I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1202
To establish vetting standards for the placement of unaccompanied alien
children with sponsors, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY11, 2025
Mr. L
UTTRELL(for himself, Ms. TENNEY, Mr. SCOTTFRANKLINof Florida,
Mr. D
ONALDS, and Mrs. LUNA) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To establish vetting standards for the placement of unaccom-
panied alien children with sponsors, and for other pur-
poses.
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 ‘‘Stop Human Traf-4
ficking of Unaccompanied Migrant Children Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. VETTING STANDARDS FOR PLACEMENT OF UNAC-6
COMPANIED ALIEN CHILDREN WITH SPON-7
SORS. 8
(a) V
ETTING OFPROSPECTIVESPONSORS.— 9
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(1) IN GENERAL.—Before an unaccompanied 1
alien child (as defined in section 462(g) of the 2
Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 279(g))) 3
may be released from the custody of the Secretary 4
of Health and Human Services to the custody of a 5
sponsor, the sponsor shall undergo and complete, to 6
the satisfaction of the Secretary of Health and 7
Human Services and the head of the department of 8
children and family services of the applicable State 9
(or the equivalent State agency) and in consultation 10
with the Attorney General and the Secretary of 11
Homeland Security, a fingerprint background check 12
and vetting process that includes— 13
(A) a public records check; 14
(B) a check of the National Sex Offender 15
Registry of the Department of Justice, con-16
ducted through the public internet website for 17
such registry; 18
(C) a Federal Bureau of Investigation Na-19
tional Criminal History check based on digital 20
fingerprints or digitized fingerprints submitted 21
on paper; 22
(D) a Child Abuse and Neglect check, ob-23
tained on a State-by-State basis; and 24
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(E) a check of the criminal history reposi-1
tory of the applicable 1 or more States and a 2
police records check of the applicable localities. 3
(2) A
DULTS HOUSEHOLD MEMBERS .—As part 4
of the vetting process under paragraph (1), each in-5
dividual who is 18 years of age or older in the 6
household of a prospective sponsor shall undergo 7
and complete all vetting processes required by para-8
graph (1), to the satisfaction of the Secretary of 9
Health and Human Services and the head of the de-10
partment of children and family services of the ap-11
plicable State (or the equivalent State agency) and 12
in consultation with the Attorney General and the 13
Secretary of Homeland Security, before an unaccom-14
panied alien child may be placed in such household. 15
(b) L
IMITATION ON PLACEMENTWITHILLEGAL 16
A
LIENS.—The Secretary of Health and Human Services 17
may not release an unaccompanied alien child to the cus-18
tody of a sponsor who is an alien unlawfully present in 19
the United States, unless such alien is a biological parent, 20
legal guardian, or relative of the child. 21
(c) M
ONITORINGVISITS.— 22
(1) P
RE-RELEASE.—Before an unaccompanied 23
alien child may be released from the custody of the 24
Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Sec-25
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retary shall conduct a home visit to the household in 1
which the child is proposed to be placed, regardless 2
of the sponsor category of the prospective sponsor. 3
(2) P
OST-RELEASE.—For each child released 4
from the custody of the Secretary of Health and 5
Human Services after the date of the enactment of 6
this Act, the Secretary shall conduct— 7
(A) during the 1-year period beginning on 8
the date on which the child is so released, not 9
fewer than 5 unannounced in-person home vis-10
its; and 11
(B) during the subsequent 1-year period, 1 12
in-person home visit each quarter. 13
(d) R
ETROACTIVE VETTING.—The Secretary of 14
Health and Human Services, in collaboration with the 15
head of the department of children and family services of 16
each applicable State (or the equivalent State agency) and 17
in consultation with the Attorney General and the Sec-18
retary of Homeland Security, shall immediately conduct 19
the fingerprint background check and vetting process de-20
scribed in subsection (a) for each sponsor with whom a 21
child released from the custody of the Secretary of Health 22
and Human Services has been placed since January 20, 23
2021, until the sponsor of each such child has been vetted 24
in accordance with this Act. 25
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(e) MONTHLYREPORTS.— 1
(1) C
HILDREN IN CUSTODY AND RELEASED TO 2
SPONSORS.—Not later than 30 days after the date 3
of the enactment of this Act, and every 30 days 4
thereafter, the Secretary of Health and Human 5
Services and the Secretary of Homeland Security 6
shall jointly submit to the Committee on Homeland 7
Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate 8
and the Committee on Homeland Security of the 9
House of Representatives a report that contains, for 10
the preceding month— 11
(A) the number of unaccompanied alien 12
children encountered by the Secretary of Home-13
land Security; 14
(B) the number of unaccompanied alien 15
children released by the Secretary of Homeland 16
Security into the custody of the Secretary of 17
Health and Human Services; 18
(C) the number of sponsor background 19
checks completed under subsection (a); 20
(D) the number of sponsor background 21
checks in progress under such subsection; 22
(E) the number of pre-release home visits 23
completed; 24
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(F) the number of post-release home visits 1
completed; 2
(G) the number of unaccompanied alien 3
children released to sponsors, disaggregated by 4
sponsor category; 5
(H) total number of unaccompanied alien 6
children in the custody of the Secretary of 7
Health and Human Services, disaggregated by 8
State and Department of Health and Human 9
Services facility; and 10
(I) the rate at which the Secretary of 11
Health and Human Services rejected sponsor-12
ship applications. 13
(2) M
ISSING CHILDREN.—Not later than 30 14
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and 15
every 30 days thereafter, the Secretary of Health 16
and Human Services and the Secretary of Homeland 17
Security shall jointly submit to Congress a report on 18
all efforts made, during the preceding month, by the 19
Department of Health and Human Services and the 20
Department of Homeland Security to account for all 21
children— 22
(3) who were released from the custody of the 23
Secretary of Health and Human Services to a spon-24
sor on or after January 20, 2021; and 25
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(4) as of the date of the enactment of this 1
Act— 2
(A) who have been reported missing; or 3
(B) with respect to whom the Secretary of 4
Health and Human Services has no record 5
since the date of release from custody. 6
Æ
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