zli12321/Bills huggingface dataset:
Humane Short Term Custody Act - Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) to prescribe regulations establishing standards for short-term custody of individuals by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that provide for basic minimums of care at all CBP facilities that hold individuals in custody, including Border Patrol stations, ports of entry, checkpoints, forward operating bases, secondary inspection areas, and short-term custody facilities.

Requires: (1) that such regulations be fully consistent with national standards under the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003, and (2) annual facility inspections.

Date: 2013-12-12
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
Domestic Refugee Resettlement Reform and Modernization Act of 2013 - Directs the Comptroller General (GAO) to study the effectiveness of the Office of Refugee Resettlement's domestic refugee resettlement programs.

Requires the Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement to: (1) ensure that refugee assistance is provided to qualifying refugees who are secondary migrants; (2) report to Congress regarding states experiencing departures and arrivals due to secondary migration; and (3) expand the Office's data analysis, collection, and sharing activities to include data on mental and physical medical cases, housing needs, and refugee employment.

Directs the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to provide refugee resettlement guidance to appropriate national, state, and local entities.

Date: 2013-12-18
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
Amends the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 to prohibit unlawful aliens from being eligible for any postsecondary education benefit unless every citizen and national of this country is eligible to receive that benefit in no less of an amount, duration, or scope. (This replaces a prohibition on states offering unlawful aliens postsecondary benefits on the basis of their residence in the state that are more generous than those offered citizens or naturals of this country without regard to their state residence.)

Allows any citizen or national who is enrolled at a postsecondary educational institution that is alleged to have violated that prohibition to bring a civil action against any state official overseeing the institution to obtain appropriate relief, attorneys' fees, and court costs.

Date: 2014-02-04
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
Makes New Zealand nationals eligible to enter the United States as nonimmigrant traders and investors as provided for under the Immigration and Nationality Act if New Zealand provides reciprocal nonimmigrant treatment to U.S. nationals.

Date: 2014-02-26
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
Subnational Visa Waiver Program Act of 2014 - Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to make a territory or region eligible for designation as a visa waiver program country if it is accorded treatment under a particular U.S. law different from that accorded to the country of which it is a part.

Date: 2014-04-08
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
Requires the Secretary of Commerce to include in each questionnaire used for conducting the decennial census of population a question to ascertain U.S. citizenship and immigration status.

Date: 2014-06-18
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Government operations and politics
UAC State Notification Act of 2014 - Amends the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 to direct the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) or the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to notify the governor of a state within 48 hours before transferring to the state an unaccompanied alien child in the Secretary's custody.

Date: 2014-07-14
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2014 - Amends the Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2009 to: (1) increase to 4,000 the number of Afghan special immigrant visas available in FY2014, and (2) extend unused visa carryover authority through December 31, 2016.

Date: 2014-07-17
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
UAC State Notification Act of 2014 - Amends the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) or the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) to notify the governor of a state within 48 hours before the placement of an unaccompanied alien child in the custody of either HHS or DHS with a facility or sponsor in such state.

Date: 2014-07-17
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
Prohibits any federal agency or instrumentality from using federal funding or resources to: (1) consider or adjudicate any new or previously denied application of any alien requesting consideration of deferred action for childhood arrivals, as authorized by Executive memorandum on August 15, 2012; or (2) authorize any alien to work in the United States who was not lawfully admitted into the United States and who is not in lawful status in the United States on the date of enactment of this Act.

Date: 2014-07-17
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
Amends the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 to declare that any unaccompanied alien child (UAC) who has not been a victim of a severe form of trafficking in persons or does not have a credible fear of persecution on returning to his or her country of nationality (or of last habitual residence) shall be: (1) placed in removal proceedings, (2) eligible for voluntary departure at no cost to the child, and (3) provided with access to counsel. (Currently such expedited removal requirements apply only to unaccompanied children from countries contiguous to the United States.)

Directs the Secretary of State to negotiate repatriation agreements between the United States and countries from which large numbers of UACs are unlawfully entering the United States. (Currently such agreements are to be negotiated between the United States and countries contiguous to the United States.)

