ACTIVIST TOOLKIT FOR H.R. 2, LEGISLATION ON BORDER SECURITY AND IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT

DIVISION A – BORDER SECURITY

• Requires the Department of Homeland Security to immediately restart border wall construction, ensuring that the wall is built along no less than 900 miles of our southern border.
• Increases manpower to a total of 22,000 full-time Border Patrol agents.
• Provides additional technology at border ports of entry to detect and prevent the entry of narcotics, contraband and illegal aliens.
• Authorizes Operation Stonegarden, a grant program to enhance cooperation and coordination among local, state, tribal and federal law enforcement agencies to secure the border.
• Provides that Air and Marine Operations must carry out a minimum of 110,000 annual flight hours and maintain unmanned aerial systems on the southern border 24 hours per day.
• Prohibits DHS funds to be disbursed to any non-governmental organization (NGO) providing transportation, lodging, or legal services to inadmissible aliens.  
• Requires DHS to certify to Congress that it is collecting DNA and biometrics per federal law and that it has access to criminal history databases for screening illegal aliens.
• Instructs Customs and Border Protection to publish monthly information on the number of alien encounters and their nationalities, criminal characteristics, and related statistics.
• Limits the use of the CBP One phone app to inspection of perishable cargo only, banning it from being used to facilitate entry interviews for illegal aliens.

DIVISION B – IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS

TITLE I—ASYLUM REFORM AND BORDER PROTECTION

• Reforms the asylum process and raises the minimum standard for aliens to claim “a credible fear of persecution.”
• Introduces requirement that aliens must arrive at ports of entry to claim asylum, deterring illegal entries between ports.
• Prohibits asylum for aliens convicted of felonies and DUIs as well as members of criminal gangs.

TITLE II—BORDER SAFETY AND MIGRANT PROTECTION

• Severely limits the government’s ability to release aliens upon apprehension at the border by strengthening the law to mandatorily detain, return or remove illegal aliens.
• If the government cannot detain or return an alien to its home country or a safe third country, it must require the alien to wait in Mexico or Canada while their case is being considered.
• Gives the DHS Secretary the authority to turn away aliens without valid entry documents if doing so is necessary to maintain operational control of the border.

TITLE III – PREVENTING UNCONTROLLED MIGRATION FLOWS IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE

• Authorizes the Secretary of State to seek to negotiate agreements between the United States and countries in the Western Hemisphere to ensure regional immigration enforcement.
• Requires that such agreements seek to ensure that Mexico allow illegal aliens applying for asylum in the United States to remain in Mexico while their applications are considered.

TITLE IV—ENSURING UNITED FAMILIES AT THE BORDER

• Reverses judicially imposed restrictions on detention of families that have led to unsustainable catch-and-release practices.
• Clarifies that families must be detained together if an alien enters illegally with minor children and that there is no presumption that an accompanied alien child should not be detained.

TITLE V—PROTECTION OF CHILDREN

• Applies consistent requirements for expeditious processing, screening and repatriation of unaccompanied alien children (UACs) to their home country, regardless of national origin.
• In the event that UACs are not repatriated due to a credible fear of persecution and/or human trafficking in their home country, the bill mandates that the child’s hearing before an immigration judge occur within 14 days after being screened.

TITLE VI—VISA OVERSTAYS PENALTIES

• Applies the same civil and criminal penalties for illegal entry to aliens who overstay their visas by 10 days or more days.
• Deters illegal immigration by those who overstay visas by increasing the civil penalty for illegal entry or attempted illegal entry from a range of $50 to $250 to a range of $500 to $1,000.

TITLE VII—IMMIGRATION PAROLE REFORM

• Significantly limits the Secretary’s parole authority so that broad, category-based parole programs cannot be established to circumvent Congress.
• Requires that parole be individually determined, based on strict new definitions of “significant public benefit” or “urgent humanitarian reasons.”
• Limits parole to one year and up to a one-year extension, and prohibits the ability of those on parole to work in the United States, with limited exceptions.

TITLE VIII—LEGAL WORKFORCE

• Mandates the use of E-Verify for all employers in a responsible, phased-in way.
• Repeals the paper based I-9 system, and gives employers a free, web-based system to verify the status of new hires.
• Increases penalties for noncompliance and hiring of illegal aliens.

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