I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2536 

To provide relief for victims of hate crimes, advance the safety and wellbeing of immigrants and refugees, and fund improved law enforcement 

and prosecution official training. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 14, 2021 

Mr. TAKANO introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To provide relief for victims of hate crimes, advance the 

safety and well-being of immigrants and refugees, and 

fund improved law enforcement and prosecution official 

training. 

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 ‘‘Prevention of Anti5 Immigrant Violence Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Anti-immigrant violence is on the rise, with 

2 the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reporting 

3 an 0.95-percent increase in hate crimes against indi4 viduals for 2019 compared to 2018 and an observed 

5 shift in crimes against individuals as opposed to 

6 property. The FBI data shows that 57.6 percent of 

7 hate crimes reported were motivated by race, eth8 nicity, or ancestry. In addition, the 51 hate crime 

9 murders recorded in 2019 are the highest ever re10 ported by the FBI since it began tracking hate 

11 crimes in 1991. Since 2014, FBI hate crime statis12 tics have shown an increasing trend in hate crimes, 

13 with the highest yearly gains so far reported for 

14 2017 at 17 percent. 

15 (2) The vast majority of the reported hate 

16 crimes are related to race, ethnicity, or ancestry. Ac17 cording to the Department of Justice’s Bureau of 

18 Justice Statistics (BJS), Hispanics experience close 

19 to double the rate of hate crime victimization that 

20 non-Hispanic Whites (1.3 vs 0.7 per 1,000). The 

21 2019 National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) 

22 data shows that non-U.S. citizens are victimized at 

23 a rate of approximately 12.5 victims per 1,000 non24 U.S. citizens. 


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1 (3) BJS has shown a precipitous decline in re2 porting of hate crimes since 2014, with BJS’s 

3 NCVS data showing that between 2013 and 2017 

4 more than half of all hate crimes (>100,000) went 

5 unreported annually. NCVS 2019 statistics show 

6 that after declining by more than 60 percent in the 

7 past 21 years, the number of violent crime victims 

8 has steadily increased since 2015; and that the rate 

9 of unreported violent crimes continues to rise; in10 creasing from 9.5 to 12.9 per 1,000 persons between 

11 2015 and 2018. 

12 (4) Many immigrant advocates cite fear of de13 portation as one of the reasons people are not com14 ing forward to report crimes. The threat of being re15 ported to Immigration and Customs Enforcement 

16 (ICE) is used by perpetrators of hate crimes to si17 lence both victims and witnesses and to avoid crimi18 nal prosecution. 

19 (5) Detention and removal of victims of hate 

20 crimes undermine the rule of law and gives perpetra21 tors the means by which to escape prosecution. The 

22 deportation of victims and witnesses denies them the 

23 ability to see justice served, prevents law enforce24 ment from keeping communities safe, and exacerVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:37 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2536.IH H2536

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1 bates the problems communities face in the rise of 

2 anti-immigrant violence. 

3 (6) Lack of resources has prevented law en4 forcement, prosecutors, and victimized communities 

5 from learning about available tools for their protec6 tion and the prosecution of these crimes. Everyone 

7 seeking justice for victims and eager to see a reduc8 tion in hate crimes must be afforded the resources 

9 to learn and educate the public of these available 

10 tools. 

11 SEC. 3. EXPANSION OF CRIMINAL ACTIVITY FOR WHICH A 

12 U VISA MAY BE ISSUED; ADDITIONAL U VISAS 

13 MADE AVAILABLE. 

14 (a) EXPANSION OF CRIMINAL ACTIVITY.—Section 

15 101(a)(15)(U)(iii) of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

16 (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(U)) is amended by inserting after 

17 ‘‘fraud in foreign labor contracting (as defined in section 

18 1351 of title 18, United States Code);’’ the following: 

19 ‘‘hate crime acts;’’. 

20 (b) ADDITIONAL VISAS MADE AVAILABLE.—Section 

21 214(p)(2)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 

22 U.S.C. 1184(p)(2)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘10,000’’ 

23 and inserting ‘‘12,000’’, thus designating the additional 

24 2,000 visas for victims of hate crimes. 


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1 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION OF REMOVAL OF NON-CITIZENS WITH 

2 PENDING PETITIONS AND APPLICATIONS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—A non-citizen described in sub4 section (b) shall not be removed from the United States 

5 under section 240 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

6 (8 U.S.C. 1229a) or any other provision of law until there 

7 is a final denial of the non-citizen’s application for status 

8 after the exhaustion of administrative and judicial review. 

9 (b) NON-CITIZENS DESCRIBED.—A non-citizen is de10 scribed in this subsection if the non-citizen— 

11 (1) has a pending application under section 

12 101(a)(15)(T), 101(a)(15)(U), 101(a)(27)(J), 106, 

13 240A(b)(2), or 244(a)(3) (as in effect on March 31, 

14 1997) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 

15 U.S.C. 1101, 1229a, 1254a); or 

16 (2) is a VAWA self-petitioner, as defined in sec17 tion 101(a)(51) of the Immigration and Nationality 

18 Act, with a pending application for relief. 

19 SEC. 5. PROHIBITION ON DETENTION OF CERTAIN VICTIMS 

20 WITH PENDING PETITIONS AND APPLICA21 TIONS. 

22 Section 236 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

23 (8 U.S.C. 1226) is amended by adding at the end the fol24 lowing: 

