Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2366 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. 2366
5	5	To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to promote family unity,
6	6	and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	MARCH26, 2025
9	9	Ms. E
10	10	SCOBAR(for herself, Ms. SALAZAR, Mr. TONKO, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr.
11	11	C
12	12	ARBAJAL, Mr. CASAR, Mr. CORREA, Ms. DEANof Pennsylvania, Ms.
13	13	D
14	14	ELBENE, Mr. GARCI´Aof Illinois, Mr. MENENDEZ, Ms. ROSS, Ms. SALI-
15	15	NAS, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Ms. SCANLON, Mr. SOTO, Mr. SUOZZI, Ms. MCCOL-
16	16	LUM, Mr. LEVIN, and Mr. GOLDMANof New York) introduced the fol-
17	17	lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
18	18	A BILL
19	19	To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to promote
20	20	family unity, and for other purposes.
21	21	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
22	22	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
23	23	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
24	24	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘American Families 4
25	25	United Act’’. 5
26	26	SEC. 2. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 6
27	27	Nothing in this Act shall be construed— 7
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30	30	•HR 2366 IH
31	31	(1) to provide the Secretary of Homeland Secu-1
32	32	rity or the Attorney General with the ability to exer-2
33	33	cise the discretionary authority provided in this Act, 3
34	34	or by an amendment made by this Act, except on a 4
35	35	case-by-case basis; or 5
36	36	(2) to otherwise modify or limit the discre-6
37	37	tionary authority of the Secretary of Homeland Se-7
38	38	curity or the Attorney General under the immigra-8
39	39	tion laws (as defined in section 101(a)(17) of the 9
40	40	Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 10
41	41	1101(a)(17))). 11
42	42	SEC. 3. DISCRETIONARY AUTHORITY WITH RESPECT TO 12
43	43	FAMILY MEMBERS OF UNITED STATES CITI-13
44	44	ZENS. 14
45	45	(a) A
46	46	PPLICATIONS FORRELIEFFROMREMOVAL.— 15
47	47	Section 240(c)(4) of the Immigration and Nationality Act 16
48	48	(8 U.S.C. 1229a(c)(4)) is amended by adding at the end 17
49	49	the following: 18
50	50	‘‘(D) J
51	51	UDICIAL DISCRETION.— 19
52	52	‘‘(i) I
53	53	N GENERAL.—In the case of an 20
54	54	alien who is the spouse or child of a citizen 21
55	55	of the United States, the Attorney General 22
56	56	may subject to clause (ii)— 23
57	57	‘‘(I) terminate any removal pro-24
58	58	ceedings against the alien; 25
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61	61	•HR 2366 IH
62	62	‘‘(II) decline to order the alien 1
63	63	removed from the United States; 2
64	64	‘‘(III) grant the alien permission 3
65	65	to reapply for admission to the United 4
66	66	States; or 5
67	67	‘‘(IV) subject to clause (iii), 6
68	68	waive the application of one or more 7
69	69	grounds of inadmissibility or deport-8
70	70	ability in connection with any request 9
71	71	for relief from removal. 10
72	72	‘‘(ii) L
73	73	IMITATION ON DISCRETION.— 11
74	74	‘‘(I) I
75	75	N GENERAL.—The Attorney 12
76	76	General may exercise the discretion 13
77	77	described in clause (i) if the Attorney 14
78	78	General determines that removal of 15
79	79	the alien or the denial of a request for 16
80	80	relief from removal would result in 17
81	81	hardship to the alien’s United States 18
82	82	citizen spouse, parent, or child. There 19
83	83	shall be a presumption that family 20
84	84	separation constitutes hardship. 21
85	85	‘‘(II) W
86	86	IDOW AND SURVIVING 22
87	87	CHILD OF DECEASED UNITED STATES 23
88	88	CITIZEN.—In the case of the death of 24
89	89	a citizen of the United States, the At-25
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92	92	•HR 2366 IH
93	93	torney General may exercise discretion 1
94	94	described in clause (i) with respect to 2
95	95	an alien who was a child of such cit-3
96	96	izen, or was the spouse of such citizen 4
97	97	and was not legally separated from 5
98	98	such citizen on the date of the citi-6
99	99	zen’s death, if— 7
100	100	‘‘(aa) the Attorney General 8
101	101	determines that removal of the 9
102	102	child or spouse or the denial of a 10
103	103	requested benefit would result in 11
104	104	hardship to the child or spouse; 12
105	105	and 13
106	106	‘‘(bb) the child or spouse 14
107	107	seeks relief requiring such discre-15
108	108	tion not later than two years 16
109	109	after the date of the citizen’s 17
110	110	death or demonstrates to the sat-18
111	111	isfaction of the Attorney General 19
112	112	the existence of extraordinary cir-20
113	113	cumstances that prevented the 21
114	114	spouse or child from seeking re-22
115	115	lief within such period. 23
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118	118	•HR 2366 IH
119	119	‘‘(iii) EXCLUSIONS.—This subpara-1
120	120	graph shall not apply to an alien whom the 2
121	121	Attorney General determines— 3
122	122	‘‘(I) is inadmissible under— 4
123	123	‘‘(aa) paragraph (2) or (3) 5
124	124	of section 212(a); or 6
125	125	‘‘(bb) subparagraph (A), 7
126	126	(C), or (D) of section 212(a)(10); 8
127	127	or 9
128	128	‘‘(II) is deportable under para-10
129	129	graph (2), (4), or (6) of section 11
130	130	237(a).’’. 12
131	131	(b) S
132	132	ECRETARY’SDISCRETION.—Section 212 of the 13
133	133	Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182) is 14
134	134	amended— 15
135	135	(1) by redesignating the second subsection (t) 16
136	136	as subsection (u); and 17
137	137	(2) by adding at the end the following: 18
138	138	‘‘(v) S
139	139	ECRETARY’SDISCRETION.— 19
140	140	‘‘(1) I
141	141	N GENERAL.—In the case of an alien who 20
142	142	is the spouse or child of a citizen of the United 21
143	143	States, the Secretary of Homeland Security may, 22
144	144	subject to paragraph (2)— 23
145	145	‘‘(A) waive the application of one or more 24
146	146	grounds of inadmissibility or deportability in 25
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149	149	•HR 2366 IH
150	150	connection with an application for an immigra-1
151	151	tion benefit or request for relief from removal; 2
152	152	‘‘(B) decline to issue a notice to appear or 3
153	153	other charging document requiring such an 4
154	154	alien to appear for removal proceedings; 5
155	155	‘‘(C) decline to reinstate an order of re-6
156	156	moval under section 241(a)(5); or 7
157	157	‘‘(D) grant such alien permission to re-8
158	158	apply for admission to the United States or any 9
159	159	other application for an immigration benefit. 10
160	160	‘‘(2) L
161	161	IMITATION ON DISCRETION.— 11
162	162	‘‘(A) I
163	163	N GENERAL.—The Secretary of 12
164	164	Homeland Security may exercise discretion de-13
165	165	scribed in paragraph (1) if the Secretary deter-14
166	166	mines that removal of the alien or the denial of 15
167	167	a requested benefit would result in hardship to 16
168	168	the alien’s United States citizen spouse, parent, 17
169	169	or child. There shall be a presumption that 18
170	170	family separation constitutes hardship. 19
171	171	‘‘(B) W
172	172	IDOW AND ORPHAN OF DECEASED 20
173	173	UNITED STATES CITIZEN .—In the case of the 21
174	174	death of a citizen of the United States, the Sec-22
175	175	retary of Homeland Security may exercise dis-23
176	176	cretion described in paragraph (1) with respect 24
177	177	to an alien who was a child of such citizen, or 25
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180	180	•HR 2366 IH
181	181	was the spouse of such citizen and was not le-1
182	182	gally separated from such citizen on the date of 2
183	183	the citizen’s death, if— 3
184	184	‘‘(i) the Secretary determines that the 4
185	185	denial of a requested benefit would result 5
186	186	in hardship to the child or spouse; and 6
187	187	‘‘(ii) the child or spouse seeks relief 7
188	188	requiring such discretion not later than 8
189	189	two years after the date of the citizen’s 9
190	190	death or demonstrates to the satisfaction 10
191	191	of the Secretary the existence of extraor-11
192	192	dinary circumstances that prevented the 12
193	193	spouse or child from seeking relief within 13
194	194	such period. 14
195	195	‘‘(3) E
196	196	XCLUSIONS.—This subsection shall not 15
197	197	apply to an alien whom the Secretary determines— 16
198	198	‘‘(A) is inadmissible under— 17
199	199	‘‘(i) paragraph (2) or (3) of sub-18
200	200	sections (a); or 19
201	201	‘‘(ii) subparagraphs (A), (C), or (D) 20
202	202	of subsection (a)(10); or 21
203	203	‘‘(B) is deportable under paragraphs (2), 22
204	204	(4), or (6) of section 237(a).’’. 23
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207	207	•HR 2366 IH
208	208	SEC. 4. MOTIONS TO REOPEN OR RECONSIDER. 1
209	209	(a) I
210	210	NGENERAL.—A motion to reopen or reconsider 2
211	211	the denial of a petition or application or an order of re-3
212	212	moval for an alien may be granted if such petition, appli-4
213	213	cation, or order would have been adjudicated in favor of 5
214	214	the alien had this Act, or an amendment made by this 6
215	215	Act, been in effect at the time of such denial or order. 7
216	216	(b) F
217	217	ILINGREQUIREMENT.—A motion under sub-8
218	218	section (a) shall be filed no later than the date that is 9
219	219	2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, unless 10
220	220	the alien demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Secretary 11
221	221	of Homeland Security or Attorney General, as appro-12
222	222	priate, the existence of extraordinary circumstances that 13
223	223	prevented the alien from filing within such period. 14
224	224	Æ
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