Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB1202 Compare Versions

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

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 1202
5	5	To establish vetting standards for the placement of unaccompanied alien
6	6	children with sponsors, and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	FEBRUARY11, 2025
9	9	Mr. L
10	10	UTTRELL(for himself, Ms. TENNEY, Mr. SCOTTFRANKLINof Florida,
11	11	Mr. D
12	12	ONALDS, and Mrs. LUNA) introduced the following bill; which was
13	13	referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To establish vetting standards for the placement of unaccom-
16	16	panied alien children with sponsors, and for other pur-
17	17	poses.
18	18	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
19	19	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
20	20	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
21	21	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stop Human Traf-4
22	22	ficking of Unaccompanied Migrant Children Act of 2025’’. 5
23	23	SEC. 2. VETTING STANDARDS FOR PLACEMENT OF UNAC-6
24	24	COMPANIED ALIEN CHILDREN WITH SPON-7
25	25	SORS. 8
26	26	(a) V
27	27	ETTING OFPROSPECTIVESPONSORS.— 9
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30	30	•HR 1202 IH
31	31	(1) IN GENERAL.—Before an unaccompanied 1
32	32	alien child (as defined in section 462(g) of the 2
33	33	Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 279(g))) 3
34	34	may be released from the custody of the Secretary 4
35	35	of Health and Human Services to the custody of a 5
36	36	sponsor, the sponsor shall undergo and complete, to 6
37	37	the satisfaction of the Secretary of Health and 7
38	38	Human Services and the head of the department of 8
39	39	children and family services of the applicable State 9
40	40	(or the equivalent State agency) and in consultation 10
41	41	with the Attorney General and the Secretary of 11
42	42	Homeland Security, a fingerprint background check 12
43	43	and vetting process that includes— 13
44	44	(A) a public records check; 14
45	45	(B) a check of the National Sex Offender 15
46	46	Registry of the Department of Justice, con-16
47	47	ducted through the public internet website for 17
48	48	such registry; 18
49	49	(C) a Federal Bureau of Investigation Na-19
50	50	tional Criminal History check based on digital 20
51	51	fingerprints or digitized fingerprints submitted 21
52	52	on paper; 22
53	53	(D) a Child Abuse and Neglect check, ob-23
54	54	tained on a State-by-State basis; and 24
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57	57	•HR 1202 IH
58	58	(E) a check of the criminal history reposi-1
59	59	tory of the applicable 1 or more States and a 2
60	60	police records check of the applicable localities. 3
61	61	(2) A
62	62	DULTS HOUSEHOLD MEMBERS .—As part 4
63	63	of the vetting process under paragraph (1), each in-5
64	64	dividual who is 18 years of age or older in the 6
65	65	household of a prospective sponsor shall undergo 7
66	66	and complete all vetting processes required by para-8
67	67	graph (1), to the satisfaction of the Secretary of 9
68	68	Health and Human Services and the head of the de-10
69	69	partment of children and family services of the ap-11
70	70	plicable State (or the equivalent State agency) and 12
71	71	in consultation with the Attorney General and the 13
72	72	Secretary of Homeland Security, before an unaccom-14
73	73	panied alien child may be placed in such household. 15
74	74	(b) L
75	75	IMITATION ON PLACEMENTWITHILLEGAL 16
76	76	A
77	77	LIENS.—The Secretary of Health and Human Services 17
78	78	may not release an unaccompanied alien child to the cus-18
79	79	tody of a sponsor who is an alien unlawfully present in 19
80	80	the United States, unless such alien is a biological parent, 20
81	81	legal guardian, or relative of the child. 21
82	82	(c) M
83	83	ONITORINGVISITS.— 22
84	84	(1) P
85	85	RE-RELEASE.—Before an unaccompanied 23
86	86	alien child may be released from the custody of the 24
87	87	Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Sec-25
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90	90	•HR 1202 IH
91	91	retary shall conduct a home visit to the household in 1
92	92	which the child is proposed to be placed, regardless 2
93	93	of the sponsor category of the prospective sponsor. 3
