Title: Hmong and Lao Refugee Deportation Prohibition Act of 2020
Policy area: Immigration

Summary:
Hmong and Lao Refugee Deportation Prohibition Act of 2020
This bill defers the removal of qualified individuals to Laos for 72 months beginning from this bill's enactment.
To qualify for deferral, an individual must (1) be born in Laos or the French colonial administration that preceded the present-day country of Laos, (2) have been ordered removed to Laos before this bill's enactment, and (3) have resided in the United States on or before January 1, 2011.
An individual receiving deferral under this bill shall be authorized for employment.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6034 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6034

  To defer the removal of individuals to the Lao People's Democratic 
        Republic for a 72-month period, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 28, 2020

   Ms. McCollum (for herself, Mr. Phillips, Mr. Kind, Mr. Costa, Ms. 
 Moore, Mr. Lowenthal, Ms. Scanlon, Mr. Levin of Michigan, Ms. Jackson 
 Lee, Mr. Pocan, and Ms. Lofgren) introduced the following bill; which 
             was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To defer the removal of individuals to the Lao People's Democratic 
        Republic for a 72-month period, 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 ``Hmong and Lao Refugee Deportation 
Prohibition Act of 2020''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Since 1975, nearly 200,000 refugees from the Lao 
        People's Democratic Republic (Lao P.D.R), including persons of 
        Hmong, Lao, Khmu, and Mien or Yao descent, have resettled in 
        the U.S. as permanent residents or become citizens.
            (2) Beginning in the 1950s in Laos, Hmong soldiers fought 
        the Communist Pathet Lao movement, and many Hmong and Lao later 
        assisted U.S. forces during the Vietnam War.
            (3) The House Judiciary Committee reported in 2000, ``At 
        great personal peril and loss of life, the Hmong fought with 
        American forces and performed critical roles in dangerous 
        missions.''.
            (4) A former CIA officer stated to the Subcommittee on 
        Immigration and Claims that, ``[t]hroughout the war, CIA's 
        paramilitary forces collected intelligence, used it in combat 
        operations to tie down some 50,000 North Vietnamese forces in 
        Laos, rescued downed American pilots and protected sensitive 
        American installations at remote mountain tops . . .''.
            (5) Public Law 106-207, the Hmong Veterans Naturalization 
        Act of 2000, provided thousands of Hmong refugees resettled to 
        the U.S. who served with a special guerrilla unit, or irregular 
        forces, operating from a base in Laos in support of the United 
        States military at any time during the period beginning 
        February 28, 1961, and ending September 18, 1978, with 
        exemptions from certain provisions of the Immigration and 
        Naturalization Act.
            (6) In 2000, it was reported by the House Judiciary 
        Committee in Report 106-563 that ``many Hmong refugees have 
        found it difficult to naturalize because of a difficulty 
        learning English. This is due to the facts that they came from 
        a tribal society without a written language until recent 
        decades and that many Hmong were recruited to be guerrillas at 
        the age of 12-14 and hence did not attend school.''.
            (7) Scholars argue that the U.S. insufficiently resettled 
        refugees from Laos leaving many ill-prepared for immediate 
        work, unacculturated, and suffering psychosocial trauma 
        resulting in cycles of poverty. In 2016, 37.8 percent of Hmong 
        and 18.5 percent of Lao in the U.S. were living in poverty.
            (8) There are currently over 4,700 long-time U.S. residents 
        of Hmong, Lao, Khmu, and Mien or Yao descent with Final Orders 
        for Removal who were born in the Lao P.D.R., fled persecution 
        in Laos, were resettled in the U.S. as refugees, and now face 
        deportation to Laos due to past criminal convictions.
            (9) Individuals with Final Orders for Removal who could be 
        deported to the Lao P.D.R. often do not speak the Lao language, 
        lack familial connections, and are at risk of being a target 
        for human rights abuses as a result of historic support for 
        U.S. anti-communist policies.
            (10) A 2018 Department of State Laos Human Rights Report 
        acknowledges the long record of human rights abuses in the Lao 
        P.D.R. The report states, ``The government neither prosecuted 
        nor punished officials who committed abuses, and police and 
        security forces committed human rights abuses with impunity.''.
            (11) The Lao P.D.R. is a communist state that does not 
        currently have an official deportation agreement with the U.S. 
        and there is no extradition treaty between Laos and the U.S.
            (12) Many of the over 4,700 persons with Final Orders of 
        Removal who are at risk of deportation to the Lao P.D.R. have 
        not been able to seek adequate immigration relief based on the 
        complexity of the required legal filings and the backlogs in 
        immigration courts. It can take several years for an individual 
        to seek to reopen their immigration case and have their 
        eligibility for immigration relief decided on the merits.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of the Congress that--
            (1) individuals of Hmong, Lao, Khmu, and Mien or Yao 
        descent who arrived in the U.S. as refugees fleeing persecution 
        in the Lao People's Democratic Republic shall not be deported 
        to Laos for a period of 72 months; and
            (2) the Trump administration's efforts to deport more than 
        4,700 individuals of Hmong, Lao, Khmu, and Mien or Yao descent 
        residing in the U.S. to the Lao People's Democratic Republic 
        puts these individuals at grave risk, is unnecessary to ensure 
        public safety, and cruelly inflicts trauma and harm on Hmong-
        American and Lao-American families and communities that are 
        making significant contributions to the strength and success of 
        the U.S.

