I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3504 

To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to conduct criminal history 

background checks on aliens who unlawfully entered the United States 

prior to releasing such aliens from custody, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 25, 2021 

Ms. HERRELL (for herself, Mr. GOOD of Virginia, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. WEBER

of Texas, and Mr. ADERHOLT) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to conduct 

criminal history background checks on aliens who unlawfully entered the United States prior to releasing such 

aliens from custody, 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 ‘‘Protect Americans 

5 from Foreign Criminals Act of 2021’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. BACKGROUND CHECKS REQUIRED ON ALIENS UN2 LAWFULLY ENTERING THE UNITED STATES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi4 sion of law, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall de5 tain and may not release from custody any alien who is 

6 inadmissible under section 212(a)(6)(A)(i) of the Immi7 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(6)(A)(i)), 

8 prior to conducting a criminal history background check 

9 on the alien in accordance with this section. 

10 (b) BACKGROUND CHECK REQUIREMENTS.—The 

11 Secretary of Homeland Security shall conduct a criminal 

12 history background check of the alien using— 

13 (1) appropriate criminal history databases in 

14 the United States; and 

15 (2) appropriate criminal history databases in 

16 the alien’s country of origin, and each country of 

17 transit. 

18 (c) RESULTS OF BACKGROUND CHECK.—If the Sec19 retary determines, based on a criminal history background 

20 check required to be conducted under this section, that 

21 an alien— 

22 (1) has been convicted of or has pending 

23 charges for an aggravated felony (as such term is 

24 defined in section 101(a)(43) of the Immigration 

25 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(43))) in the 


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1 United States, the alien’s country of origin, or a 

2 country of transit; 

3 (2) is a member of a criminal street gang (as 

4 such term is defined in section 521 of title 18, 

5 United States Code); or 

6 (3) is described in section 236(c)(1) of the Im7 migration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

8 1226(c)(1)), 

9 the Secretary may not release the alien from custody pend10 ing removal proceedings. 

11 (d) FOREIGN BACKGROUND CHECK SYSTEMS.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Homeland 

13 Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State 

14 and the Director of National Intelligence, shall im15 mediately conduct a worldwide review to determine 

16 whether the Secretary of Homeland Security has the 

17 ability to access the databases of criminal history 

18 databases of any country to perform the background 

19 checks described in subsection (b)(2). 

20 (2) STANDARDS.—The review described in 

21 paragraph (1) shall consider whether the databases 

22 of a country are up to date, digitized, searchable, 

23 and otherwise meet the standards of the Federal 

24 Bureau of Investigations for criminal history data25 bases maintained by State and local governments. 


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1 (3) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after 

2 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 

3 Homeland Security shall provide a report to the 

4 Committees on the Judiciary of the House of Rep5 resentatives and the Senate, the Committee on 

6 Homeland Security of the House of Representatives, 

7 and the Comittee on Homeland Security and Gov8 ernmental Affairs of the Senate, on results of the re9 view conducted under paragraph (1). 

10 (4) FAILURE TO MEET STANDARDS.—When the 

11 Secretary of Homeland Security finds that the crimi12 nal history databases of a country described in sub13 section (b)(2) are not up to date, digitized, search14 able, or otherwise fail to meet the standards of the 

15 Federal Bureau of Investigations for criminal his16 tory databases maintained by State and local gov17 ernments, as determined applicable by the Secretary, 

18 the Secretary may not release from custody an alien 

19 who originated from or transited through such coun20 try. 

21 (e) CERTIFICATION.—On an annual basis, the Sec22 retary of Homeland Security shall submit to the Commit23 tees on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives and 

24 of the Senate, the Committee on Homeland Security of 

25 the House of Representatives, and the Committee on 


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1 Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Sen2 ate, a certification that each database described in sub3 section (b)(2), which the Secretary accessed or sought to 

4 access pursuant to this section, met the standards de5 scribed in subsection (d). Prior to submission, the Inspec6 tor General of the Department of Homeland Security shall 

7 review each certification under this subsection. 

Æ 


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