Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB286 Compare Versions

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

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 286
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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
8	8	JANUARY28, 2025
9	9	Mr. S
10	10	COTTof Florida (for himself and Mr. JOHNSON) introduced the following
11	11	bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
12	12	A BILL
13	13	To establish vetting standards for the placement of unaccom-
14	14	panied alien children with sponsors, and for other pur-
15	15	poses.
16	16	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
17	17	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
18	18	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
19	19	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stop Human Traf-4
20	20	ficking of Unaccompanied Migrant Children Act of 2025’’. 5
21	21	SEC. 2. VETTING STANDARDS FOR PLACEMENT OF UNAC-6
22	22	COMPANIED ALIEN CHILDREN WITH SPON-7
23	23	SORS. 8
24	24	(a) V
25	25	ETTING OFPROSPECTIVESPONSORS.— 9
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28	28	•S 286 IS
29	29	(1) IN GENERAL.—Before an unaccompanied 1
30	30	alien child (as defined in section 462(g) of the 2
31	31	Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 279(g))) 3
32	32	may be released from the custody of the Secretary 4
33	33	of Health and Human Services to the custody of a 5
34	34	sponsor, the sponsor shall undergo and complete, to 6
35	35	the satisfaction of the Secretary of Health and 7
36	36	Human Services and the head of the department of 8
37	37	children and family services of the applicable State 9
38	38	(or the equivalent State agency) and in consultation 10
39	39	with the Attorney General and the Secretary of 11
40	40	Homeland Security, a fingerprint background check 12
41	41	and vetting process that includes— 13
42	42	(A) a public records check; 14
43	43	(B) a check of the National Sex Offender 15
44	44	Registry of the Department of Justice, con-16
45	45	ducted through the public internet website for 17
46	46	such registry; 18
47	47	(C) a Federal Bureau of Investigation Na-19
48	48	tional Criminal History check based on digital 20
49	49	fingerprints or digitized fingerprints submitted 21
50	50	on paper; 22
51	51	(D) a Child Abuse and Neglect check, ob-23
52	52	tained on a State-by-State basis; and 24
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55	55	•S 286 IS
56	56	(E) a check of the criminal history reposi-1
57	57	tory of the applicable 1 or more States and a 2
58	58	police records check of the applicable localities. 3
59	59	(2) A
60	60	DULTS HOUSEHOLD MEMBERS .—As part 4
61	61	of the vetting process under paragraph (1), each in-5
62	62	dividual who is 18 years of age or older in the 6
63	63	household of a prospective sponsor shall undergo 7
64	64	and complete all vetting processes required by para-8
65	65	graph (1), to the satisfaction of the Secretary of 9
66	66	Health and Human Services and the head of the de-10
67	67	partment of children and family services of the ap-11
68	68	plicable State (or the equivalent State agency) and 12
69	69	in consultation with the Attorney General and the 13
70	70	Secretary of Homeland Security, before an unaccom-14
71	71	panied alien child may be placed in such household. 15
72	72	(b) L
73	73	IMITATION ON PLACEMENTWITHILLEGAL 16
74	74	A
75	75	LIENS.—The Secretary of Health and Human Services 17
76	76	may not release an unaccompanied alien child to the cus-18
77	77	tody of a sponsor who is an alien unlawfully present in 19
78	78	the United States, unless such alien is a biological parent, 20
79	79	legal guardian, or relative of the child. 21
80	80	(c) M
81	81	ONITORINGVISITS.— 22
82	82	(1) P
83	83	RE-RELEASE.—Before an unaccompanied 23
84	84	alien child may be released from the custody of the 24
85	85	Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Sec-25
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88	88	•S 286 IS
89	89	retary shall conduct a home visit to the household in 1
90	90	which the child is proposed to be placed, regardless 2
91	91	of the sponsor category of the prospective sponsor. 3
92	92	(2) P
93	93	OST-RELEASE.—For each child released 4