Requires that a UAC be placed on a return flight to his or her country of nationality (or of last habitual residence) within 72 hours of screening barring cost, feasibility, and any relevant repatriation agreements.

Provides for expedited removal of a UAC who is a member of, or affiliated with, a criminal street gang.

Requires mandatory Department of Homeland Security (DHS) detention of a UAC apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol or U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) until the child: (1) voluntarily departs or is removed from the United States, or (2) is admitted as a refugee or asylee.

Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to require an immigration judge to: (1) conduct a proceeding to inspect and determine the status of a UAC who is an applicant for U.S. admission not later than 7 days after the child's screening, and (2) determine within 72 hours of the proceeding's conclusion whether a UAC is admissible (or eligible for relief from removal) or should be removed (unless the alien claims asylum or a substantial fear of persecution).

States that: (1) if a UAC intends to make a claim of asylum or substantial fear of persecution the child shall be referred to an asylum officer who shall determine in an interview whether there is a substantial fear of persecution, and (2) if there is no substantiated fear of persecution the UAC shall be ordered removed without further hearing or review.

Revises the definition of "refugee."

Requires DHS detention of an alien seeking asylum until the alien is removed or granted asylum.

Extends the bar on U.S. reentry to 10 years for previously removed aliens and for certain aliens who were illegally in the United States but voluntarily departed.

Requires the Secretary of DHS to report to Congress annually detailing apprehended illegal aliens, voluntary departures, removals, and grants of refugee or asylee status.

Date: 2014-07-17
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
UAC State Notification Act of 2014 - Amends the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) or the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) to notify the governor of a state within 48 hours before the placement of an unaccompanied alien child in the custody of either HHS or DHS with a facility or sponsor in such state.

Date: 2014-07-21
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
Partner with Korea Act - Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to create an E-4 treaty trader visa category for up to 15,000 nationals of the Republic of Korea (South Korea) each fiscal year who are coming to the United States solely to perform specialty occupation services and with respect to whom the Secretary of Labor has certified to the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Secretary of State that the intending employer has filed an attestation concerning U.S. worker protections with the Secretary of Labor.

Date: 2014-07-24
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
Keeping America Safe from Ebola Act of 2014 - Defines "covered alien" as an alien: (1) who is a national or a resident of a country designated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as one with widespread transmission of the Ebola virus; and (2) whose last habitual residence, or last habitual residence before residence in the United States if the alien is seeking to reenter the United States, was a designated country.

States that a covered alien is ineligible to: (1) receive a U.S. visa or otherwise be admitted to the United States; or (2) enter the United States if the alien was lawfully present in the United States, departed the United States and visited a designated country, and is seeking to reenter the United States. Requires the Secretary of State to revoke the visa of each covered alien.

Exempts from such coverage and requirements: (1) certain aid workers, and (2) persons authorized by the Secretary of Defense (DOD) to travel to the United States for training.

Directs the President to report to Congress every 30 days regarding the spread of Ebola.

Date: 2014-11-20
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
Preventing Executive Overreach on Immigration Act of 2014 - Prohibits the executive branch of the government from:

 exempting or deferring from removal, by executive order, regulation, or any other means, categories of aliens considered under the immigration laws to be unlawfully present in the United States; treating such aliens as if they were lawfully present or had a lawful immigration status; or treating them other than as unauthorized aliens. States that such prohibition shall not apply:

 to the extent prohibited by the Constitution; upon the request of federal, state, or local law enforcement agencies for purposes of maintaining aliens in the United States to be tried for crimes or to be trial witnesses; or for humanitarian purposes where the aliens are at imminent risk of serious bodily harm or death. Declares that any executive branch action intending to circumvent the objectives of this Act shall be null and void and without legal effect.

States that this Act shall take effect as if enacted on November 20, 2014, and shall apply to requests (whether the request is original or for reopening of a previously denied request) submitted on or after that date for: (1) work authorization; or (2) exemption from, or deferral of, removal.

Date: 2014-12-12
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
Repeal REAL ID Act - Repeals title II (Improved Security for Driver's Licenses and Personal Identification Cards) of the REAL ID Act of 2005.

