II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5261 

To protect certain victims of human trafficking by expanding the authority 

of the Secretary of Homeland Security to grant such aliens continued 

presence in the United States. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 14, 2022 

Mr. CARDIN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To protect certain victims of human trafficking by expanding 

the authority of the Secretary of Homeland Security 

to grant such aliens continued presence in the United 

States. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Continued Presence 

5 Improvement Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. TRAFFICKING VICTIMS. 

7 Section 107(c)(3) of the Trafficking Victims Protec8 tion Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7105(c)(3)) is amended— 


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1 (1) in subparagraph (A)— 

2 (A) in clause (i)— 

3 (i) by striking ‘‘Federal’’; 

4 (ii) by striking ‘‘is’’ and inserting 

5 ‘‘may be’’; 

6 (iii) by striking ‘‘and may be a poten7 tial witness to such trafficking’’; and 

8 (iv) by striking ‘‘may permit the alien 

9 to remain in the United States to facilitate 

10 the investigation and’’ and inserting ‘‘may 

11 permit the continued presence of the alien 

12 in the United States for the duration of an 

13 investigation or’’; 

14 (B) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘Federal law 

15 enforcement officials described in clause (i)’’ 

16 and inserting ‘‘law enforcement officials’’; 

17 (C) in clause (iii)— 

18 (i) in the clause header, by striking 

19 ‘‘CONTINUATION OF PRESENCE’’ and in20 serting ‘‘CIVIL ACTION’’; 

21 (ii) by striking ‘‘shall’’ and inserting 

22 ‘‘may’’; 

23 (iii) by striking ‘‘described in clause 

24 (i) who’’ and inserting ‘‘who is a victim of 

25 a severe form of trafficking and’’; and 


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1 (iv) by adding at the end the fol2 lowing: ‘‘Continued presence shall be ex3 tended beyond an investigation or prosecu4 tion described in clause (i) if the alien has 

5 a pending immigration benefit application 

6 until such application is approved, with7 drawn, or denied, unless the Secretary de8 termines that continued presence is no 

9 longer warranted.’’; and 

10 (D) by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(v) EMPLOYMENT AUTHORIZATION

12 .—During the period the alien is author13 ized to remain in the United States under 

14 this paragraph, the Secretary of Homeland 

15 Security shall— 

16 ‘‘(I) authorize the alien to engage 

17 in employment in the United States; 

18 and 

19 ‘‘(II) provide the alien with an 

20 ‘employment authorized’ endorsement 

21 or other appropriate work permit. 

22 ‘‘(vi) LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFI23 CIAL.—In this paragraph, the term ‘law 

24 enforcement official’ means personnel from 

25 a Federal, State, tribal, territorial, or local 


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1 law enforcement agency, labor agency, chil2 dren’s protective services agency, or other 

3 civil, criminal, judicial or administrative 

4 authority that has the responsibility and 

5 authority for the detection, investigation, 

6 or prosecution of severe forms of traf7 ficking in persons. 

8 ‘‘(vii) PROTECTION FROM IMMIGRA9 TION ENFORCEMENT.—While a grant of 

10 continued presence is in effect under this 

11 paragraph, Federal law enforcement offi12 cials may only take civil immigration en13 forcement actions against an alien de14 scribed in clause (i) or (iii)— 

15 ‘‘(I) based on conduct committed 

16 after continued presence is authorized; 

17 or 

18 ‘‘(II) following consultation with 

19 the law enforcement official who filed 

20 the application for continued pres21 ence.’’; 

22 (2) in subparagraph (B)— 

23 (A) by striking ‘‘Law enforcement’’ and in24 serting the following: 


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1 ‘‘(i) OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES.— 

2 Law enforcement’’; 

3 (B) in clause (i), as redesignated, by strik4 ing ‘‘subparagraph (A)(i)’’ and inserting 

5 ‘‘clause (i) or (iii) of subparagraph (A)’’; and 

6 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(ii) INSIDE THE UNITED STATES.— 

8 Law enforcement officials may submit 

9 written requests to the Secretary of Home10 land Security for deferred action and em11 ployment authorization for certain relatives 

12 of any alien whose continued presence is 

13 permitted under clause (i) or (iii) of sub14 paragraph (A).’’; and 

15 (3) by amending subparagraph (C) to read as 

16 follows: 

17 ‘‘(C) LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICE POLI18 CIES, TRAINING, AND MATERIAL.—The Sec19 retary of Homeland Security, the Secretary of 

20 State, the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of 

21 Health and Human Services, the Attorney Gen22 eral, and the Commissioner of the Equal Em23 ployment Opportunity Commission shall— 

24 ‘‘(i) develop policies and procedures 

25 for their respective agencies that encourage 


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1 the use of and immediate application for 

2 continued presence by the respective agen3 cy upon identification of a victim of a se4 vere form of trafficking in persons under 

5 subparagraph (A)(i) in appropriate cases; 

6 ‘‘(ii) develop materials, in consultation 

7 with the Secretary of Homeland Security, 

8 to encourage and assist their respective 

9 Federal agency personnel and other law 

10 enforcement officials to request continued 

11 presence in appropriate cases; and 

12 ‘‘(iii) distribute the materials devel13 oped pursuant to clause (ii) and provide 

14 training on such materials to their respec15 tive Federal agency personnel and other 

16 law enforcement officials.’’. 

Æ 


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