I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2536 
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. 
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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Prevention of Anti- 
Immigrant Violence Act of 2021’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) Anti-immigrant violence is on the rise, with 
the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reporting 
an 0.95-percent increase in hate crimes against indi-
viduals for 2019 compared to 2018 and an observed 
shift in crimes against individuals as opposed to 
property. The FBI data shows that 57.6 percent of 
hate crimes reported were motivated by race, eth-
nicity, or ancestry. In addition, the 51 hate crime 
murders recorded in 2019 are the highest ever re-
ported by the FBI since it began tracking hate 
crimes in 1991. Since 2014, FBI hate crime statis-
tics have shown an increasing trend in hate crimes, 
with the highest yearly gains so far reported for 
2017 at 17 percent. 
(2) The vast majority of the reported hate 
crimes are related to race, ethnicity, or ancestry. Ac-
cording to the Department of Justice’s Bureau of 
Justice Statistics (BJS), Hispanics experience close 
to double the rate of hate crime victimization that 
non-Hispanic Whites (1.3 vs 0.7 per 1,000). The 
2019 National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) 
data shows that non-U.S. citizens are victimized at 
a rate of approximately 12.5 victims per 1,000 non- 
U.S. citizens. 
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(3) BJS has shown a precipitous decline in re-
porting of hate crimes since 2014, with BJS’s 
NCVS data showing that between 2013 and 2017 
more than half of all hate crimes (>100,000) went 
unreported annually. NCVS 2019 statistics show 
that after declining by more than 60 percent in the 
past 21 years, the number of violent crime victims 
has steadily increased since 2015; and that the rate 
of unreported violent crimes continues to rise; in-
creasing from 9.5 to 12.9 per 1,000 persons between 
2015 and 2018. 
(4) Many immigrant advocates cite fear of de-
portation as one of the reasons people are not com-
ing forward to report crimes. The threat of being re-
ported to Immigration and Customs Enforcement 
(ICE) is used by perpetrators of hate crimes to si-
lence both victims and witnesses and to avoid crimi-
nal prosecution. 
(5) Detention and removal of victims of hate 
crimes undermine the rule of law and gives perpetra-
tors the means by which to escape prosecution. The 
deportation of victims and witnesses denies them the 
ability to see justice served, prevents law enforce-
ment from keeping communities safe, and exacer-
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bates the problems communities face in the rise of 
anti-immigrant violence. 
(6) Lack of resources has prevented law en-
forcement, prosecutors, and victimized communities 
from learning about available tools for their protec-
tion and the prosecution of these crimes. Everyone 
seeking justice for victims and eager to see a reduc-
tion in hate crimes must be afforded the resources 
to learn and educate the public of these available 
tools. 
SEC. 3. EXPANSION OF CRIMINAL ACTIVITY FOR WHICH A 
U VISA MAY BE ISSUED; ADDITIONAL U VISAS 
MADE AVAILABLE. 
(a) EXPANSION
OF CRIMINAL ACTIVITY.—Section 
101(a)(15)(U)(iii) of the Immigration and Nationality Act 
(8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(U)) is amended by inserting after 
‘‘fraud in foreign labor contracting (as defined in section 
1351 of title 18, United States Code);’’ the following: 
‘‘hate crime acts;’’. 
(b) ADDITIONAL VISAS MADE AVAILABLE.—Section 
214(p)(2)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
U.S.C. 1184(p)(2)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘10,000’’ 
and inserting ‘‘12,000’’, thus designating the additional 
2,000 visas for victims of hate crimes. 
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SEC. 4. PROHIBITION OF REMOVAL OF NON-CITIZENS WITH 
PENDING PETITIONS AND APPLICATIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—A non-citizen described in sub-
section (b) shall not be removed from the United States 
under section 240 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 
(8 U.S.C. 1229a) or any other provision of law until there 
is a final denial of the non-citizen’s application for status 
after the exhaustion of administrative and judicial review. 
(b) NON-CITIZENS DESCRIBED.—A non-citizen is de-
scribed in this subsection if the non-citizen— 
(1) has a pending application under section 
101(a)(15)(T), 101(a)(15)(U), 101(a)(27)(J), 106, 
240A(b)(2), or 244(a)(3) (as in effect on March 31, 
1997) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
U.S.C. 1101, 1229a, 1254a); or 
(2) is a VAWA self-petitioner, as defined in sec-
tion 101(a)(51) of the Immigration and Nationality 
Act, with a pending application for relief. 
SEC. 5. PROHIBITION ON DETENTION OF CERTAIN VICTIMS 
WITH PENDING PETITIONS AND APPLICA-
TIONS. 