Date: 3/12/2014
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Transportation and public works
Separation of Powers Act of 2015

Prohibits the use of funds appropriated or otherwise made available to any federal department or agency to:

 parole an alien into the United States or grant deferred action on a final order of removal for any reason other than on an individual case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons; or issue to an alien who is unlawfully present in the United States any document attesting to such alien's lawful permanent resident status or U.S. employment authorization.

Date: 2015-01-06
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
Prevention of Executive Amnesty Act of 2015

This bill prohibits funds appropriated or otherwise made available, including any otherwise available to the Secretary of Homeland Security for any fiscal year from being used to implement or enforce specified immigration-related policies in:

 the memoranda issued by the Secretary on November 20, 2014, which includes prosecutorial discretion regarding individuals who came to the United States as children and regarding certain individuals who are the parents of U.S. citizens or permanent residents, and expansion of the provisional waiver program; the memoranda issued by the President on November 21, 2014, which includes modernizing and streamlining the U.S. immigrant visa system for the 21st century; and any substantially similar memorandum issued after November 21, 2014.

Date: 2015-01-06
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
Defense of Legal Workers Act of 2015

 Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to: (1) exclude from the definition of "unauthorized alien," with respect to the unlawful employment of aliens, any alien otherwise admitted to and lawfully present in the United States; and (2) consider an alien without lawful status to be an unauthorized alien whose employment is unlawful.

Date: 2015-01-06
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
Justice for Children Now Act of 2015

Authorizes the Attorney General to appoint 70 immigration judges in addition to the those serving as of the date of enactment of this Act.

Date: 2015-01-06
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Law
Birthright Citizenship Act of 2015 

 Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to consider a person born in the United States "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States for citizenship at birth purposes if the person is born in the United States of parents, one of whom is: (1) a U.S. citizen or national, (2) a lawful permanent resident alien whose residence is in the United States, or (3) an alien performing active service in the U.S. Armed Forces.

 States that this Act shall not be construed to affect the citizenship or nationality status of any person born before the date of its enactment.

Date: 2015-01-06
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
Defund Amnesty Act of 2015 

This bill prohibits the use of funds appropriated or otherwise made available to implement or enforce specified immigration-related policies in:

 the memoranda issued by the Secretary of Homeland Security on November 20, 2014, the memoranda issued by the President on November 21, 2014, and any substantially similar memorandum issued after November 21, 2014.

Date: 2015-01-06
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
Stop Handouts to Unauthorized Taxpayers Act of 2015 or the SHUT Act of 2015

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to deny the refundable portion of the child tax credit to individuals unless they include their social security number on their tax return or otherwise demonstrate that they are authorized to be employed in the United States.

Prohibits the Secretary of the Treasury or any delegate of the Secretary employed by the Department of the Treasury from issuing an individual taxpayer identification number unless supporting documentary evidence is submitted.

Date: 2015-01-07
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Taxation
Equal Protection for American Workers Act 

 Prohibits the Secretary of Homeland Security from granting a work authorization to an alien who has been determined, in a valid immigration proceeding during which due process was afforded, to have been at any time unlawfully present in the United States.

Date: 2015-01-08
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
Immigration Accountability Act

This bill prohibits the use of funds appropriated or otherwise made available for any fiscal year to implement or enforce specified immigration-related policies in:

 the memoranda issued by the Secretary of Homeland Security on November 20, 2014, which includes prosecutorial discretion regarding individuals who came to the United States as children and regarding certain individuals who are the parents of U.S. citizens or permanent residents, and expansion of the provisional waiver program; the memoranda issued by the President on November 21, 2014, which includes modernizing and streamlining the U.S. immigrant visa system for the 21st century; the memorandum issued by the Secretary on June 15, 2012, on exercising prosecutorial discretion with respect to individuals who came to the United States as children; and any substantially similar memorandum issued after November 21, 2014.

Date: 2015-01-08
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2015 

Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to: (1) eliminate the per country numerical limitation for employment-based immigrants, and (2) increase the per country numerical limitation for family based immigrants from 7% to 15% of the total number of family-sponsored visas.

Amends the Chinese Student Protection Act of 1992 to eliminate the provision requiring the reduction of annual Chinese immigrant visas to offset status adjustments under such Act.

