121 
TITLE III—PREVENTING UNCON-
TROLLED MIGRATION FLOWS 
IN 
THE 
WESTERN 
HEMI-
SPHERE 
SEC. 301. UNITED STATES POLICY REGARDING WESTERN 
HEMISPHERE COOPERATION ON IMMIGRA-
TION AND ASYLUM. 
It is the policy of the United States to enter into 
agreements, accords, and memoranda of understanding 
with countries in the Western Hemisphere, the purposes 
of which are to advance the interests of the United States 
by reducing costs associated with illegal immigration and 
to protect the human capital, societal traditions, and eco-
nomic growth of other countries in the Western Hemi-
sphere. It is further the policy of the United States to 
ensure that humanitarian and development assistance 
funding aimed at reducing illegal immigration is not ex-
pended on programs that have not proven to reduce illegal 
immigrant flows in the aggregate. 
SEC. 302. NEGOTIATIONS BY SECRETARY OF STATE. 
(a) AUTHORIZATION TO NEGOTIATE.—The Secretary 
of State shall seek to negotiate agreements, accords, and 
memoranda of understanding between the United States, 
Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and other 
countries in the Western Hemisphere with respect to co-
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operation and burden sharing required for effective re-
gional immigration enforcement, expediting legal claims by 
aliens for asylum, and the processing, detention, and repa-
triation of foreign nationals seeking to enter the United 
States unlawfully. Such agreements shall be designed to 
facilitate a regional approach to immigration enforcement 
and shall, at a minimum, provide that— 
(1) the Government of Mexico authorize and ac-
cept the rapid entrance into Mexico of nationals of 
countries other than Mexico who seek asylum in 
Mexico, and process the asylum claims of such na-
tionals inside Mexico, in accordance with both do-
mestic law and international treaties and conven-
tions governing the processing of asylum claims; 
(2) the Government of Mexico authorize and ac-
cept both the rapid entrance into Mexico of all na-
tionals of countries other than Mexico who are ineli-
gible for asylum in Mexico and wish to apply for 
asylum in the United States, whether or not at a 
port of entry, and the continued presence of such 
nationals in Mexico while they wait for the adjudica-
tion of their asylum claims to conclude in the United 
States; 
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(3) the Government of Mexico commit to pro-
vide the individuals described in paragraphs (1) and 
(2) with appropriate humanitarian protections; 
(4) the Government of Honduras, the Govern-
ment of El Salvador, and the Government of Guate-
mala each authorize and accept the entrance into 
the respective countries of nationals of other coun-
tries seeking asylum in the applicable such country 
and process such claims in accordance with applica-
ble domestic law and international treaties and con-
ventions governing the processing of asylum claims; 
(5) the Government of the United States com-
mit to work to accelerate the adjudication of asylum 
claims and to conclude removal proceedings in the 
wake of asylum adjudications as expeditiously as 
possible; 
(6) the Government of the United States com-
mit to continue to assist the governments of coun-
tries in the Western Hemisphere, such as the Gov-
ernment of Honduras, the Government of El Sal-
vador, and the Government of Guatemala, by sup-
porting the enhancement of asylum capacity in those 
countries; and 
(7) the Government of the United States com-
mit to monitoring developments in hemispheric im-
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migration trends and regional asylum capabilities to 
determine whether additional asylum cooperation 
agreements are warranted. 
(b) NOTIFICATION IN ACCORDANCE WITH CASE-ZA-
BLOCKI ACT.—The Secretary of State shall, in accordance 
with section 112b of title 1, United States Code, promptly 
inform the relevant congressional committees of each 
agreement entered into pursuant to subsection (a). Such 
notifications shall be submitted not later than 48 hours 
after such agreements are signed. 
(c) ALIEN DEFINED.—In this section, the term 
‘‘alien’’ has the meaning given such term in section 101 
of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101). 
SEC. 303. MANDATORY BRIEFINGS ON UNITED STATES EF-
FORTS TO ADDRESS THE BORDER CRISIS. 
(a) BRIEFING REQUIRED.—Not later than 90 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, and not less 
frequently than once every 90 days thereafter until the 
date described in subsection (b), the Secretary of State, 
or the designee of the Secretary of State, shall provide 
to the appropriate congressional committees an in-person 
briefing on efforts undertaken pursuant to the negotiation 
authority provided by section 302 of this title to monitor, 
deter, and prevent illegal immigration to the United 
States, including by entering into agreements, accords, 
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and memoranda of understanding with foreign countries 
and by using United States foreign assistance to stem the 
root causes of migration in the Western Hemisphere. 
