United States HR 9261: Continued Presence Improvement Act

Bill Text

I
118TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION H. R. 9261
To protect certain victims of human trafficking by expanding the authority
of the Secretary of Homeland Security to grant such aliens continued
presence in the United States.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AUGUST 2, 2024
Mr. IVEY (for himself, Mr. VALADAO, and Mrs. RAMIREZ) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To protect certain victims of human trafficking by expanding
the authority of the Secretary of Homeland Security
to grant such aliens continued presence in the United
States.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Continued Presence 4
Improvement Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. TRAFFICKING VICTIMS. 1
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 107(c)(3) of the Traf-2
ficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 3
7105(c)(3)) is amended— 4
(1) in subparagraph (A)— 5
(A) by amending clause (i) to read as fol-6
lows: 7
‘‘(i) INVESTIGATIONS AND PROSECU-8
TIONS.—If a law enforcement official files 9
an application stating that an alien may be 10
a victim of a severe form of trafficking, the 11
Secretary of Homeland Security may per-12
mit the alien to remain in the United 13
States to facilitate the investigation or 14
prosecution of a trafficking-related of-15
fense.’’; 16
(B) by redesignating clause (iv) as clause 17
(v); 18
(C) by redesignating clause (ii) as clause 19
(iv) and moving such clause so that it appears 20
immediately after clause (iii); 21
(D) by striking clause (iii) and inserting 22
the following: 23
‘‘(ii) WHILE PURSUING A CIVIL AC-24
TION.—The Secretary of Homeland Secu-25
rity shall permit an alien who is a victim 26
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of a severe form of trafficking and has 1
filed a civil action under section 1595 of 2
title 18 to remain in the United States 3
until such action is concluded. If the Sec-4
retary, after consultation with the Attorney 5
General, determines that the alien has 6
failed to exercise due diligence in pursuing 7
such action, the Secretary may revoke the 8
order permitting the alien to remain in the 9
United States. 10
‘‘(iii) LENGTH; EXTENSIONS.—The 11
Secretary of Homeland Security shall 12
grant continued presence under this sub-13
paragraph for a period of not less than 2 14
years and may extend such status beyond 15
2 years, at the discretion of the Secretary. 16
If the alien has a pending immigration 17
benefit application, continued presence 18
shall be extended until such application is 19
approved, withdrawn, or denied upon final 20
appeal, unless the Secretary determines 21
that continued presence is no longer war-22
ranted.’’; 23
(E) in clause (iv), as redesignated, by 24
striking ‘‘Federal law enforcement officials de-25
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scribed in clause (i)’’ and inserting ‘‘law en-1
forcement officials’’; and 2
(F) by adding at the end the following: 3
‘‘(vi) EMPLOYMENT AUTHORIZATION 4
.—During the period the alien is author-5
ized to remain in the United States under 6
this paragraph, the Secretary of Homeland 7
Security shall— 8
‘‘(I) authorize the alien to engage 9
in employment in the United States; 10
and 11
‘‘(II) provide the alien with an 12
‘employment authorized’ endorsement 13
or other appropriate work permit. 14
‘‘(vii) PROTECTION FROM IMMIGRA-15
TION ENFORCEMENT.—While a grant of 16
continued presence is in effect under this 17
paragraph, Federal law enforcement offi-18
cials may only take civil immigration en-19
forcement actions against an alien de-20
scribed in clause (i) or (iii)— 21
‘‘(I) based on conduct committed 22
after continued presence is authorized; 23
and 24
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‘‘(II) following consultation with 1
the law enforcement official who filed 2
the application for continued pres-3
ence.’’; 4
(2) in subparagraph (B)— 5
(A) by striking ‘‘Law enforcement’’ and in-6
serting the following: 7
‘‘(i) OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES.— 8
Law enforcement’’; 9
(B) in clause (i), as redesignated, by strik-10
ing ‘‘subparagraph (A)(i)’’ and inserting 11
‘‘clause (i) or (iii) of subparagraph (A)’’; and 12
(C) by adding at the end the following: 13
‘‘(ii) INSIDE THE UNITED STATES.— 14
Law enforcement officials may submit 15
written requests to the Secretary of Home-16
land Security for deferred action and em-17
ployment authorization for certai