Sets forth the following transition period for employment-based second and third preference (EB-2 and EB-3) immigrant visas:

 for FY2015, 15% of such visas allotted to natives of countries other than the two countries with the largest aggregate numbers of natives obtaining such visas in FY2011; for FY2016, 10% of such visas allotted in each category to natives of countries other than the two with the largest aggregate numbers of natives obtaining such visas in FY2012; and for FY2017, 10% of such visas allotted in each category to natives of countries other than the two with the largest aggregate numbers of natives obtaining such visas in FY2015. Sets forth the following per country distribution rules: (1) for transition period visas, not more than 25% of the total number of EB-2 and EB-3 visas for natives of a single country; and (2) for non-transition period visas, not more than 85% of EB-2 and EB-3 visas for natives of a single country.

Provides that the amendments made by this Act will take place as if enacted on September 30, 2014, and shall apply beginning in FY2015.

Date: 2015-01-08
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
This bill prohibits the use of funds for certain immigration-related policies, including executive orders or any other executive policy issued after March 11, 2011, that provides for parole, employment authorization, deferred action, or any other immigration benefit or relief for individuals who are unlawfully present in the United States (with exceptions for asylum, temporary protected status, or cancellation of removal by an immigration judge).

The Immigration and Nationality Act is amended to: (1) exclude from the definition of "unauthorized alien," with respect to the unlawful employment of aliens, any alien otherwise admitted to and lawfully present in the United States; and (2) consider an alien without lawful status to be an unauthorized alien whose employment is unlawful.

Date: 2015-01-08
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
Accountability in Foreign Aid Act of 2015

 Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to establish a program to reimburse states and their political subdivisions for qualifying education, incarceration, and public benefit expenses related to the presence of aliens having no lawful U.S. immigration status within their geographical area.

Makes specified foreign assistance amounts available for such reimbursements.

Date: 2015-01-14
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
Illegal Entry Accountability Act of 2015

 Directs the Secretary of State to suspend all U.S. foreign assistance to Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador, except for assistance under the international narcotic control law enforcement program.

Allows reinstatement of assistance only if Congress determines that Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador have taken sufficient action to mitigate unlawful U.S.-Mexico border crossings by their respective citizens.

Date: 2015-01-21
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: International affairs
Filipino Veterans Family Reunification Act of 2015

Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to exempt from worldwide or numerical limitations on immigrant visas the sons and daughters of Filipino World War II veterans who were naturalized under the Immigration Act of 1990 or other specified federal law.

Date: 2015-01-22
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
Unaccompanied Alien Children Assistance Control Act 

Directs the President to reduce foreign assistance allocations for Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, or El Salvador: (1) by the number of unaccompanied alien children who are nationals or citizens of any of those countries placed in federal custody in the preceding fiscal year because of their immigration status, and (2) multiplied by $15,000.

Date: 2015-01-26
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: International affairs
Nuclear Family Priority Act 

Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to eliminate parents from the definition of "immediate relatives" with respect to those aliens not subject to worldwide immigration levels or numerical limitations.

Replaces existing family-sponsored immigrant categories with a single preference allocation for spouses and children of permanent resident aliens.

Reduces the number of, and revises the calculation for, fiscal year family-sponsored immigrant entrants.

Establishes a nonimmigrant visa category for an alien who is a parent of a U.S. citizen at least 21 years old.

Date: 2015-01-28
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
American Entrepreneurship and Investment Act of 2015

 Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to make the EB-5 immigrant investor program permanent.

Increases the targeted employment area set-aside.

Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to defer to state targeted employment area designations.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish a preapproval procedure for commercial enterprises that allows a regional center to apply for preapproval of a new commercial enterprise before an alien files a petition for classification by reason of investment in such enterprise; and (2) defer to certain prior favorable EB-5 determinations except in the case of fraud, material change, or legal deficiency.

Prohibits a person who has been found liable for specified criminal or civil activities from serving as an owner, director, or officer of a regional center.

Requires EB-5 petitions to be adjudicated within 180 days unless additional information is required.

Provides that the child of an alien investor whose conditional permanent resident status is terminated shall continue to be considered a child of the alien investor for purposes of a subsequent immigrant petition by the alien investor if the child remains unmarried and the alien investor's subsequent petition is filed within one year after termination of status.

