Protection of Children Act of 2023

Subjects: Immigration


<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2417 Introduced in House (IH)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2417

       To the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection 
  Reauthorization Act of 2008 to provide for the expedited removal of 
 unaccompanied alien children who are not victims of a severe form of 
trafficking in persons and who do not have a fear of returning to their 
   country of nationality or last habitual residence, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 30, 2023

Mr. Carter of Texas (for himself, Mr. Biggs, and Mr. Nehls) introduced 
    the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the 
                               Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
       To the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection 
  Reauthorization Act of 2008 to provide for the expedited removal of 
 unaccompanied alien children who are not victims of a severe form of 
trafficking in persons and who do not have a fear of returning to their 
   country of nationality or last habitual residence, and for other 
                               purposes.

    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 ``Protection of Children Act of 
2023''.

SEC. 2. REPATRIATION OF UNACCOMPANIED ALIEN CHILDREN.

    (a) In General.--Section 235 of the William Wilberforce Trafficking 
Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (8 U.S.C. 1232) is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) in paragraph (2)--
                            (i) by amending the heading to read as 
                        follows: ``Rules for unaccompanied alien 
                        children.--'';
                            (ii) in subparagraph (A)--
                                    (I) in the matter preceding clause 
                                (i), by striking ``who is a national or 
                                habitual resident of a country that is 
                                contiguous with the United States'';
                                    (II) in clause (i), by inserting 
                                ``and'' at the end;
                                    (III) in clause (ii), by striking 
                                ``; and'' and inserting a period; and
                                    (IV) by striking clause (iii); and
                            (iii) in subparagraph (B)--
                                    (I) in the matter preceding clause 
                                (i), by striking ``(8 U.S.C. 1101 et 
                                seq.) may--'' and inserting ``(8 U.S.C. 
                                1101 et seq.)--'';
                                    (II) in clause (i), by inserting 
                                before ``permit such child to 
                                withdraw'' the following: ``may''; and
                                    (III) in clause (ii), by inserting 
                                before ``return such child'' the 
                                following: ``shall''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (5)(D)--
                            (i) in the matter preceding clause (i), by 
                        striking ``, except for an unaccompanied alien 
                        child from a contiguous country subject to the 
                        exceptions under subsection (a)(2),'' and 
                        inserting ``who does not meet the criteria 
                        listed in paragraph (2)(A)''; and
                            (ii) in clause (i), by inserting before the 
                        semicolon at the end the following: ``, which 
                        shall include a hearing before an immigration 
                        judge not later than 14 days after being 
                        screened under paragraph (4)'';
            (2) in subsection (b)--
                    (A) in paragraph (2)--
                            (i) in subparagraph (A), by inserting 
                        before the semicolon the following: ``believed 
                        not to meet the criteria listed in subsection 
                        (a)(2)(A)''; and
                            (ii) in subparagraph (B), by inserting 
                        before the period the following: ``and does not 
                        meet the criteria listed in subsection 
                        (a)(2)(A)''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (3), by striking ``an 
                unaccompanied alien child in custody shall'' and all 
                that follows, and inserting the following: ``an 
                unaccompanied alien child in custody--
                    ``(A) in the case of a child who does not meet the 
                criteria listed in subsection (a)(2)(A), shall transfer 
                the custody of such child to the Secretary of Health 
                and Human Services not later than 30 days after 
                determining that such child is an unaccompanied alien 
                child who does not meet such criteria; or
                    ``(B) in the case of a child who meets the criteria 
                listed in subsection (a)(2)(A), may transfer the 
                custody of such child to the Secretary of Health and 
                Human Services after determining that such child is an 
                unaccompanied alien child who meets such criteria.''; 
                and
            (3) in subsection (c)--
                    (A) in paragraph (3), by inserting at the end the 
                following:
                    ``(D) Information about individuals with whom 
                children are placed.--
                            ``(i) Information to be provided to 
                        homeland security.--Before placing a child with 
                        an individual, the Secretary of Health and 
                        Human Services shall provide to the Secretary 
                        of Homeland Security, regarding the individual 
                        with whom the child will be placed, the 
                        following information:
                                    ``(I) The name of the individual.
                                    ``(II) The social security number 
                                of the individual.
                                    ``(III) The date of birth of the 
                                individual.
                                    ``(IV) The location of the 
                                individual's residence where the child 
                                will be placed.
                                    ``(V) The immigration status of the 
                                individual, if known.
                                    ``(VI) Contact information for the 
                                individual.
                            ``(ii) Activities of the secretary of 
                        homeland security.--Not later than 30 days 
                        after receiving the information listed in 
                        clause (i), the Secretary of Homeland Security, 
                        upon determining that an individual with whom a 
                        child is placed is unlawfully present in the 
                        United States and not in removal proceedings 
                        pursuant to chapter 4 of title II of the 
                        Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1221 
                        et seq.), shall initiate such removal 
                        proceedings.''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (5)--
                            (i) by inserting after ``to the greatest 
                        extent practicable'' the following: ``(at no 
                        expense to the Government)''; and
                            (ii) by striking ``have counsel to 
                        represent them'' and inserting ``have access to 
                        counsel to represent them''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to any unaccompanied alien child apprehended on or after the date 
that is 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act.

SEC. 3. SPECIAL IMMIGRANT JUVENILE STATUS FOR IMMIGRANTS UNABLE TO 
              REUNITE WITH EITHER PARENT.

    Section 101(a)(27)(J) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
U.S.C. 1101(a)(27)(J)) is amended--
            (1) in clause (i), by striking ``, and whose reunification 
        with 1 or both of the immigrant's parents is not viable due to 
        abuse, neglect, abandonment, or a similar basis found under 
        State law''; and
            (2) in clause (iii)--
                    (A) in subclause (I), by striking ``and'' at the 
                end;
                    (B) in subclause (II), by inserting ``and'' after 
                the semicolon; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
                                    ``(III) an alien may not be granted 
                                special immigrant status under this 
                                subparagraph if the alien's 
                                reunification with any one parent or 
                                legal guardian is not precluded by 
                                abuse, neglect, abandonment, or any 
                                similar cause under State law;''.
                                 &lt;all&gt;
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