(iii), and 23
such other facts as are known to the officer, that the alien 24
could establish eligibility for asylum under section 208, 25
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and it is more probable than not that the statements made 1
by, and on behalf of, the alien in support of the alien’s 2
claim are true.’’. 3
SEC. 202. JURISDICTION OF ASYLUM APPLICATIONS. 4
Section 208(b)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality 5
Act (8 U.S.C. 1158) is amended by striking subparagraph 6
(C). 7
SEC. 203. RECORDING EXPEDITED REMOVAL AND CRED-8
IBLE FEAR INTERVIEWS. 9
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary of Homeland Secu-10
rity shall establish quality assurance procedures and take 11
steps to effectively ensure that questions by employees of 12
the Department of Homeland Security exercising expe-13
dited removal authority under section 235(b) of the Immi-14
gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1225(b)) are asked 15
in a uniform manner, to the extent possible, and that both 16
these questions and the answers provided in response to 17
them are recorded in a uniform fashion. 18
(b) C
REDIBLEFEARINTERVIEWCHECKLISTS.—The 19
Secretary of Homeland Security shall provide a checklist 20
of standard questions and concepts to be addressed in all 21
interviews under section 235(b) to immigration officers ex-22
ercising decision-making authority in such interviews. 23
Such checklists shall be routinely updated to include rel-24
evant changes to law and procedures and shall, at a min-25
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imum, require that all immigration officers utilizing such 1
checklists provide concise justifications of their decision 2
regardless of whether credible fear was or was not estab-3
lished. 4
(c) F
ACTORSRELATING TOSWORNSTATEMENTS.— 5
Where practicable, any sworn or signed written statement 6
taken of an alien as part of the record of a proceeding 7
under section 235(b)(1)(A) of the Immigration and Na-8
tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1225(b)(1)(A)) shall be accom-9
panied by a recording of the interview which served as the 10
basis for that sworn statement. 11
(d) I
NTERPRETERS.—The Secretary shall ensure that 12
a competent interpreter, not affiliated with the govern-13
ment of the country from which the alien may claim asy-14
lum, is used when the interviewing officer does not speak 15
a language understood by the alien. 16
(e) R
ECORDINGS INIMMIGRATIONPROCEEDINGS.— 17
There shall be an audio or audio visual recording of inter-18
views of aliens subject to expedited removal. The recording 19
shall be included in the record of proceeding and shall be 20
considered as evidence in any further proceedings involv-21
ing the alien. 22
(f) N
OPRIVATERIGHT OFACTION.—Nothing in this 23
section shall be construed to create any right, benefit, 24
trust, or responsibility, whether substantive or procedural, 25
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enforceable in law or equity by a party against the United 1
States, its departments, agencies, instrumentalities, enti-2
ties, officers, employees, or agents, or any person, nor does 3
this section create any right of review in any administra-4
tive, judicial, or other proceeding. 5
SEC. 204. SAFE THIRD COUNTRY. 6
Section 208(a)(2)(A) of the Immigration and Nation-7
ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1158(a)(2)(A)) is amended— 8
(1) by striking ‘‘if the Attorney General deter-9
mines’’ and inserting ‘‘if the Attorney General or the 10
Secretary of Homeland Security determines—’’; 11
(2) by striking ‘‘that the alien may be’’ and in-12
serting: 13
‘‘(i) that the alien may be’’; 14
(3) by striking ‘‘removed, pursuant to a bilat-15
eral or multilateral agreement, to’’ and inserting 16
‘‘removed to’’; 17
(4) by inserting ‘‘, on a case by case basis,’’ be-18
fore ‘‘finds that’’; 19
(5) by striking the period at the end and insert-20
ing ‘‘; or’’; and 21
(6) by adding at the end the following: 22
‘‘(ii) that the alien entered, attempted to enter, 23
or arrived in the United States after transiting 24
through at least one country outside the alien’s 25
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country of citizenship, nationality, or last lawful ha-1
bitual residence en route to the United States, un-2
less— 3
‘‘(I) the alien demonstrates that he or she 4
applied for protection from persecution or tor-5
ture in at least one country outside the alien’s 6
country of citizenship, nationality, or last lawful 7
habitual residence through which the alien 8
transited en route to the United States, and the 9
alien received a final judgement denying the 10
alien protection in each country; 11
‘‘(II) the alien demonstrates that he or she 12
was a victim of a severe form of trafficking in 13
which a commercial sex act was induced by 14
force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person 15
induced to perform such act was under the age 16
of 18 years; or in which the trafficking included 17
the recruitment, harboring, transportation, pro-18
vision, or obtaining of a person for labor or 19
services through the use of force, fraud, or coer-20
cion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary 21
servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery, 22
and was unable to apply for protection from 23
persecution in all countries that alien transited 24
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en route to the United States as a result of 1
such severe form of trafficking; or 2