Provides for a consolidated petition by an alien investor and his or her spouse and children.

Exempts spouses and children of EB-5 immigrants from EB-5 admissions limits.

Authorizes concurrent filing of EB-5 petitions and applications for status adjustment to conditional lawful permanent resident.

Eliminates the per-country limit for employment-based immigrants and increases the per-country limit for family-based immigrants.

Amends the Chinese Student Protection Act of 1992 to eliminate the requirement that the annual Chinese immigrant visas be reduced by a specified amount to offset status adjustments under that Act.

Subjects EB-5 petitions to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Date: 2015-01-28
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
Landing Pass Extension Act of 2015

 Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to extend to up to 90 days the time period for which a conditional permit to land temporarily in the United States may be granted to an alien crewman.

Date: 2015-02-03
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to disallow the refundable portion of the child tax credit to taxpayers who use individual taxpayer identification numbers issued by the Internal Revenue Service instead of social security account numbers to claim such credit on their tax returns.

Date: 2015-02-04
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Taxation
Religious Worker Visa Reciprocity Act of 2015

Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to prohibit the Secretary of Homeland Security from approving a petition for classification of an alien as a special immigrant religious worker/minister if the Secretary has determined that the alien's country of nationality:

 is identified as a Country of Particular Concern or a country where religious freedom is of significant interest in the 2013 International Religious Freedom Report, or does not extend reciprocal immigration treatment to U.S. nationals who are seeking resident status in order to work in a religious vocation or occupation.

Date: 2015-02-11
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
Startup Act

 Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to authorize the Secretary of Homeland Security to adjust to conditional permanent resident status up to 50,000 aliens who have earned a master's or doctorate degree in a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics field (STEM field) and permit such an alien to remain in the United States: (1) for up to one year after the expiration of the alien's student visa, if the alien is searching for STEM field employment; and (2) indefinitely if the alien remains actively engaged in a STEM field.

Removes a STEM alien's conditional status after five years of maintaining eligibility during the entire five-year period.

Authorizes the Secretary to issue conditional immigrant visas to up to 75,000 qualified alien entrepreneurs. Removes such conditional basis after four years of maintaining qualified entrepreneur status.

Eliminates the per-country numerical limitation for employment-based visas.

Increases the per country numerical limitation for family based immigrants from 7% to 15% of the total number of family-sponsored visas.

Amends the Chinese Student Protection Act of 1992 to eliminate the provision requiring the reduction of annual People's Republic of China immigrant visas to offset status adjustments under such Act.

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) provide a permanent full tax exclusion on gain from the sale or exchange of qualified small business stock held for more than five years, (2) repeal the minimum tax preference and the 28% capital gains rate on such stock, and (3) provide a limited tax credit for certain startup small businesses.

Directs the Secretary of Commerce to use certain federal agency extramural budget funds to award grants to institutions of higher education for initiatives to improve commercialization and transfer of technology.

 Requires the head of any federal or independent regulatory agency, before issuing a notice of rule making in connection with the issuance of a proposed major rule, to complete a review that, among other things, analyzes the problem that the rule intends to address, and identifies and analyzes the rule's expected impact on state, local, and tribal governments, as well as on the ability of new businesses to form and expand. Requires a cost-benefit analysis before rule issuance.

Directs the Secretary of Commerce to regularly compile: (1) information from each of the states and the District of Columbia on laws that affect the formation and growth of new businesses, and (2) quantitative and qualitative information on U.S. businesses that are not more than one year old.

Date: 2015-02-13
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Economics and public finance
Partner with Korea Act

Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to create an E-4 treaty trader visa category for up to 15,000 nationals of the Republic of Korea (South Korea) each fiscal year who are coming to the United States solely to perform specialty occupation services and with respect to whom the Secretary of Labor has certified to the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of State that the intending employer has filed an attestation concerning U.S. worker protections with the Secretary of Labor.