SEC. 4. DEFERRAL OF REMOVAL TO THE LAO PEOPLE'S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC FOR 
              INDIVIDUALS WITH REMOVAL ORDERS.

    (a) Deferral of Removal.--An alien may not be removed for the 72-
month period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act if the 
alien--
            (1) is an individual born in the Lao People's Democratic 
        Republic or colonial French administration of the present-day 
        Lao People's Democratic Republic;
            (2) has been ordered removed to Lao People's Democratic 
        Republic at any time before the date of enactment of this Act; 
        and
            (3) resided in the United States on or before January 1, 
        2011.
    (b) Employment Authorization.--Upon application to the Secretary of 
Homeland Security, an alien whose removal is deferred pursuant to this 
Act--
            (1) shall be authorized to engage in employment during the 
        72-month period described in subsection (a); and
            (2) shall be issued an employment authorization document 
        that remains valid for 24 months subject to renewal.
    (c) Implementation.--The Secretary of Homeland Security shall take 
the necessary steps to implement--
            (1) the deferral of removal authorized under this section; 
        and
            (2) the authorization of employment described in subsection 
        (b).

SEC. 5. NOTICE FOR CERTAIN ALIENS WITH REMOVAL ORDERS TO THE LAO 
              PEOPLE'S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall provide notice of 
the provisions of this Act to each alien who--
            (1) is an individual born in the Lao People's Democratic 
        Republic or colonial French administration of the present-day 
        Lao People's Democratic Republic; and
            (2) has a final order of removal.
    (b) Contents of Notice.--The notice required under subsection (a) 
shall include clear instructions explaining the requirements for an 
alien to file a motion to reopen a proceeding under section 240 of the 
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1229a) based on changed 
country conditions.

SEC. 6. PROHIBITION ON DETENTION.

    The Secretary of Homeland Security may not detain an alien whose 
removal is deferred pursuant to this Act on the basis of the alien's 
immigration status in the United States or as a result of a motion 
filed by the alien to reopen a proceeding under section 240 of the 
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1229a).

SEC. 7. JUDICIAL REVIEW.

    (a) Review.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an 
individual or entity who has been harmed by a violation of this Act may 
file an action in an appropriate district court of the United States to 
seek declaratory or injunctive relief.
    (b) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this Act may be construed to 
preclude an action filed pursuant to subsection (a) from proceeding as 
a class action (as such term is defined in section 1711 of title 28, 
United States Code).
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