[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5466 Introduced in House (IH)]
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116th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5466
To provide relief for victims of hate crimes, advance the safety and
well-being of immigrants and refugees, and fund improved law
enforcement and prosecution official training.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
December 17, 2019
Mr. Takano introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide relief for victims of hate crimes, advance the safety and
well-being of immigrants and refugees, and fund improved law
enforcement and prosecution official training.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Prevention of Anti-Immigrant
Violence Act of 2019''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Anti-immigrant violence is on the rise, with the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reporting an 11.8-percent
increase in hate crimes against individuals for 2018 compared
to 2017 and an observed shift in crimes against individuals as
opposed to property. The FBI data shows that 59.6 percent of
hate crimes reported were motivated by race, ethnicity, or
ancestry. In addition, the 24 hate crime murders recorded in
2018 are the highest ever reported by the FBI since it began
tracking hate crimes in 1991. Since 2014, FBI hate crime
statistics have shown an increasing trend in hate crimes, with
the highest yearly gains so far reported for 2017 at 17
percent.
(2) The vast majority of the reported hate crimes are
related to race, ethnicity, or ancestry. According to the
Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS),
Hispanics experience close to double the rate of hate crime
victimization that non-Hispanic Whites (1.3 vs 0.7 per 1,000).
The 2019 National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) data shows
that non-US citizens are victimized at a rate of approximately
12.5 victims per 1,000 non-US citizens.
(3) BJS has shown a precipitous decline in reporting of
hate crimes since 2014, with BJS's NCVS data showing that
between 2013 and 2017 more than half of all hate crimes
(>100,000) went unreported annually. NCVS 2019 statistics show
that after declining by more than 60 percent in the past 21
years, the number of violent crime victims has steadily
increased since 2015; and that the rate of unreported violent
crimes continues to rise; increasing from 9.5 to 12.9 per 1,000
persons between 2015 and 2018.
(4) Many immigrant advocates cite fear of deportation as
one of the reasons people are not coming forward to report
crimes. The threat of being reported to Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) is used by perpetrators of hate crimes to
silence both victims and witnesses and to avoid criminal
prosecution.
(5) Detention and removal of victims of hate crimes
undermine the rule of law and gives perpetrators the means by
which to escape prosecution. The deportation of victims and
witnesses denies them the ability to see justice served,
prevents law enforcement from keeping communities safe, and
exacerbates the problems communities face in the rise of anti-
immigrant violence.
(6) Lack of resources has prevented law enforcement,
prosecutors, and victimized communities from learning about
available tools for their protection and the prosecution of
these crimes. Everyone seeking justice for victims and eager to
see a reduction in hate crimes must be afforded the resources
to learn and educate the public of these available tools.
SEC. 3. EXPANSION OF CRIMINAL ACTIVITY FOR WHICH A U VISA MAY BE
ISSUED; ADDITIONAL U VISAS MADE AVAILABLE.
(a) Expansion of Criminal Activity.--Section 101(a)(15)(U)(iii) of
the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(U)) is
amended by inserting after ``fraud in foreign labor contracting (as
defined in section 1351 of title 18, United States Code);'' the
following: ``hate crime acts;''.
(b) Additional Visas Made Available.--Section 214(p)(2)(A) of the
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1184(p)(2)(A)) is amended by
striking ``10,000'' and inserting ``12,000'', thus designating the
additional 2,000 visas for victims of hate crimes.
SEC. 4. PROHIBITION OF REMOVAL OF NON-CITIZENS WITH PENDING PETITIONS
AND APPLICATIONS.
(a) In General.--A non-citizen described in subsection (b) shall
not be removed from the United States under section 240 of the
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1229a) or any other provision
of law until there is a final denial of the non-citizen's application
for status after the exhaustion of administrative and judicial review.
(b) Non-Citizens Described.--A non-citizen is described in this
subsection if the non-citizen--
(1) has a pending application under section 101(a)(15)(T),
101(a)(15)(U), 101(a)(27)(J), 106, 240A(b)(2), or 244(a)(3) (as
in effect on March 31, 1997) of the Immigration and Nationality
Act (8 U.S.C. 1101, 1229a, 1254a); or
(2) is a VAWA self-petitioner, as defined in section
101(a)(51) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, with a
pending application for relief.
SEC. 5. PROHIBITION ON DETENTION OF CERTAIN VICTIMS WITH PENDING
PETITIONS AND APPLICATIONS.
Section 236 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1226)
is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(a) Prohibition on Detention of Certain Victims With Pending
Petitions and Applications.--
``(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
this Act, there shall be a presumption that the non-citizen
described in paragraph (2) should be released from detention.
The Secretary of Homeland Security shall have the duty of
rebutting this presumption, which may only be shown based on
clear and convincing evidence, including credible and
individualized information, that the use of alternatives to
detention will not reasonably ensure the appearance of the non-
citizen at removal proceedings, or that the non-citizen is a
threat to another person or the community. The fact that a non-
citizen has a criminal charge pending against the non-citizen
may not be the sole factor to justify the continued detention
of the non-citizen.
``(2) Non-citizen described.--A non-citizen is described in
this paragraph if the non-citizen--
``(A) has a pending application under section
101(a)(15)(T), 101(a)(15)(U), 101(a)(27)(J), 106,
240A(b)(2), or 244(a)(3) (as in effect on March 31,
1997); or
``(B) is a VAWA self-petitioner, as defined in
section 101(a)(51), with a pending application for
relief.''.
SEC. 6. GRANTS TO IDENTIFY, ASSIST, AND PROTECT VICTIMS OF HATE CRIME
VIOLENCE.
(a) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Eligible entity.--The term ``eligible entity'' means a
State, a local government, or non-governmental organizations.
(2) State.--The term ``State'' means any State of the
United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of
Puerto Rico, Guam, the United States Virgin Islands, the
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa,
and any other territory or possession of the United States.
(b) Grants Authorized.--The Attorney General may award grants to
eligible entities to assist non-citizen victims of hate crimes and/or
provide training to State and local law enforcement personnel or
prosecution officials to identify and protect victims of anti-immigrant
driven hate crime violence, criminal activities and harms covered by
section 101(a)(15)(T), 101(a)(15)(U), 101(a)(27)(J), 106, 240A(b)(2),
or 244(a)(3) (as in effect on March 31, 1997); or is a VAWA self-
petitioner, as defined in section 101(a)(51), with a pending
application for relief.
(c) Use of Funds.--
(1) Partnership or collaboration.--An eligible entity
receiving a grant under this section shall carry out or possess
at least one of the following activities or expertise described
in paragraph (2) in partnership or collaboration with--
(A) National, State, local, or Federal law
enforcement or prosecution officials dedicated to
reducing anti-immigrant hate crimes and which possess
personnel who have more than 2-year expertise in and
have received U Visa Law Enforcement Certification and/
or T visa declarations training; or
(B) National, State, or local non-governmental
organizations with more than 2 years expertise in the
identification and prosecution of hate crime, dedicated
to the reduction of anti-immigrant biased violence or
expertise training on and/or assisting non-citizens
navigate the process of applying for the U visa and any
of the forms of immigration relief listed in section
4(b) of this Act; or
(C) a non-governmental organization working in
partnership or collaboration with a group in
subparagraph (A) or (B).
(2) Activities and expertise.--The activities and
expertises referred to in paragraph (1) are as follows:
(A) To provide funding to community-based, legal or
victim services organizations, law enforcement or
prosecution programs with a documented history of
effective work in identification of hate crimes and
anti-immigrant violence, to perform outreach in
communities that have experienced an increase in anti-
immigrant violence since 2014.
(B) To provide funding to community-based, legal or
victim services organizations, law enforcement or
prosecution programs with a documented history of
effective work in the training of law enforcement and/
or prosecution agency personnel to protect victims of
crimes who are non-citizens without lawful immigration
status, including training such personnel to utilize
Federal, State, or local resources to assist such
victims and their families.
(C) To provide funding to community-based, legal or
victim services organizations, law enforcement or
prosecution programs with a documented history of
effective work in the training of law enforcement or
State or local prosecutors to utilize Federal laws that
protect such non-citizens and their families.
(d) Restrictions.--
(1) Supplement not supplant.--A grant awarded under this
section shall be used to supplement and not supplant other
Federal, State, and local public funds available to carry out
the training described in subsection (c).
(2) Administrative expenses.--An eligible entity that
receives a grant under this section may use not more than 5
percent of the total amount of such grant for administrative
expenses.
(3) Nonexclusivity.--Nothing in this section may be
construed to restrict the ability of an eligible entity to
apply for or obtain funding from any other source to carry out
the training described in subsection (c).
(e) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be
appropriated $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 through 2030 to
carry out this section.
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