A bill to terminate the Interagency Task Force on the Reunification of Families and to require the transfer of the salaries of certain Federal officials and Task Force members to the Judgment Fund to reimburse the Federal Government for settlements paid to aliens.

Bill: 117-s-3202
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Lankford, James [R-OK]
Introduced: 2021-11-04
Policy area: Immigration
Latest action: action_date: 2021-11-04
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Summaries:
action_date: 2021-11-04
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p>This bill terminates the Interagency Task Force on the Reunification of Families and addresses related issues. (The task force's duties include identifying children separated from their families on the U.S.-Mexico border between January 20, 2017, and January 20, 2021.)</p> <p>Specifically, the bill rescinds (1) the February 2, 2021, executive order that established the task force; and (2) all policy and legal decisions issued, settlement agreements (or consent decrees) entered into, and immigration benefits provided pursuant to that executive order.</p> <p>Furthermore, the Department of Justice (DOJ) may not enter into a settlement agreement pertaining to specified issues, such as the separation of family members by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, unless the Government Accountability Office certifies that the agreement complies with federal law and regulations concerning the collection and compromise of federal claims. </p> <p>The Office of Personnel Management must withhold the salaries of all federal employees who serve on the task force and deposit the amounts into an account for paying judgments against the United States. The withholding must continue until the deposited amount is equal to the amount paid to aliens under settlements entered into pursuant to the executive order. </p> <p>The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) must publicly publish a report on the task force with information such as an accounting of the task force's incurred costs and all communications between task force members and nongovernmental entities. </p> <p>DOJ and the OMB must also publicly publish all settlement agreements entered into pursuant to the executive order.</p>

tv_txt: II 117th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 3202 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES November 4, 2021 Mr. Lankford introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To terminate the Interagency Task Force on the Reunification of Families and to require the transfer of the salaries of certain Federal officials and Task Force members to the Judgment Fund to reimburse the Federal Government for settlements paid to aliens.

1. Termination of Interagency Task Force on the Reunification of Families (a) Rescission of Executive Order 14011 The provisions of Executive Order 14011 (86 Fed. Reg. 8273; relating to the establishment of Interagency Task Force on the Reunification of Families) are hereby rescinded and shall have no force or effect. (b) Effect of rescission Notwithstanding any other provision of law, all policy decisions, legal decisions, settlement agreements, and consent decrees between the United States Government and private individuals or nongovernmental entities, and decisions regarding the use of the Secretary of Homeland Security’s parole authority under section 212(d)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act ( 8 U.S.C. 1182(d)(5) ) or any other immigration benefit that was provided or entered into pursuant to Executive Order 14011 are rescinded and terminated. 2. Reporting and notification requirements (a) In general The Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall— (1) submit a report to the appropriate congressional committees regarding the operations of the Interagency Task Force on the Reunification of Families (referred to in this section as the Task Force ); and (2) publish such report on a publicly accessible website. (b) Contents The report required under subsection (a) shall include— (1) an accounting of all costs incurred by the Task Force that were paid by the Federal Government; (2) a list of all of the meetings between the Task Force and any nongovernmental entity, including— (A) the list of participants of such meetings; and (B) the agendas of such meetings; (3) all communications between Task Force members and nongovernmental entities; (4) a description of all of the settlement agreements or consent decrees between the Federal Government and any nongovernmental entity that were facilitated by the Task Force; (5) all legal opinions, memoranda, and other policy guidance developed pursuant to Executive Order 14011 relating to granting parole to migrants in accordance with section 212(d)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act ( 8 U.S.C. 1182(d)(5) ); (6) the number of migrants who were granted parole under such section as a result of the activities of the Task Force and, for each migrant receiving such parole, the nongovernmental organization who referred the migrant for consideration for parole or other immigration benefits; and (7) the date on which each migrant described in paragraph (6) was separated from a family member by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. (c) Consent decrees and settlement agreements (1) In general The Director of the Office of Management and Budget and the Attorney General shall post copies of all consent decrees and settlement agreements entered into pursuant to Executive Order 14011 on a publicly accessible website. (2) Future consent decrees and settlement agreements (A) GAO review The Attorney General shall ensure that the terms and conditions of all future consent decrees and settlement agreements between the Federal Government and any nongovernmental entity relating to the application of the policy described in the memorandum of the Attorney General entitled Zero-Tolerance for Offenses under 8 U.S.C. § 1325(a) , issued on April 6, 2018, the implementation of Executive Order 14011, or the separation of family members by U.S. Customs and Border Protection comply with section 3711 of title 31, United States Code, and chapter IX of subtitle B of title 31, Code of Federal Regulations (commonly known as the Federal Claims Collections Standards ), by seeking an opinion from the Comptroller General of the United States regarding each such consent decree and settlement agreement. (B) Prohibition A consent decree or settlement agreement described in subparagraph (A) may not be entered into until after the Comptroller General of the United States, after reviewing the terms of such decree or agreement, has certified that it fully complies with section 3711 of title 31, United States Code, and the Federal Claims Collections Standards. (C) Publication All consent decrees and settlement agreements described in subparagraph (A) shall be posted on the publicly accessible website described in paragraph (1). 3. Transfer of funds (a) Task force member salaries Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Director of the Office of Personnel Management shall withhold the salaries of all Federal employees who serve on the Task Force and deposit an amount equal to all such salaries to the permanent judgment appropriation established pursuant to section 1304 of title 31, United States Code (commonly known as the Judgment Fund ), until the amount so deposited is equal to the total amount paid (or obligated to be paid) to aliens as a result of all consent decrees and settlement agreements entered into pursuant to Executive Order 14011 in which an alien is awarded $1 or more. (b) Certain department heads and executive office of the president salaries Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Director of the Office of Personnel Management shall withhold the salaries of the Attorney General, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Secretary of State, and all employees of the Executive Office of the President and deposit an amount equal to all such salaries to the permanent judgment appropriation established pursuant to section 1304 of title 31, United States Code (commonly known as the Judgment Fund ), until the amount so deposited is equal to the total amount paid (or obligated to be paid) to aliens as a result of all consent decrees and settlement agreements entered into pursuant to Executive Order 14011 in which an alien is awarded $1 or more.