Date: 2015-02-20
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
Protecting Immigrants From Legal Exploitation Act of 2015

 Amends the federal criminal code to subject a person to fine, imprisonment, or both, who: (1) knowingly or recklessly executes a scheme in connection with any federal immigration law-related matter to defraud a person, or to obtain money or anything else of value from a person by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises; or (2) knowingly and falsely represents that such person is an attorney or an accredited representative in any federal immigration law-related matter.

Directs the Attorney General (DOJ) and the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), to promulgate regulations, forms, and procedures defining the circumstances in which: (1) persons submitting immigration-related applications, petitions, motions, or other written materials must identify who (other than immediate family members) assisted them in preparing or translating such submissions; and (2) any person who received compensation (other than a normal fee for copying, mailing, or similar services) in connection with the preparation or submission of such materials must sign the form as a preparer and provide identifying information.

Authorizes the Attorney General to bring a civil injunction against an immigration service provider engaging in fraudulent conduct that substantially interferes with the administration of the immigration laws or who willfully misrepresents such provider's legal authority to provide representation before DOJ or DHS.

Authorizes an alien to withdraw an immigration-related application or other submission if the alien: (1) submits information indicating that the application or submission was prepared or submitted by an individual engaged in the unauthorized practice of law or immigration practitioner fraud, and (2) attests that he or she had no prior knowledge that the application or submission was prepared or submitted by such an individual.

Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to waive the bar on reentry for an alien who left the United States based on the erroneous advice of an individual engaged in the unauthorized practice of law or immigration practitioner fraud.

Directs the Secretary and the Attorney General, through the Director of the Office for Immigration Review, to carry out an outreach program to educate aliens regarding who may provide legal services and representation in immigration proceedings.

Directs the Secretary and the Attorney General to establish, within the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Executive Office for Immigration Review, programs to award grants to eligible nonprofit organizations for direct legal services to aliens.

Date: 2015-02-26
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
Legal Workforce Act

Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to direct the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) to establish an employment eligibility verification system (EEVS), patterned after the E-Verify system. (Eliminates the current paper-based I-9 system.)

Requires an employer to attest, during the verification period and under penalty of perjury, that the employer has verified that an individual is not an unauthorized alien by: (1) obtaining and recording the individual's social security account number, and (2) examining specified documents that establish such individual's identity and employment authorization.

Requires an individual to attest that he or she is a U.S. citizen or national, a lawful permanent resident, or an alien authorized to work in the United States.

Establishes a phased-in EEVS participation deadline (six months to two years) for different categories of employers, including agricultural employers.

Requires reverification of the following workers who have not been verified under E-verify: (1) federal, state, or local government employees; (2) certain employees who require a federal security clearance; and (3) certain employees assigned to work in the United States under a federal or state contract.

Authorizes an employer to voluntarily reverify employees. (Requires any such reverification to be applied to all individuals so employed).

Includes employment recruitment and referral within the scope of EEVS. Requires EEVS use by union halls and nonprofit employment agencies.

Requires EEVS to provide employers with: (1) temporary verification or nonverification within 3 working days of an inquiry; and (2) in the case of nonverification, a final verification or nonverification within 10 working days.

Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) an employer utilizing a good faith defense, (2) preemption of state or local law, (3) employer penalties, and (4) worker remedies for EEVS errors.

Provides for the establishment of programs to: (1) block the use of misused social security numbers, and (2) suspend or limit the use of Social Security numbers of victims of identity fraud.

 Requires an employer who uses the photo matching tool as part of the E-Verify system to match the photo tool photograph to both the photograph on the identity or employment eligibility document provided by the employee and to the face of the employee submitting the document.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish a program under which parents or legal guardians may suspend or limit the use of the social security account number or other identifying information of a minor for the purposes of the employment eligibility verification system, and (2) establish an Identity Authentication Employment Eligibility Verification pilot program to provide employers with identity authentication and employment verification of enrolled new employees.

Date: 2015-02-27
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
Protection of Children Act of 2015

 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. (Such authority is now only 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 the State Department 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 does not have a fear of returning to his or her country of nationality or last habitual residence, but who is:

 in removal proceedings shall have a hearing before an immigration judge within 14 days, in federal custody shall be transferred to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) custody within 30 days, and in HHS or Department of Homeland Security (DHS) custody shall have access to legal counsel at no cost to the government. 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.