94	94	from the custody of the Secretary of Health and 5
95	95	Human Services after the date of the enactment of 6
96	96	this Act, the Secretary shall conduct— 7
97	97	(A) during the 1-year period beginning on 8
98	98	the date on which the child is so released, not 9
99	99	fewer than 5 unannounced in-person home vis-10
100	100	its; and 11
101	101	(B) during the subsequent 1-year period, 1 12
102	102	in-person home visit each quarter. 13
103	103	(d) R
104	104	ETROACTIVE VETTING.—The Secretary of 14
105	105	Health and Human Services, in collaboration with the 15
106	106	head of the department of children and family services of 16
107	107	each applicable State (or the equivalent State agency) and 17
108	108	in consultation with the Attorney General and the Sec-18
109	109	retary of Homeland Security, shall immediately conduct 19
110	110	the fingerprint background check and vetting process de-20
111	111	scribed in subsection (a) for each sponsor with whom a 21
112	112	child released from the custody of the Secretary of Health 22
113	113	and Human Services has been placed since January 20, 23
114	114	2021, until the sponsor of each such child has been vetted 24
115	115	in accordance with this Act. 25
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118	118	•S 286 IS
119	119	(e) MONTHLYREPORTS.— 1
120	120	(1) C
121	121	HILDREN IN CUSTODY AND RELEASED TO 2
122	122	SPONSORS.—Not later than 30 days after the date 3
123	123	of the enactment of this Act, and every 30 days 4
124	124	thereafter, the Secretary of Health and Human 5
125	125	Services and the Secretary of Homeland Security 6
126	126	shall jointly submit to the Committee on Homeland 7
127	127	Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate 8
128	128	and the Committee on Homeland Security of the 9
129	129	House of Representatives a report that contains, for 10
130	130	the preceding month— 11
131	131	(A) the number of unaccompanied alien 12
132	132	children encountered by the Secretary of Home-13
133	133	land Security; 14
134	134	(B) the number of unaccompanied alien 15
135	135	children released by the Secretary of Homeland 16
136	136	Security into the custody of the Secretary of 17
137	137	Health and Human Services; 18
138	138	(C) the number of sponsor background 19
139	139	checks completed under subsection (a); 20
140	140	(D) the number of sponsor background 21
141	141	checks in progress under such subsection; 22
142	142	(E) the number of pre-release home visits 23
143	143	completed; 24
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146	146	•S 286 IS
147	147	(F) the number of post-release home visits 1
148	148	completed; 2
149	149	(G) the number of unaccompanied alien 3
150	150	children released to sponsors, disaggregated by 4
151	151	sponsor category; 5
152	152	(H) total number of unaccompanied alien 6
153	153	children in the custody of the Secretary of 7
154	154	Health and Human Services, disaggregated by 8
155	155	State and Department of Health and Human 9
156	156	Services facility; and 10
157	157	(I) the rate at which the Secretary of 11
158	158	Health and Human Services rejected sponsor-12
159	159	ship applications. 13
160	160	(2) M
161	161	ISSING CHILDREN.—Not later than 30 14
162	162	days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and 15
163	163	every 30 days thereafter, the Secretary of Health 16
164	164	and Human Services and the Secretary of Homeland 17
165	165	Security shall jointly submit to Congress a report on 18
166	166	all efforts made, during the preceding month, by the 19
167	167	Department of Health and Human Services and the 20
168	168	Department of Homeland Security to account for all 21
169	169	children— 22
170	170	(3) who were released from the custody of the 23
171	171	Secretary of Health and Human Services to a spon-24
172	172	sor on or after January 20, 2021; and 25
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176	176	(4) as of the date of the enactment of this 1
177	177	Act— 2
178	178	(A) who have been reported missing; or 3
179	179	(B) with respect to whom the Secretary of 4
180	180	Health and Human Services has no record 5
181	181	since the date of release from custody. 6
182	182	Æ
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