94	94	(2) P
95	95	OST-RELEASE.—For each child released 4
96	96	from the custody of the Secretary of Health and 5
97	97	Human Services after the date of the enactment of 6
98	98	this Act, the Secretary shall conduct— 7
99	99	(A) during the 1-year period beginning on 8
100	100	the date on which the child is so released, not 9
101	101	fewer than 5 unannounced in-person home vis-10
102	102	its; and 11
103	103	(B) during the subsequent 1-year period, 1 12
104	104	in-person home visit each quarter. 13
105	105	(d) R
106	106	ETROACTIVE VETTING.—The Secretary of 14
107	107	Health and Human Services, in collaboration with the 15
108	108	head of the department of children and family services of 16
109	109	each applicable State (or the equivalent State agency) and 17
110	110	in consultation with the Attorney General and the Sec-18
111	111	retary of Homeland Security, shall immediately conduct 19
112	112	the fingerprint background check and vetting process de-20
113	113	scribed in subsection (a) for each sponsor with whom a 21
114	114	child released from the custody of the Secretary of Health 22
115	115	and Human Services has been placed since January 20, 23
116	116	2021, until the sponsor of each such child has been vetted 24
117	117	in accordance with this Act. 25
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120	120	•HR 1202 IH
121	121	(e) MONTHLYREPORTS.— 1
122	122	(1) C
123	123	HILDREN IN CUSTODY AND RELEASED TO 2
124	124	SPONSORS.—Not later than 30 days after the date 3
125	125	of the enactment of this Act, and every 30 days 4
126	126	thereafter, the Secretary of Health and Human 5
127	127	Services and the Secretary of Homeland Security 6
128	128	shall jointly submit to the Committee on Homeland 7
129	129	Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate 8
130	130	and the Committee on Homeland Security of the 9
131	131	House of Representatives a report that contains, for 10
132	132	the preceding month— 11
133	133	(A) the number of unaccompanied alien 12
134	134	children encountered by the Secretary of Home-13
135	135	land Security; 14
136	136	(B) the number of unaccompanied alien 15
137	137	children released by the Secretary of Homeland 16
138	138	Security into the custody of the Secretary of 17
139	139	Health and Human Services; 18
140	140	(C) the number of sponsor background 19
141	141	checks completed under subsection (a); 20
142	142	(D) the number of sponsor background 21
143	143	checks in progress under such subsection; 22
144	144	(E) the number of pre-release home visits 23
145	145	completed; 24
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148	148	•HR 1202 IH
149	149	(F) the number of post-release home visits 1
150	150	completed; 2
151	151	(G) the number of unaccompanied alien 3
152	152	children released to sponsors, disaggregated by 4
153	153	sponsor category; 5
154	154	(H) total number of unaccompanied alien 6
155	155	children in the custody of the Secretary of 7
156	156	Health and Human Services, disaggregated by 8
157	157	State and Department of Health and Human 9
158	158	Services facility; and 10
159	159	(I) the rate at which the Secretary of 11
160	160	Health and Human Services rejected sponsor-12
161	161	ship applications. 13
162	162	(2) M
163	163	ISSING CHILDREN.—Not later than 30 14
164	164	days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and 15
165	165	every 30 days thereafter, the Secretary of Health 16
166	166	and Human Services and the Secretary of Homeland 17
167	167	Security shall jointly submit to Congress a report on 18
168	168	all efforts made, during the preceding month, by the 19
169	169	Department of Health and Human Services and the 20
170	170	Department of Homeland Security to account for all 21
171	171	children— 22
172	172	(3) who were released from the custody of the 23
173	173	Secretary of Health and Human Services to a spon-24
174	174	sor on or after January 20, 2021; and 25
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177	177	•HR 1202 IH
178	178	(4) as of the date of the enactment of this 1
179	179	Act— 2
180	180	(A) who have been reported missing; or 3
181	181	(B) with respect to whom the Secretary of 4
182	182	Health and Human Services has no record 5
183	183	since the date of release from custody. 6
184	184	Æ
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