Central America Reform and Enforcement Act

Bill: 116-s-1445
Sponsor: Sen. Schumer, Charles E. [D-NY]
Introduced: 2019-05-14 in the Senate
Policy area: Immigration
Subjects: Administrative remedies
Air quality
Assault and harassment offenses
Aviation and airports
Border security and unlawful immigration
Child health
Child safety and welfare
Climate change and greenhouse gases
Competitiveness, trade promotion, trade deficits
Congressional oversight
Correctional facilities and imprisonment
Crime prevention
Crime victims
Crimes against women
Criminal investigation, prosecution, interrogation
Criminal justice information and records
Diplomacy, foreign officials, Americans abroad
Domestic violence and child abuse
Drug trafficking and controlled substances
Due process and equal protection
Economic development
Education programs funding
El Salvador
Elections, voting, political campaign regulation
Elementary and secondary education
Employment discrimination and employee rights
Environmental technology
Evidence and witnesses
Family relationships
Federal officials
Food assistance and relief
Foreign aid and international relief
Fraud offenses and financial crimes
Freedom of information
Government ethics and transparency, public corruption
Government studies and investigations
Guatemala
Health care coverage and access
Health care quality
Honduras
Human rights
Human trafficking
Immigration status and procedures
Intelligence activities, surveillance, classified information
International organizations and cooperation
Judges
Judicial procedure and administration
Juvenile crime and gang violence
Labor standards
Latin America
Law enforcement administration and funding
Law enforcement officers
Lawyers and legal services
Mental health
Mexico
Navigation, waterways, harbors
News media and reporting
Nutrition and diet
Organized crime
Political parties and affiliation
Refugees, asylum, displaced persons
Rule of law and government transparency
Sanctions
Separation, divorce, custody, support
Sex offenses
Sex, gender, sexual orientation discrimination
Small business
Sovereignty, recognition, national governance and status
Specialized courts
United Nations
User charges and fees
Violent crime
Vocational and technical education

Summary:
action_date: 2019-05-14
text: 

Central America Reform and Enforcement Act

 
This bill establishes programs to address the humanitarian crisis in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras (the Northern Triangle countries) and to handle asylum-seekers from those countries.
 
The Department of State shall report to Congress a five-year interagency strategy to address the factors driving migration from Central America. 
 
The bill establishes various new immigration-related penalties, such as making it unlawful to knowingly destroy any government-deployed border-control device (e.g., fence or camera).
 
The State Department shall work to expand the capacity of other countries to provide asylum.
 
The State Department shall establish at least four Designated Application Processing Centers in the Northern Triangle countries and Mexico to adjudicate asylum applications and admit qualified aliens from the Northern Triangle countries as refugees.
 
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) shall provide certain assessments and health care services to unaccompanied alien children.
 
The rights of a parent or guardian over an unaccompanied alien child may be terminated only pursuant to a court order.
 
The Office of Refugee Resettlement shall conduct certain background checks on prospective sponsors of an unaccompanied alien child. 
 
To receive certain funding, a local educational agency must ensure that unaccompanied alien children are served.
 
An unaccompanied alien child shall be appointed free counsel in immigration proceedings. 
 
The Department of Justice shall increase the number of immigration judges and Board of Immigration Appeals staff attorneys. 
 
The Department of Homeland Security, HHS, and the State Department shall develop a process for repatriating unaccompanied children to their country of origin. This process must require a determination of the child's best interests. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2019-05-14
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. (text: CR S2820-2831)
action_date: 2019-05-14
text: Introduced in Senate