Immigration Bills

S. 2631 would prohibit any federal agency or instrumentality from using federal funding or resources to: (1) consider or adjudicate any new or previously denied application of any alien requesting consideration of deferred action for childhood arrivals, as authorized by Executive memorandum on August 15, 2012; or (2) authorize any alien to work in the United States who was not lawfully admitted into the United States and who is not in lawful status in the United States on the date of enactment of this Act.

H.R. 5137, the Asylum Reform and Border Protection Act of 2014, represents one of the most thorough responses to the surge of unaccompanied alien children (UACs) at the Southwest border. Aside from repealing the requirements that resulted in UACs from contiguous countries receiving differing treatment than those from noncontiguous countries, this bill requires immigration officers to order all illegal entrants removed upon screening, absent an asylum claim. In order to encourage cooperation with return, foreign countries who resist repatriation will face cuts to foreign assistance.

S. 2619, the Children Returning on an Expedited and Safe Timeline Act, would attempt to address the surge at the Southwest border by redefining undocumented alien children (UAC). Unfortunately, in doing so, it actually expands the definition to include all children who cross the border without a parent or legal guardian. Under current law, a UAC must not have a parent or legal guardian inside the U.S. Therefore, such an expansion would place an enormous number of children who were otherwise ineligible through the UAC process.

To reduce the amount of foreign assistance to Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador based on the number of unaccompanied alien children who are nationals or citizens of such countries and who in the preceding fiscal year are placed in Federal custody by reason of their immigration status.

S. 2611, the Helping Unaccompanied Minors and Alleviating National Emergency (HUMANE) Act, would address the surge of unaccompanied alien children (UACs) on the Southwest border, but would actually make the situation much worse. Though the distinction between UACs from Mexico and other countries is removed, it exposes all of them to a complicated process which would further delay returning the children to their countries of origin.