25 ‘‘(a) PROHIBITION ON DETENTION OF CERTAIN VIC26 TIMS WITH PENDING PETITIONS AND APPLICATIONS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

2 provision of this Act, there shall be a presumption 

3 that the non-citizen described in paragraph (2) 

4 should be released from detention. The Secretary of 

5 Homeland Security shall have the duty of rebutting 

6 this presumption, which may only be shown based on 

7 clear and convincing evidence, including credible and 

8 individualized information, that the use of alter9 natives to detention will not reasonably ensure the 

10 appearance of the non-citizen at removal pro11 ceedings, or that the non-citizen is a threat to an12 other person or the community. The fact that a non13 citizen has a criminal charge pending against the 

14 non-citizen may not be the sole factor to justify the 

15 continued detention of the non-citizen. 

16 ‘‘(2) NON-CITIZEN DESCRIBED.—A non-citizen 

17 is described in this paragraph if the non-citizen— 

18 ‘‘(A) has a pending application under sec19 tion 101(a)(15)(T), 101(a)(15)(U), 

20 101(a)(27)(J), 106, 240A(b)(2), or 244(a)(3) 

21 (as in effect on March 31, 1997); or 

22 ‘‘(B) is a VAWA self-petitioner, as defined 

23 in section 101(a)(51), with a pending applica24 tion for relief.’’. 


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1 SEC. 6. GRANTS TO IDENTIFY, ASSIST, AND PROTECT VIC2 TIMS OF HATE CRIME VIOLENCE. 

3 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

4 (1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti5 ty’’ means a State, a local government, or non-gov6 ernmental organizations. 

7 (2) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any 

8 State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 

9 the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the 

10 United States Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of 

11 the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, 

12 and any other territory or possession of the United 

13 States. 

14 (b) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—The Attorney General 

15 may award grants to eligible entities to assist non-citizen 

16 victims of hate crimes and/or provide training to State and 

17 local law enforcement personnel or prosecution officials to 

18 identify and protect victims of anti-immigrant driven hate 

19 crime violence, criminal activities and harms covered by 

20 section 101(a)(15)(T), 101(a)(15)(U), 101(a)(27)(J), 

21 106, 240A(b)(2), or 244(a)(3) (as in effect on March 31, 

22 1997); or is a VAWA self-petitioner, as defined in section 

23 101(a)(51), with a pending application for relief. 

24 (c) USE OF FUNDS.— 

25 (1) PARTNERSHIP OR COLLABORATION.—An el26 igible entity receiving a grant under this section 


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1 shall carry out or possess at least one of the fol2 lowing activities or expertise described in paragraph 

3 (2) in partnership or collaboration with— 

4 (A) National, State, local, or Federal law 

5 enforcement or prosecution officials dedicated 

6 to reducing anti-immigrant hate crimes and 

7 which possess personnel who have more than 2- 

8 year expertise in and have received U Visa Law 

9 Enforcement Certification and/or T visa dec10 larations training; or 

11 (B) National, State, or local non-govern12 mental organizations with more than 2 years 

13 expertise in the identification and prosecution 

14 of hate crime, dedicated to the reduction of 

15 anti-immigrant biased violence or expertise 

16 training on and/or assisting non-citizens navi17 gate the process of applying for the U visa and 

18 any of the forms of immigration relief listed in 

19 section 4(b) of this Act; or 

20 (C) a non-governmental organization work21 ing in partnership or collaboration with a group 

22 in subparagraph (A) or (B). 

23 (2) ACTIVITIES AND EXPERTISE.—The activi24 ties and expertises referred to in paragraph (1) are 

25 as follows: 


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1 (A) To provide funding to community2 based, legal or victim services organizations, law 

3 enforcement or prosecution programs with a 

4 documented history of effective work in identi5 fication of hate crimes and anti-immigrant vio6 lence, to perform outreach in communities that 

7 have experienced an increase in anti-immigrant 

8 violence since 2014. 

9 (B) To provide funding to community10 based, legal or victim services organizations, law 

11 enforcement or prosecution programs with a 

12 documented history of effective work in the 

13 training of law enforcement and/or prosecution 

14 agency personnel to protect victims of crimes 

15 who are non-citizens without lawful immigration 

16 status, including training such personnel to uti17 lize Federal, State, or local resources to assist 

18 such victims and their families. 

19 (C) To provide funding to community20 based, legal or victim services organizations, law 

21 enforcement or prosecution programs with a 

22 documented history of effective work in the 

23 training of law enforcement or State or local 

24 prosecutors to utilize Federal laws that protect 

25 such non-citizens and their families. 


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1 (d) RESTRICTIONS.— 

2 (1) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—A grant 

3 awarded under this section shall be used to supple4 ment and not supplant other Federal, State, and 

5 local public funds available to carry out the training 

6 described in subsection (c). 

7 (2) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—An eligible 

8 entity that receives a grant under this section may 

9 use not more than 5 percent of the total amount of 

10 such grant for administrative expenses. 

11 (3) NONEXCLUSIVITY.—Nothing in this section 

12 may be construed to restrict the ability of an eligible 

13 entity to apply for or obtain funding from any other 

14 source to carry out the training described in sub15 section (c). 

16 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

17 are authorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 for each 

18 of fiscal years 2022 through 2032 to carry out this sec19 tion. 

Æ 


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