I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2602 

To provide for sanctions on countries that have refused or unreasonably 

delayed repatriation of an alien who is a national of that country, 

or that have an excessive repatriation failure rate, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 28, 2013 

Mr. POE of Texas (for himself, Mr. GOODLATTE, Mr. GOWDY, Mrs. BLACK, 

and Mr. SMITH of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by 

the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To provide for sanctions on countries that have refused or 

unreasonably delayed repatriation of an alien who is a 

national of that country, or that have an excessive repatriation failure rate, and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Timely Repatriation 

5 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. TIMELY REPATRIATION. 

2 (a) LISTING OF COUNTRIES.—Beginning on the date 

3 that is 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act, 

4 and every 6 months thereafter, the Secretary of Homeland 

5 Security shall publish a report including the following: 

6 (1) A list of the following: 

7 (A) Countries that have refused or unrea8 sonably delayed repatriation of an alien who is 

9 a national of that country since the date of en10 actment of this Act and the total number of 

11 such aliens, disaggregated by nationality. 

12 (B) Countries that have an excessive repa13 triation failure rate. 

14 (2) A list of each country that was included 

15 under subparagraph (B) or (C) of paragraph (1) in 

16 both the report preceding the current report and the 

17 current report. 

18 (b) SANCTIONS.—Beginning on the date that a coun19 try is included in a list under subsection (a)(2) and ending 

20 on the date that that country is not included in such list, 

21 that country shall be subject to the following: 

22 (1) The Secretary of State may not issue visas 

23 under section 101(a)(15)(A)(iii) of the Immigration 

24 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(A)(iii)) 

25 to attendants, servants, personal employees, and 

26 members of their immediate families, of the officials 


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1 and employees of that country who receive non2 immigrant status under clause (i) or (ii) of section 

3 101(a)(15)(A) of such Act. 

4 (2) Each 6 months thereafter that the country 

5 is included in that list, the Secretary of State shall 

6 reduce the number of visas available under clause (i) 

7 or (ii) of section 101(a)(15)(A) of the Immigration 

8 and Nationality Act in a fiscal year to nationals of 

9 that country by an amount equal to 10 percent of 

10 the baseline visa number for that country. Except as 

11 provided under section 243(d) of the Immigration 

12 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1253), the Secretary 

13 may not reduce the number to a level below 20 per14 cent of the baseline visa number. 

15 (c) WAIVERS.— 

16 (1) NATIONAL SECURITY WAIVER.—If the Sec17 retary of State submits to Congress a written deter18 mination that significant national security interests 

19 of the United States require a waiver of the sanc20 tions under subsection (b), the Secretary may waive 

21 any reduction below 80 percent of the baseline visa 

22 number. The Secretary of Homeland Security may 

23 not delegate the authority under this subsection. 

24 (2) TEMPORARY EXIGENT CIRCUMSTANCES.—If 

25 the Secretary of State submits to Congress a written 


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1 determination that temporary exigent circumstances 

2 require a waiver of the sanctions under subsection 

3 (b), the Secretary may waive any reduction below 80 

4 percent of the baseline visa number during 6-month 

5 renewable periods. The Secretary of Homeland Secu6 rity may not delegate the authority under this sub7 section. 

8 (d) EXEMPTION.—The Secretary of Homeland Secu9 rity, in consultation with the Secretary of State, may ex10 empt a country from inclusion in a list under subsection 

11 (a)(2) if the total number of nonrepatriations outstanding 

12 is less than 10 for the preceding 3-year period. 

13 (e) UNAUTHORIZED VISA ISSUANCE.—Any visa 

14 issued in violation of this section shall be void. 

15 (f) NOTICE.—If an alien who has been convicted of 

16 a criminal offense before a Federal or State court whose 

17 repatriation was refused or unreasonably delayed is to be 

18 released from detention by the Secretary of Homeland Se19 curity, the Secretary shall provide notice to the State and 

20 local law enforcement agency for the jurisdictions in which 

21 the alien is required to report or is to be released. When 

22 possible, and particularly in the case of violent crime, the 

23 Secretary shall make a reasonable effort to provide notice 

24 of such release to any crime victims and their immediate 

25 family members. 


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1 (g) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 

2 (1) REFUSED OR UNREASONABLY DELAYED.— 

3 A country is deemed to have refused or unreasonably 

4 delayed the acceptance of an alien who is a citizen, 

5 subject, national, or resident of that country if, not 

6 later than 90 days after receiving a request to repa7 triate such alien from an official of the United 

8 States who is authorized to make such a request, the 

9 country does not accept the alien or issue valid trav10 el documents. 

11 (2) FAILURE RATE.—The term ‘‘failure rate’’ 

12 for a period means the percentage determined by di13 viding the total number of repatriation requests for 

14 aliens who are citizens, subjects, nationals, or resi15 dents of a country that that country refused or un16 reasonably delayed during that period by the total 

17 number of such requests during that period. 

18 (3) EXCESSIVE REPATRIATION FAILURE

19 RATE.—The term ‘‘excessive repatriation failure 

20 rate’’ means, with respect to a report under sub21 section (a), a failure rate greater than 10 percent 

22 for any of the following: 

23 (A) The period of the 3 full fiscal years 

24 preceding the date of publication of the report. 


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1 (B) The period of 1 year preceding the 

2 date of publication of the report. 

3 (4) NUMBER OF NON-REPATRIATIONS OUT4 STANDING.—The term ‘‘number of non-repatriations 

5 outstanding’’ means, for a period, the number of 

6 unique aliens whose repatriation a country has re7 fused or unreasonably delayed and whose repatri8 ation has not occurred during that period. 

9 (5) BASELINE VISA NUMBER.—The term ‘‘base10 line visa number’’ means, with respect to a country, 

11 the average number of visas issued each fiscal year 

12 to nationals of that country under clauses (i) and 

13 (ii) of section 101(a)(15)(A) of the Immigration and 

14 Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(A)) for the 3 

15 full fiscal years immediately preceding the first re16 port under subsection (a) in which that country is 

17 included in the list under subsection (a)(2). 

18 (h) GAO REPORT.—On the date that is 1 day after 

19 the date that the President submits a budget under sec20 tion 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code, for fiscal year 

21 2014, the Comptroller General of the United States shall 

22 submit a report to Congress regarding the progress of the 

23 Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of 


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1 State in implementation of this section and in making re2 quests to repatriate aliens as appropriate. 

Æ 


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