Section 236 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 
(8 U.S.C. 1226) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(a) PROHIBITION ON DETENTION OF CERTAIN VIC-
TIMS WITH PENDING PETITIONS AND APPLICATIONS.— 
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‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 
provision of this Act, there shall be a presumption 
that the non-citizen described in paragraph (2) 
should be released from detention. The Secretary of 
Homeland Security shall have the duty of rebutting 
this presumption, which may only be shown based on 
clear and convincing evidence, including credible and 
individualized information, that the use of alter-
natives to detention will not reasonably ensure the 
appearance of the non-citizen at removal pro-
ceedings, or that the non-citizen is a threat to an-
other person or the community. The fact that a non- 
citizen has a criminal charge pending against the 
non-citizen may not be the sole factor to justify the 
continued detention of the non-citizen. 
‘‘(2) NON-CITIZEN DESCRIBED.—A non-citizen 
is described in this paragraph if the non-citizen— 
‘‘(A) has a pending application under sec-
tion 
101(a)(15)(T), 
101(a)(15)(U), 
101(a)(27)(J), 106, 240A(b)(2), or 244(a)(3) 
(as in effect on March 31, 1997); or 
‘‘(B) is a VAWA self-petitioner, as defined 
in section 101(a)(51), with a pending applica-
tion for relief.’’. 
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SEC. 6. GRANTS TO IDENTIFY, ASSIST, AND PROTECT VIC-
TIMS OF HATE CRIME VIOLENCE. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti-
ty’’ means a State, a local government, or non-gov-
ernmental organizations. 
(2) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any 
State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the 
United States Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of 
the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, 
and any other territory or possession of the United 
States. 
(b) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—The Attorney General 
may award grants to eligible entities to assist non-citizen 
victims of hate crimes and/or provide training to State and 
local law enforcement personnel or prosecution officials to 
identify and protect victims of anti-immigrant driven hate 
crime violence, criminal activities and harms covered by 
section 101(a)(15)(T), 101(a)(15)(U), 101(a)(27)(J), 
106, 240A(b)(2), or 244(a)(3) (as in effect on March 31, 
1997); or is a VAWA self-petitioner, as defined in section 
101(a)(51), with a pending application for relief. 
(c) USE OF FUNDS.— 
(1) PARTNERSHIP OR COLLABORATION.—An el-
igible entity receiving a grant under this section 
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shall carry out or possess at least one of the fol-
lowing activities or expertise described in paragraph 
(2) in partnership or collaboration with— 
(A) National, State, local, or Federal law 
enforcement or prosecution officials dedicated 
to reducing anti-immigrant hate crimes and 
which possess personnel who have more than 2- 
year expertise in and have received U Visa Law 
Enforcement Certification and/or T visa dec-
larations training; or 
(B) National, State, or local non-govern-
mental organizations with more than 2 years 
expertise in the identification and prosecution 
of hate crime, dedicated to the reduction of 
anti-immigrant biased violence or expertise 
training on and/or assisting non-citizens navi-
gate the process of applying for the U visa and 
any of the forms of immigration relief listed in 
section 4(b) of this Act; or 
(C) a non-governmental organization work-
ing in partnership or collaboration with a group 
in subparagraph (A) or (B). 
(2) ACTIVITIES AND EXPERTISE.—The activi-
ties and expertises referred to in paragraph (1) are 
as follows: 
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(A) To provide funding to community- 
based, legal or victim services organizations, law 
enforcement or prosecution programs with a 
documented history of effective work in identi-
fication of hate crimes and anti-immigrant vio-
lence, to perform outreach in communities that 
have experienced an increase in anti-immigrant 
violence since 2014. 
(B) To provide funding to community- 
based, legal or victim services organizations, law 
enforcement or prosecution programs with a 
documented history of effective work in the 
training of law enforcement and/or prosecution 
agency personnel to protect victims of crimes 
who are non-citizens without lawful immigration 
status, including training such personnel to uti-
lize Federal, State, or local resources to assist 
such victims and their families. 
(C) To provide funding to community- 
based, legal or victim services organizations, law 
enforcement or prosecution programs with a 
documented history of effective work in the 
training of law enforcement or State or local 
prosecutors to utilize Federal laws that protect 
such non-citizens and their families. 
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(d) RESTRICTIONS.— 
(1) SUPPLEMENT
NOT
SUPPLANT.—A grant 
awarded under this section shall be used to supple-
ment and not supplant other Federal, State, and 
local public funds available to carry out the training 
described in subsection (c). 
(2) ADMINISTRATIVE
EXPENSES.—An eligible 
entity that receives a grant under this section may 
use not more than 5 percent of the total amount of 
such grant for administrative expenses. 
(3) NONEXCLUSIVITY.—Nothing in this section 
may be construed to restrict the ability of an eligible 
entity to apply for or obtain funding from any other 
source to carry out the training described in sub-
section (c). 
(e) AUTHORIZATION
OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 for each 
of fiscal years 2022 through 2032 to carry out this sec-
tion. 
Æ 
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