Date: 2015-02-27
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: International affairs
Denying Amnesty Bonuses Act

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to deny the earned income tax credit to a taxpayer or a taxpayer's spouse who, in any taxable year, received temporary deportation relief and work authorization in accordance with any program not specifically established by Congress.

Date: 2015-03-04
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Taxation
Deny Amnesty Credits Act of 2015 

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to deny the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit to any illegal alien who has received employment authorization under a program for deferred action on removal that has not been not specifically authorized by law.

Date: 2015-03-04
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Taxation
Fairness for Farmers Act of 2015

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude nonimmigrant agricultural seasonal workers from the definition of "full-time employee" for purposes of the employer mandate to provide employees with minimum essential health care coverage.

Date: 2015-03-17
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Taxation
Protecting Religious Minorities Persecuted by ISIS Act of 2015

This bill directs the Secretary of State to establish or use existing refugee processing mechanisms in Iraq and in other countries through which aliens from Iraq or Syria who have been persecuted, or have a credible fear of being persecuted, by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS/ISIL), or a similar group, based on gender or religious or ethnic membership may apply directly to the United States Refugee Admissions Program for priority 2 refugee admission to the United States.

The processing mechanisms shall ensure that background and security checks are conducted, including the use of biographic and biometric data.

The Secretary of State shall: (1) report to Congress a plan to expedite the processing of refugee admissions applications for such aliens, and (2) implement the plan within 180 days of enactment of this Act.

It is U.S. policy that when conflict arises the United States should:

 undertake efforts with the international community to protect local populations and enable them to remain safely in their home countries or in neighboring host countries until they can be safely repatriated; and facilitate third country resettlement if necessary, including U.S. resettlement when such refugees are of special humanitarian concern to the United States.

Date: 2015-03-24
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: International affairs
Vulnerable Immigrant Voice Act 

Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to require that counsel at the government's expense in a removal or related appeal proceeding shall be provided only for an alien who is: (1) an unaccompanied child, or (2) unable to represent himself or herself due to a serious mental disability.

Date: 2015-03-26
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
Executive Amnesty Prevention Act

This bill prohibits the use of funds to implement specified memoranda from the President, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), or other related memoranda.

No deposit in the Immigration Examinations Fee Account may be used to implement, administer, or enforce the policies in such memoranda.

Such memoranda or substantially similar policy changes are declared to have no statutory or constitutional basis and therefore no legal effect.

No funds or fees made available to the Secretary or to any federal official may be used to grant any federal benefit to any alien pursuant to any of such policy changes.

The Immigration and Nationality Act is amended to: (1) exclude from the definition of "unauthorized alien," with respect to employment, any alien otherwise admitted to and lawfully present in the United States; and (2) consider any alien without lawful status to be an unauthorized alien whose employment is unlawful.

Date: 2015-03-26
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
No Social Security for Illegal Immigrants Act of 2015

 Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act to exclude from creditable wages and self-employment income any wages earned for services by aliens performed in the United States, and self-employment income derived from a trade or business conducted in the United States, while the alien was not authorized to be so employed or to perform a function or service in such a trade or business.

Date: 2015-03-26
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Social welfare
Family Farm Relief Act of 2015

 Directs the Secretary of Agriculture (USDA) to establish a process for receiving H-2A nonimmigrant visas (temporary agricultural workers) which shall ensure that that petitioners may file such petitions over the Internet or in paper form. (Transfers administration of the H-2A program from the Department of Labor to USDA.)

Includes year-round livestock workers, including dairy workers, in the H-2A category with a maximum three-year period of admissions which may be renewed three months after the end of each such period.

Revises H-2A certification provisions.

Date: 2015-04-15
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
E-2 Visa Improvement Act of 2015

This bill amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to permit a nonimmigrant E-2 alien (treaty investor) who has been in the United States in such status for at least 10 years and has created full-time employment for at least 2 individuals to apply for immediate employment-based immigrant status.

Up to 10,000 such visas may be made available each fiscal year.

 Sons and daughters of E-2 aliens (or aliens seeking such status) can remain on their parent's visa as a child until age 26. Employment authorization may be granted at age 18.