(b) TERMINATION OF MANDATORY BRIEFING.—The 
date described in this subsection is the date on which the 
Secretary of State, in consultation with the heads of other 
relevant Federal departments and agencies, determines 
and certifies to the appropriate congressional committees 
that illegal immigration flows have subsided to a manage-
able rate. 
(c) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DE-
FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congres-
sional committees’’ means the Committee on Foreign Af-
fairs of the House of Representatives and the Committee 
on Foreign Relations of the Senate. 
TITLE IV—ENSURING UNITED 
FAMILIES AT THE BORDER 
SEC. 401. CLARIFICATION OF STANDARDS FOR FAMILY DE-
TENTION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 235 of the William Wil-
berforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization 
Act of 2008 (8 U.S.C. 1232) is amended by adding at 
the end the following: 
‘‘(j) CONSTRUCTION.— 
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‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 
provision of law, judicial determination, consent de-
cree, or settlement agreement, the detention of any 
alien child who is not an unaccompanied alien child 
shall be governed by sections 217, 235, 236, and 
241 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
U.S.C. 1187, 1225, 1226, and 1231). There is no 
presumption that an alien child who is not an unac-
companied alien child should not be detained. 
‘‘(2) FAMILY
DETENTION.—The Secretary of 
Homeland Security shall— 
‘‘(A) maintain the care and custody of an 
alien, during the period during which the 
charges described in clause (i) are pending, 
who— 
‘‘(i) is charged only with a mis-
demeanor offense under section 275(a) of 
the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
U.S.C. 1325(a)); and 
‘‘(ii) entered the United States with 
the alien’s child who has not attained 18 
years of age; and 
‘‘(B) detain the alien with the alien’s 
child.’’. 
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(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that the amendments in this section to section 235 
of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection 
Reauthorization Act of 2008 (8 U.S.C. 1232) are intended 
to satisfy the requirements of the Settlement Agreement 
in Flores v. Meese, No. 85–4544 (C.D. Cal), as approved 
by the court on January 28, 1997, with respect to its in-
terpretation in Flores v. Johnson, 212 F. Supp. 3d 864 
(C.D. Cal. 2015), that the agreement applies to accom-
panied minors. 
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 
subsection (a) shall take effect on the date of the enact-
ment of this Act and shall apply to all actions that occur 
before, on, or after such date. 
(d) PREEMPTION OF STATE LICENSING REQUIRE-
MENTS.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, ju-
dicial determination, consent decree, or settlement agree-
ment, no State may require that an immigration detention 
facility used to detain children who have not attained 18 
years of age, or families consisting of one or more of such 
children and the parents or legal guardians of such chil-
dren, that is located in that State, be licensed by the State 
or any political subdivision thereof. 
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128 
TITLE V—PROTECTION OF 
CHILDREN 
SEC. 501. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) Implementation of the provisions of the 
Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act 
of 2008 that govern unaccompanied alien children 
has incentivized multiple surges of unaccompanied 
alien children arriving at the southwest border in the 
years since the bill’s enactment. 
(2) The provisions of the Trafficking Victims 
Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 that govern 
unaccompanied alien children treat unaccompanied 
alien children from countries that are contiguous to 
the United States disparately by swiftly returning 
them to their home country absent indications of 
trafficking or a credible fear of return, but allowing 
for the release of unaccompanied alien children from 
noncontiguous countries into the interior of the 
United States, often to those individuals who paid to 
smuggle them into the country in the first place. 
(3) The provisions of the Trafficking Victims 
Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 governing 
unaccompanied alien children have enriched the car-
tels, who profit hundreds of millions of dollars each 
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year by smuggling unaccompanied alien children to 
the southwest border, exploiting and sexually abus-
ing many such unaccompanied alien children on the 
perilous journey. 
(4) Prior to 2008, the number of unaccom-
panied alien children encountered at the southwest 
border never exceeded 1,000 in a single year. 
(5) The United States is currently in the midst 
of the worst crisis of unaccompanied alien children 
in our nation’s history, with over 350,000 such un-
accompanied alien children encountered at the 
southwest border since Joe Biden became President. 
(6) In 2022, during the Biden Administration, 
152,057 unaccompanied alien children were encoun-
tered, the most ever in a single year and an over 
400 percent increase compared to the last full fiscal 
year of the Trump Administration in which 33,239 
unaccompanied alien children were encountered. 
(7) The Biden Administration has lost contact 
with at least 85,000 unaccompanied alien children 
who entered the United States since Joe Biden took 
office. 
(8) The Biden Administration dismantled effec-
tive safeguards put in place by the Trump Adminis-
tration that protected unaccompanied alien children 
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from being abused by criminals or exploited for ille-
gal and dangerous child labor. 
