Unaccompanied Alien Children Assistance Control Act

Subjects: International Affairs


<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2644 Introduced in House (IH)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2644

 To reduce the amount of foreign assistance to El Salvador, Guatemala, 
 and Honduras based on the number of unaccompanied alien children who 
 are nationals or citizens of such countries and who in the preceding 
     fiscal year are placed in Federal custody by reason of their 
                          immigration status.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 17, 2023

 Mr. Burgess introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To reduce the amount of foreign assistance to El Salvador, Guatemala, 
 and Honduras based on the number of unaccompanied alien children who 
 are nationals or citizens of such countries and who in the preceding 
     fiscal year are placed in Federal custody by reason of their 
                          immigration status.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Unaccompanied Alien Children 
Assistance Control Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Gang violence, poverty, and corruption are the main 
        drivers of illegal immigration from El Salvador, Guatemala, and 
        Honduras to the United States.
            (2) According to an independent task force report by the 
        Atlantic Council's Latin America Center--
                    (A) systemic corruption stagnates economic growth;
                    (B) eight in ten poll respondents see corruption as 
                widespread;
                    (C) citizens in El Salvador, Guatemala, and 
                Honduras do not trust the government institutions 
                responsible for curtailing corruption; and
                    (D) investigations have revealed massive networks 
                dedicated to co-opting public funds for the personal 
                enrichment of government officials.
            (3) There exists the potential for foreign assistance from 
        the United States to be misused by central government officials 
        in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras in order to reduce the 
        success of anti-corruption efforts.
            (4) Systemic corruption in El Salvador, Guatemala, and 
        Honduras undermines efforts to address the driving causes of 
        illegal immigration into the United States from such countries.
            (5) The United States provided more than $3,046,484,297 of 
        foreign assistance for Central American countries during fiscal 
        years 2018 through 2021.
            (6) For the past 5 fiscal years, the Department of Homeland 
        Security has referred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement 
        (ORR) 40,810 unaccompanied children in fiscal year 2017, 69,488 
        in fiscal year 2019, 15,381 in fiscal year 2020, 122,731 in 
        fiscal year 2021, and 128,904 in fiscal year 2022.
            (7) In fiscal year 2022, approximately 72 percent of all 
        children referred were over 14 years of age, and 64 percent 
        were boys. In fiscal year 2022, countries of origin of youth in 
        this program were approximately as follows: Guatemala (47 
        percent); Honduras (29 percent); El Salvador (13 percent); and 
        other (11 percent).
            (8) On average, providing care for unaccompanied alien 
        children in ORR custody costs $500 per child, per day.
            (9) In fiscal year 2022 the average length of stay in ORR 
        custody for an unaccompanied alien child was 30 days.
            (10) On average, the total cost of care for an 
        unaccompanied alien child in ORR custody in fiscal year 2022 
        was $15,000 per child and $1,933,560,000 for all children.
            (11) According to the Department of State, the United 
        States is the largest single donor of humanitarian aid in 
        Central America and Mexico and to asylum seekers, refugees, and 
        vulnerable migrants in the region.

SEC. 3. REDUCTION OF AMOUNT OF FOREIGN ASSISTANCE TO EL SALVADOR, 
              GUATEMALA, AND HONDURAS.

    (a) In General.--The President shall reduce from amounts made 
available under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 or any other Act and 
allocated for a covered country for a fiscal year an amount equal to--
            (1) the number of unaccompanied alien children who--
                    (A) are nationals or citizens of the covered 
                country; and
                    (B) in the preceding fiscal year are placed in 
                Federal custody by reason of their immigration status; 
                multiplied by
            (2) $15,000.
    (b) Definitions.--In this section--
            (1) the term ``covered country'' means El Salvador, 
        Guatemala, or Honduras; and
            (2) the term ``unaccompanied alien child'' has the meaning 
        given the term in section 462(g)(2) of the Homeland Security 
        Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 279(g)(2)).
    (c) Effective Date.--This Act shall take effect on the date of the 
enactment of this Act and shall apply with respect to amounts made 
available under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 or any other Act for 
fiscal year 2024 and each subsequent fiscal year.
                                 &lt;all&gt;
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