Date: 2015-04-16
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
Grant Residency for Additional Doctors Act of 2015 or the GRAD Act of 2015

Directs the Secretary of State to:

 designate a Department of State officer or employee whose sole responsibility during the months of March, April, May, June, and any other period of time determined by the Secretary, shall be to facilitate the expedited review of J-visa applications of aliens applying for U.S. admission to participate in a graduate medical education or training program; and provide appropriate Foreign Service officers with training related to medical graduates and medical graduate programs in the countries in which they are serving.

Date: 2015-04-21
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: International affairs
Encourage New Legalized Immigrants to Start Training Act or the ENLIST Act

Authorizes the enlistment in the Armed Forces of aliens unlawfully present in the United States on December 31, 2011, who: (1) have been continuously present in the United States since such date; (2) were younger than 15 years of age when they initially entered the United States; and (3) are otherwise eligible for original enlistment in a regular component of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard.

Requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to adjust the status of an alien enlisted under such authority to the status of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence under provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act applicable to aliens who entered the United States prior to January 1, 1972.

Rescinds such lawful permanent resident status if the alien is separated from the Armed Forces under other than honorable conditions before serving the term of enlistment.

Date: 2015-04-23
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Nepal Temporary Protected Status Act of 2015

Expresses the sense of Congress that the extraordinary and temporary conditions caused by the magnitude 7.8 earthquake, its aftershocks, and additional damage in Nepal qualifies Nepal for designation under section 244 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, pursuant to which nationals of Nepal would be eligible for temporary protected status in the United States.

Extends 18-month temporary protected status to a national of Nepal who: (1) has been continuously physically present in the United States since April 25, 2015, (2) is admissible as an immigrant and not ineligible for temporary protected status, and (3) registers for temporary protected status in a manner that the Secretary of Homeland Security shall establish.

Permits such an alien to travel abroad if the alien establishes to the satisfaction of the Secretary that emergency and extenuating circumstances beyond the alien's control require his or her departure for a brief, temporary trip abroad.

Date: 2015-04-27
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
American Families United Act

States that nothing in this Act shall be construed to enable the Attorney General or the Secretary of Homeland Security to expand his or her discretionary authority beyond a case-by-case basis, or to provide legalization or nationalization of persons covered under this Act.

Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to revise waiver of inadmissibility requirements, among other things waiving inadmissibility for: (1) certain persons who entered the United States before age 16 who have earned a degree from a U.S. institution of higher education, (2) false claims of U.S. citizenship by persons under age 18 or lacking mental competence to knowingly misrepresent a claim, and (3) false claims of U.S. citizenship if inadmissibility would create family separation hardship for the alien (including a self-petitioner under the Violence Against Women Act) or for a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident family member.

Authorizes parents of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents to apply for a waiver of inadmissibility for unlawful presence. Places a three-year limit on immigration-related misrepresentations rendering aliens inadmissible. Revises the definition "conviction" for INA purposes.

Authorizes an immigration judge in specified circumstances, including family separation hardship, but with certain exceptions, to decline to order an alien removed, deported, or excluded and terminate related proceedings or grant permission to reapply for admission or for relief from removal.

Date: 2015-04-29
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration
Virgin Islands Visa Waiver Act of 2015 

Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to establish a visa waiver program for the United States Virgin Islands for a national of a country that is a member or an associate member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) listed in regulations under this Act and who is applying for admission as a nonimmigrant business or pleasure visitor solely for entry into and stay in the United States Virgin Islands for not more than 30 days, if the Secretary of Homeland Security determines that such waiver does not represent a threat to the welfare or security of the United States or its territories and commonwealths.

Directs the Secretary to suspend the admission of nationals of a country if such admissions have resulted in an unacceptable number of visitors remaining unlawfully in the United States Virgin Islands, unlawfully obtaining entry to other parts of the United States, or seeking withholding of removal or asylum, or that visitors from such country pose a risk to law enforcement or security interests of the United States Virgin Islands or of the United States.

Authorizes the Secretary to suspend the program at any time, on a country-by-country basis, for other good cause.

Provides for the addition of program countries.

Date: 2015-04-29
Topic: Immigration (Immigration)
Subject: Immigration