Title: Protection of Children Act of 2017
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Protection of Children Act of 2017
This bill amends the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 to eliminate the special repatriation requirements for unaccompanied alien children (UAC) who are nationals or residents of a country contiguous to the United States. (The same removal requirements are applied to all UACs 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.)
An immigration officer who finds an inadmissible UAC at a land border or port of entry shall return the child to his or her country of nationality or of last habitual residence. (Currently such authority is discretionary.)
The Department of State is authorized to negotiate agreements between the United States and other countries for the repatriation of children. (Under current law, State is required to negotiate agreements between the United States and countries contiguous to the United States for the repatriation of children.)
An unaccompanied child who is not a victim of a severe form of trafficking in persons and who does not have a fear of returning to his or her country of nationality or last habitual residence but who is:
HHS, before placing a child with an individual, shall provide DHS with the individual's name, Social Security number, date of birth, residence location, and immigration status, if known.
DHS shall investigate the immigration status of the individual with whom the child is placed and initiate removal proceedings if that individual is unlawfully present in the United States.
Such requirements are applied to any unauthorized child apprehended on or after June 15, 2012.
The Immigration and Nationality Act is amended with respect to: (1) special immigrant juvenile status, and (2) jurisdiction of asylum applications.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 495 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 495

    To amend 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

                            January 12, 2017

 Mr. Carter of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred 
to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on 
  Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
  Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
           within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend 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 
2017''.

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);
                            (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
                            (iv) in subparagraph (C)--
                                    (I) by amending the heading to read 
                                as follows: ``Agreements with foreign 
                                countries.''; and
                                    (II) in the matter preceding clause 
                                (i), by striking ``The Secretary of 
                                State shall negotiate agreements 
                                between the United States and countries 
                                contiguous to the United States'' and 
                                inserting ``The Secretary of State may 
                                negotiate agreements between the United 
                                States and any foreign country that the 
                                Secretary determines appropriate''; 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 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) Special rule.--In the case of a 
                        child who was apprehended on or after June 15, 
                        2012, and before the date of the enactment of 
                        the Protection of Children Act of 2017, who the 
                        Secretary of Health and Human Services placed 
                        with an individual, the Secretary shall provide 
                        the information listed in clause (i) to the 
                        Secretary of Homeland Security not later than 
                        90 days after the date of the enactment of the 
                        Protection of Children Act of 2017.
                            ``(iii) 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 
                        shall--
                                    ``(I) in the case that the 
                                immigration status of an individual 
                                with whom a child is placed is unknown, 
                                investigate the immigration status of 
                                that individual; and
                                    ``(II) upon determining that an 
                                individual with whom a child is placed 
                                is unlawfully present in the United 
                                States, initiate removal proceedings 
                                pursuant to chapter 4 of title II of 
                                the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
                                U.S.C. 1221 et seq.).''; 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 unauthorized alien child apprehended on or after June 15, 
2012.

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

    Section 101(a)(27)(J)(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
U.S.C. 1101(a)(27)(J)(i)) is amended by striking ``1 or both of the 
immigrant's parents'' and inserting ``either of the immigrant's 
parents''.

SEC. 4. JURISDICTION OF ASYLUM APPLICATIONS.

    Section 208(b)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
1158) is amended by striking subparagraph (C).
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