(9) A recent New York Times investigation 
found that unaccompanied alien children are being 
exploited in the labor market and ‘‘are ending up in 
some of the most punishing jobs in the country.’’. 
(10) The Times investigation found unaccom-
panied alien children, ‘‘under intense pressure to 
earn money’’ in order to ‘‘send cash back to their 
families while often being in debt to their sponsors 
for smuggling fees, rent, and living expenses,’’ 
feared ‘‘that they had become trapped in cir-
cumstances they never could have imagined.’’. 
(11) The Biden Administration’s Department of 
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier 
Becerra compared placing unaccompanied alien chil-
dren with sponsors, to widgets in an assembly line, 
stating that, ‘‘If Henry Ford had seen this in his 
plant, he would have never become famous and rich. 
This is not the way you do an assembly line.’’. 
(12) Department of Health and Human Serv-
ices employees working under Secretary Xavier 
Becerra’s leadership penned a July 2021 memo-
randum expressing serious concern that ‘‘labor traf-
ficking was increasing’’ and that the agency had be-
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131 
come ‘‘one that rewards individuals for making quick 
releases, and not one that rewards individuals for 
preventing unsafe releases.’’. 
(13) Despite this, Secretary Xavier Becerra 
pressured then-Director of the Office of Refugee Re-
settlement Cindy Huang to prioritize releases of un-
accompanied alien children over ensuring their safe-
ty, telling her ‘‘if she could not increase the number 
of discharges he would find someone who could’’ and 
then-Director Huang resigned one month later. 
(14) In June 2014, the Obama-Biden Adminis-
tration requested legal authority to exercise discre-
tion in returning and removing unaccompanied alien 
children from non-contiguous countries back to their 
home countries. 
(15) In August 2014, the House of Representa-
tives passed H.R. 5320, which included the Protec-
tion of Children Act. 
(16) This title ends the disparate policies of the 
Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act 
of 2008 by ensuring the swift return of all unaccom-
panied alien children to their country of origin if 
they are not victims of trafficking and do not have 
a fear of return. 
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132 
SEC. 502. REPATRIATION OF UNACCOMPANIED ALIEN CHIL-
DREN. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 235 of the William Wil-
berforce 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.)—’’; 
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(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 un-
accompanied 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 Sec-
retary of Health and Human Services after de-
termining 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: 
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‘‘(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, re-
garding the individual with whom the child 
will be placed, information on— 
‘‘(I) the name of the individual; 
‘‘(II) the social security number 
of the individual; 
‘‘(III) the date of birth of the in-
dividual; 
‘‘(IV) the location of the individ-
ual’s residence where the child will be 
placed; 
‘‘(V) the immigration status of 
the individual, if known; and 
‘‘(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 Home-
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land 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 pro-
ceedings.’’; 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 rep-
resent 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 
(as such term is defined in section 462(g) of the Home-
land Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 279(g))) apprehended 
on or after the date that is 30 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act. 
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137 
SEC. 503. SPECIAL IMMIGRANT JUVENILE STATUS FOR IM-
MIGRANTS UNABLE TO REUNITE WITH EI-
THER PARENT. 
Section 101(a)(27)(J) of the Immigration and Na-
tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(27)(J)) is amended— 
(1) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘, and whose reuni-
fication 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 grant-
ed special immigrant status under this 
subparagraph if the alien’s reunifica-
tion with any one parent or legal 
guardian is not precluded by abuse, 
neglect, abandonment, or any similar 
cause under State law;’’. 
SEC. 504. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 
Nothing in this title shall be construed to limit the 
following procedures or practices relating to an unaccom-
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panied alien child (as defined in section 462(g)(2) of the 
Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 279(g)(2))): 
(1) Screening of such a child for a credible fear 
of return to his or her country of origin. 
(2) Screening of such a child to determine 
whether he or she was a victim of trafficking. 
(3) Department of Health and Human Services 
policy in effect on the date of the enactment of this 
Act requiring a home study for such a child if he or 
she is under 12 years of age. 
TITLE VI—VISA OVERSTAYS 
PENALTIES 
SEC. 601. EXPANDED PENALTIES FOR ILLEGAL ENTRY OR 
PRESENCE. 
Section 275 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 
(8 U.S.C. 1325) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (a) by inserting after ‘‘for a 
subsequent commission of any such offense’’ the fol-
lowing: ‘‘or if the alien was previously convicted of 
an offense under subsection (e)(2)(A)’’; 
(2) in subsection (b)— 
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘at least 
$50 and not more than $250’’ and inserting 
‘‘not less than $500 and not more than 
$1,000’’; and 
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