‘‘(III) the only countries through which the 3
alien transited en route to the United States 4
were, at the time of the transit, not parties to 5
the 1951 United Nations Convention relating to 6
the Status of Refugees, the 1967 Protocol Re-7
lating to the Status of Refugees, or the United 8
Nations Convention against Torture and Other 9
Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or 10
Punishment.’’. 11
SEC. 205. RENUNCIATION OF ASYLUM STATUS PURSUANT 12
TO RETURN TO HOME COUNTRY. 13
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 208(c) of the Immigration 14
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1158(c)) is amended by 15
adding at the end the following new paragraph: 16
‘‘(4) R
ENUNCIATION OF STATUS PURSUANT TO 17
RETURN TO HOME COUNTRY .— 18
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in 19
subparagraph (B), any alien who is granted 20
asylum status under this Act, who, absent 21
changed country conditions, subsequently re-22
turns to the country of such alien’s nationality 23
or, in the case of an alien having no nationality, 24
returns to any country in which such alien last 25
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habitually resided, and who applied for such 1
status because of persecution or a well-founded 2
fear of persecution in that country on account 3
of race, religion, nationality, membership in a 4
particular social group, or political opinion, 5
shall have his or her status terminated. 6
‘‘(B) W
AIVER.—The Secretary has discre-7
tion to waive subparagraph (A) if it is estab-8
lished to the satisfaction of the Secretary that 9
the alien had a compelling reason for the re-10
turn. The waiver may be sought prior to depar-11
ture from the United States or upon return.’’. 12
(b) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENT.—Section 208(c)(3) 13
of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 14
1158(c)(3)) is amended by inserting after ‘‘paragraph 15
(2)’’ the following: ‘‘or (4)’’. 16
SEC. 206. NOTICE CONCERNING FRIVOLOUS ASYLUM AP-17
PLICATIONS. 18
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 208(d)(4) of the Immi-19
gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1158(d)(4)) is 20
amended— 21
(1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), 22
by inserting ‘‘the Secretary of Homeland Security 23
or’’ before ‘‘the Attorney General’’; 24
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(2) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘and of 1
the consequences, under paragraph (6), of knowingly 2
filing a frivolous application for asylum; and’’ and 3
inserting a semicolon; 4
(3) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period 5
and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 6
(4) by adding at the end the following: 7
‘‘(C) ensure that a written warning ap-8
pears on the asylum application advising the 9
alien of the consequences of filing a frivolous 10
application and serving as notice to the alien of 11
the consequence of filing a frivolous applica-12
tion.’’. 13
(b) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENT.—Section 208(d)(6) 14
of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 15
1158(d)(6)) is amended by striking ‘‘If the’’ and all that 16
follows and inserting: 17
‘‘(A) If the Secretary of Homeland Secu-18
rity or the Attorney General determines that an 19
alien has knowingly made a frivolous applica-20
tion for asylum and the alien has received the 21
notice under paragraph (4)(C), the alien shall 22
be permanently ineligible for any benefits under 23
this chapter, effective as the date of the final 24
determination of such an application. 25
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‘‘(B) An application is frivolous if the Sec-1
retary of Homeland Security or the Attorney 2
General determines, consistent with subpara-3
graph (C), that— 4
‘‘(i) it is so insufficient in substance 5
that it is clear that the applicant know-6
ingly filed the application solely or in part 7
to delay removal from the United States, 8
to seek employment authorization as an 9
applicant for asylum pursuant to regula-10
tions issued pursuant to paragraph (2), or 11
to seek issuance of a Notice to Appear in 12
order to pursue Cancellation of Removal 13
under section 240A(b); or 14
‘‘(ii) any of the material elements are 15
knowingly fabricated. 16
‘‘(C) In determining that an application is 17
frivolous, the Secretary or the Attorney Gen-18
eral, must be satisfied that the applicant, dur-19
ing the course of the proceedings, has had suffi-20
cient opportunity to clarify any discrepancies or 21
implausible aspects of the claim. 22
‘‘(D) For purposes of this section, a find-23
ing that an alien filed a frivolous asylum appli-24
cation shall not preclude the alien from seeking 25
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withholding of removal under section 241(b)(3) 1
or protection pursuant to the Convention 2
Against Torture.’’. 3
SEC. 207. ANTI-FRAUD INVESTIGATIVE WORK PRODUCT. 4
(a) A
SYLUMCREDIBILITYDETERMINATIONS.—Sec-5
tion 208(b)(1)(B)(iii) of the Immigration and Nationality 6
Act (8 U.S.C. 1158(b)(1)(B)(iii)) is amended by inserting 7
after ‘‘all relevant factors’’ the following: ‘‘, including 8
statements made to, and investigative reports prepared by, 9
immigration authorities and other government officials’’. 10
(b) R
ELIEF FORREMOVALCREDIBILITYDETER-11
MINATIONS.—Section 240(c)(4)(C) of the Immigration 12
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1229a(c)(4)(C)) is amended 13
by inserting after ‘‘all relevant factors’’ the following: ‘‘, 14
