IB 

Union Calendar No. 433 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8225 

[Report No. 116–533] 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit certain types of fraud 

in the provision of immigration services, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 11, 2020 

Ms. MUCARSEL-POWELL (for herself and Ms. GARCIA of Texas) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

SEPTEMBER 24, 2020 

Additional sponsor: Mr. CORREA

SEPTEMBER 24, 2020 

Reported from the Committee on the Judiciary; committed to the Committee 

of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed 


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•HR 8225 RH

A BILL 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit certain 

types of fraud in the provision of immigration services, 

and for other purposes. 


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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 ‘‘Fight Notario Fraud 

5 Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FRAUD PROHIBITED. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 47 of title 18, United 

8 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol9 lowing new section: 

10 ‘‘§ 1041. Schemes to defraud persons in any matter 

11 arising under immigration laws 

12 ‘‘(a) FRAUD.—Any person who knowingly executes a 

13 scheme or artifice, in connection with any matter author14 ized by or arising under the immigration laws, or any mat15 ter that such person claims or represents is authorized by 

16 or arises under the immigration laws to— 

17 ‘‘(1) defraud any other person; or 

18 ‘‘(2) obtain or receive money or anything else of 

19 value from any other person by means of false or 

20 fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, 

21 shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 

22 1 year, or both. 

23 ‘‘(b) MISREPRESENTATION.—Any person who know24 ingly makes a false representation that such person is an 

25 attorney or an accredited representative (as such term is 


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1 defined under section 1292.1(a)(4) of title 8, Code of Fed2 eral Regulations (or any successor regulation)) in any 

3 matter arising under the immigration laws shall be fined 

4 under this title, imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both. 

5 ‘‘(c) THREATS AND RETALIATION.—Any person who 

6 violates subsection (a) and knowingly— 

7 ‘‘(1) threatens to report another person to Fed8 eral authorities or State law enforcement authorities 

9 working in conjunction with or pursuant to Federal 

10 authority; 

11 ‘‘(2) acts to adversely affect another person’s 

12 immigration status, perceived immigration status, or 

13 attempts to secure immigration status that— 

14 ‘‘(A) impacts or results in the removal of 

15 the person from the United States; 

16 ‘‘(B) leads to the loss of immigration sta17 tus; or 

18 ‘‘(C) causes the person seeking to apply for 

19 an immigration benefit to lose an opportunity 

20 to apply for such an immigration benefit that 

21 would have provided immigration status and for 

22 which a person was prima facie eligible; or 

23 ‘‘(3) demands or retains money or anything else 

24 of value for services fraudulently performed or not 


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1 performed or withholds or threatens to withhold 

2 services promised to be performed, 

3 shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 

4 1 year, or both. 

5 ‘‘(d) GRAVITY OF OFFENSE.— 

6 ‘‘(1) CUMULATIVE LOSS.—Any person who vio7 lates subsection (a), (b), or (c) such that the cumu8 lative loss to all victims exceeds $10,000 may be im9 prisoned not more than 3 years, fined under this 

10 title, or both. 

11 ‘‘(2) RETALIATION.—Any person who violates 

12 subsection (a) or (b) and causes the harm described 

13 in subsection (c)(2) may be imprisoned not more 

14 than 3 years, fined under this title, or both. 

15 ‘‘(e) INFORMATION SHARING AND ENFORCEMENT.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Immigrant and Em17 ployee Rights Section of the Civil Rights Division of 

18 the Department of Justice— 

19 ‘‘(A) shall have primary enforcement re20 sponsibility for this section and shall be con21 sulted prior to a United States Attorney initi22 ating an action under this section; 

23 ‘‘(B) shall establish procedures to receive 

24 and investigate complaints of fraudulent immi25 gration schemes from the public that are conVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:38 Sep 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8225.RH H8225

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1 sistent with the procedures for receiving and in2 vestigating complaints of unfair immigration-re3 lated employment practices; and 

4 ‘‘(C) shall maintain and publish on the 

5 internet, information aimed at protecting con6 sumers from fraudulent immigration schemes, 

7 as well as a list of individuals who have been 

8 convicted of unlawful conduct under this section 

9 or have been found by a State or Federal agen10 cy to have unlawfully provided immigration 

11 services. 

12 ‘‘(2) SPECIAL UNITED STATES ATTORNEYS.— 

13 The Attorney General shall establish no fewer than 

14 15 Special United States Attorney positions in dis15 tricts the Attorney General determines, after ana16 lyzing data following each decennial census, to be 

17 most affected by the fraud described in subsections 

18 (a), (b), and (c). 

19 ‘‘(3) RESTITUTION.—There shall be deposited 

20 in the Crime Victims Fund established under section 

21 1402 of the Victims of Crime Act of 1984 (34 

22 U.S.C. 20101) any restitution ordered for an offense 

23 under this section if the victim of such offense can24 not reasonably be located. 


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1 ‘‘(f) SEVERABILITY.—If any provision of this section, 

2 or the application of such a provision to any person or 

3 circumstance, is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder 

4 of this section and the application of the remaining provi5 sions of this section to any person or circumstance shall 

6 not be affected thereby. 

7 ‘‘(g) IMMIGRATION LAWS.—In this section, the term 

8 ‘immigration laws’ has the meaning given that term in sec9 tion 101(a)(17) of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

10 (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(17)).’’. 

11 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

12 for chapter 47 of title 18, United States Code, is amended 

13 by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘1041. Schemes to defraud persons in any matter arising under immigration 

laws.’’. 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 433 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8225 

[Report No. 116–533] 

A BILL 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit 

gration services, and for other purposes. certain types of fraud in the provision of immiSEPTEMBER 24, 2020 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 

State of the Union and ordered to be printed 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS