117 HR 7741 IH: No More Phones Act
U.S. House of Representatives
2022-05-12
text/xml
EN
Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
I
117th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 7741
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 12, 2022
Mr. Donalds (for himself, Ms. Herrell, Mr. Tiffany, Mr. Van Drew, Mrs. Boebert, Mr. Clyde, Mr. Lamborn, Mr. Norman, Mr. Biggs, Mr. Hice of Georgia, Mrs. Fischbach, and Mr. Bishop of North Carolina) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To prevent the Federal Government from using taxpayer funds to distribute cellular devices to individuals who unlawfully cross the southern border, and for other purposes.
1.

Short title
This Act may be cited as the “No More Phones Act”.
2.

Findings; statement of Congress
(a)

Findings
Congress finds the following:
(1)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is charged with securing the United States borders at and between ports of entry by stopping inadmissible people and illicit goods.
(2)
In fiscal year 2020, the U.S. Border Patrol experienced 405,036 total encounters with illegal immigrants. Comparatively, the U.S. Border Patrol encountered 1,662,167 illegal immigrants in fiscal year 2021—nearly 4 times the amount from the previous fiscal year.
(3)
Upon apprehending illegal immigrants at the southern border, which often occurs voluntarily, the individuals are then processed and detained by CBP agents in holding facilities for approximately 52 hours, where they are provided 3 meals a day and a constant supply of water and snacks, and then subsequently placed into legal proceedings to determine the individual’s immigration eligibility.
(4)
If the undocumented individual requests asylum based on credible fear of persecution, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will make a determination if the individual does in fact have credible fear of persecution, and if so, the alien will then be placed in a standard removal process according to section 240 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1229a) and may then pursue a hearing before an immigration judge.
(5)
During these hearings, immigration judges within the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review determines whether an individual is subject to removal or if the individual is eligible for relief, although U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) makes the initial decision immediately after the alien was processed at CBP detention facilities, to detain the individual or release them into the several communities of the United States pending their immigration hearing.
(6)
Aliens will then be considered for detention at ICE holding facilities or other detention plans coordinated with nongovernmental organizations; however, due to limited space and other legal considerations that relate to family units and immigration shelter licensing, many individuals that cross the southern border illegally are usually released into the several communities of the United States after leaving CBP detention facilities.
(7)
All aliens released from ICE custody into the several communities of the United States are then assigned to a nondetained docket and must report to ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) at least once a year while they await a decision on whether they should be removed from the United States—which, as of August 2020, consisted of over 3,300,000 outstanding cases waiting to be heard.
(8)
Some individuals in the nondetained docket are enrolled in Alternatives to Detention (ATD) programs, through which ERO ATD officers determine case management and supervision methods on a case-by-case basis, and if the alien complies with the terms of their plan within 30 days, the level of supervision may be lowered.
(9)
One main method to ensure ATD compliance is to provide the alien with technology services, which may include telephonic reporting, GPS monitoring via ankle bracelets, or a smartphone application that allows for facial recognition scanning and GPS monitoring.
(10)
Before the individual’s immigration hearing, many individuals simply dispose of their ATD compliance cell phone immediately upon release, or after their initial 30-day compliance meeting with EOR ATD, to abscond and avoid further detection from immigration enforcement agencies.
(11)
Another prevalent reason for an alien’s falling out of contact with EOR ATD and thereby avoiding further detection includes instances where the alien moves within the United States and fails to provide updated contact information to EOR ATD.
(12)
Ninety-five to ninety-seven percent of aliens that are released into the several communities of the United States don’t show up for their removal hearings, resulting in many cases of undetected illegal immigrants taking abode in the United States until they are subsequently, if ever, identified by immigration enforcement agencies.
(b)

Statement of Congress
Congress—
(1)
recognizes the unprecedented immigration crisis currently occurring at the southern border;
(2)
condemns the Biden Administration’s prioritization of faster illegal immigrant processing time instead of implementing policies that actually deter illegal immigration from occurring in the first place;
(3)
deplores the use of any Federal funding under ATD plans to provide cell phones to illegal immigrants who are released into the several communities of the United States;
(4)
demands that President Joseph Biden resume and finish construction of the southern border wall to diminish the opportunity for unlawful border crossings;
(5)
encourages the allocation of increased Federal funding towards additional CBP agents and monitoring technology at the southern border;
(6)
emphasizes and denounces the immense waste of United States taxpayer funding that is currently used to provide cell phones to immigrants who unlawfully enter the United States; and
(7)
stresses the national security concerns of releasing illegal immigrants into the several communities of the United States based on the unlikely premise that such individuals will maintain the cell phone while awaiting their hearing date in United States immigration court.
3.

Preventing taxpayer funding from being used to provide illegal immigrants with cellular devices
The Secretary of Homeland Security (including any delegate of the Secretary) or any other Federal Government official may not use American taxpayer funding to provide cellular devices to individuals who cross the southern border illegally.
4.

American Taxpayer Waste Report
Not later than 150 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security, in conjunction with the Commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, shall submit a report to the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate outlining the total number of cellular devices allocated to illegal immigrants since the beginning of Joe Biden’s presidency, the total monetary cost of each cellular device, the economic impact on each American citizen resulting from the decision to distribute cellular devices to illegal immigrants, a detailed overview of the stipulations and process when providing cellular devices to illegal immigrants, the number of cellular devices that were returned after an immigration hearing decision in comparison to those that were not returned, details about the cellular device return process after the immigration hearing concludes, and any other information relating to the illegal immigrant cellular device distribution process that the Secretary determines necessary.