including statements made to, and investigative reports 15
prepared by, immigration authorities and other govern-16
ment officials’’. 17
SEC. 208. CLARIFICATION OF ASYLUM ELIGIBILITY. 18
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 208(b)(1)(A) of the Im-19
migration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1158(b)(1)(A)) 20
is amended by inserting after ‘‘section 101(a)(42)(A)’’ the 21
following: ‘‘and is eligible to apply for asylum under sub-22
section (a)’’. 23
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(b) PLACE OFARRIVAL.—Section 208(a)(1) of the 1
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1158(a)(1)) 2
is amended— 3
(1) by striking ‘‘or who arrives in the United 4
States (whether or not at a designated port of ar-5
rival and including an alien who is brought to the 6
United States after having been interdicted in inter-7
national or United States waters),’’; and 8
(2) by inserting after ‘‘United States’’ the fol-9
lowing: ‘‘and has arrived in the United States at a 10
port of entry,’’. 11
SEC. 209. APPLICATION TIMING. 12
Section 208(a)(2)(B) of the Immigration and Nation-13
ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1158(a)(2)(B)) is amended by striking 14
‘‘1 year’’ and inserting ‘‘6 months’’. 15
SEC. 210. CLARIFICATION OF BURDEN OF PROOF. 16
Section 208(b)(1)(B)(i) of the Immigration and Na-17
tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1158(b)(1)(B)(i)) is amended by 18
striking ‘‘at least one’’ and inserting ‘‘the’’. 19
SEC. 211. ADDITIONAL EXCEPTION. 20
Section 208(b)(2)(A) of the Immigration and Nation-21
ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1158(b)(2)(A)) is amended— 22
(1) in clause (v), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end; 23
(2) in clause (vi), by striking the period and in-24
serting ‘‘; or’’; and 25
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(3) by adding at the end the following: 1
‘‘(vii) there are reasonable grounds for 2
concluding the alien could avoid persecu-3
tion by relocating to another part of the 4
alien’s country of nationality or, if state-5
less, another part of the alien’s country of 6
last habitual residence.’’. 7
SEC. 212. CLARIFICATION REGARDING EMPLOYMENT ELI-8
GIBILITY. 9
Section 208(d)(2) of the Immigration and Nationality 10
Act (8 U.S.C. 1158(d)(2)) is amended— 11
(1) by striking ‘‘180 days’’’’ and inserting ‘‘1 12
year’’; and 13
(2) by inserting ‘‘and the authorization shall ex-14
pire 6 months after the date of issuance’’ before the 15
period at the end. 16
SEC. 213. PENALTIES FOR ASYLUM FRAUD. 17
Section 1001 of title 18, United States Code, is 18
amended by inserting at the end of the paragraph— 19
‘‘(d) Whoever, in any matter before the Secretary of 20
Homeland Security or the Attorney General pertaining to 21
asylum under section 208 of the Immigration and Nation-22
ality Act or withholding of removal under section 23
241(b)(3) of such Act, knowingly and willfully— 24
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‘‘(1) makes any materially false, fictitious, or 1
fraudulent statement or representation; or 2
‘‘(2) makes or uses any false writings or docu-3
ment knowing the same to contain any materially 4
false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry, 5
shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 6
10 years, or both.’’. 7
SEC. 214. STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS FOR ASYLUM FRAUD. 8
Section 3291 of title 18, United States Code, is 9
amended— 10
(1) by striking ‘‘1544,’’ and inserting ‘‘1544, 11
and section 1546,’’; and 12
(2) by striking ‘‘offense.’’ and inserting ‘‘of-13
fense or within 10 years after the fraud is discov-14
ered.’’. 15
SEC. 215. TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS. 16
Section 208 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 17
(8 U.S.C. 1158) is amended— 18
(1) in subsection (a)— 19
(A) in paragraph (2)(D), by inserting 20
‘‘Secretary of Homeland Security or the’’ before 21
‘‘Attorney General’’; and 22
(B) in paragraph (3), by inserting ‘‘Sec-23
retary of Homeland Security or the’’ before 24
‘‘Attorney General’’; 25
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(2) in subsection (b)(2), by inserting ‘‘Secretary 1
of Homeland Security or the’’ before ‘‘Attorney Gen-2
eral’’ each place such term appears; 3
(3) in subsection (c)— 4
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘Attor-5
ney General’’ each place such term appears and 6
inserting ‘‘Secretary of Homeland Security’’; 7
(B) in paragraph (2), in the matter pre-8
ceding subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘Sec-9
retary of Homeland Security or the’’ before 10
‘‘Attorney General’’; and 11
(C) in paragraph (3), by inserting ‘‘Sec-12
retary of Homeland Security or the’’ before 13
‘‘Attorney General’’; and 14
(4) in subsection (d)— 15
(A) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘Sec-16
retary of Homeland Security or the’’ before 17
‘‘Attorney General’’ each place such term ap-18
pears; 19
(B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘Attor-20
ney General’’ and inserting ‘‘Secretary of 21
Homeland Security’’; and 22
(C) in paragraph (5)— 23
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(i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 1
‘‘Attorney General’’ and inserting ‘‘Sec-2
retary of Homeland Security’’; and 3
(ii) in subparagraph (B), by inserting 4
‘‘Secretary of Homeland Security or the’’ 5
before ‘‘Attorney General’’. 6
Æ
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