[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 5261 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
117th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 5261
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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
December 14, 2022
Mr. Cardin introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
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 Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Continued Presence Improvement
Act''.
SEC. 2. TRAFFICKING VICTIMS.
Section 107(c)(3) of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000
(22 U.S.C. 7105(c)(3)) is amended--
(1) in subparagraph (A)--
(A) in clause (i)--
(i) by striking ``Federal'';
(ii) by striking ``is'' and inserting ``may
be'';
(iii) by striking ``and may be a potential
witness to such trafficking''; and
(iv) by striking ``may permit the alien to
remain in the United States to facilitate the
investigation and'' and inserting ``may permit
the continued presence of the alien in the
United States for the duration of an
investigation or'';
(B) in clause (ii), by striking ``Federal law
enforcement officials described in clause (i)'' and
inserting ``law enforcement officials'';
(C) in clause (iii)--
(i) in the clause header, by striking
``Continuation of presence'' and inserting
``Civil action'';
(ii) by striking ``shall'' and inserting
``may'';
(iii) by striking ``described in clause (i)
who'' and inserting ``who is a victim of a
severe form of trafficking and''; and
(iv) by adding at the end the following:
``Continued presence shall be extended beyond
an investigation or prosecution described in
clause (i) if the alien has a pending
immigration benefit application until such
application is approved, withdrawn, or denied,
unless the Secretary determines that continued
presence is no longer warranted.''; and
(D) by adding at the end the following:
``(v) Employment authorization .--During
the period the alien is authorized to remain in
the United States under this paragraph, the
Secretary of Homeland Security shall--
``(I) authorize the alien to engage
in employment in the United States; and
``(II) provide the alien with an
`employment authorized' endorsement or
other appropriate work permit.
``(vi) Law enforcement official.--In this
paragraph, the term `law enforcement official'
means personnel from a Federal, State, tribal,
territorial, or local law enforcement agency,
labor agency, children's protective services
agency, or other civil, criminal, judicial or
administrative authority that has the
responsibility and authority for the detection,
investigation, or prosecution of severe forms
of trafficking in persons.
``(vii) Protection from immigration
enforcement.--While a grant of continued
presence is in effect under this paragraph,
Federal law enforcement officials may only take
civil immigration enforcement actions against
an alien described in clause (i) or (iii)--
``(I) based on conduct committed
after continued presence is authorized;
or
``(II) following consultation with
the law enforcement official who filed
the application for continued
presence.'';
(2) in subparagraph (B)--
(A) by striking ``Law enforcement'' and inserting
the following:
``(i) Outside the united states.--Law
enforcement'';
(B) in clause (i), as redesignated, by striking
``subparagraph (A)(i)'' and inserting ``clause (i) or
(iii) of subparagraph (A)''; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
``(ii) Inside the united states.--Law
enforcement officials may submit written
requests to the Secretary of Homeland Security
for deferred action and employment
authorization for certain relatives of any
alien whose continued presence is permitted
under clause (i) or (iii) of subparagraph
(A).''; and
(3) by amending subparagraph (C) to read as follows:
``(C) Law enforcement office policies, training,
and material.--The Secretary of Homeland Security, the
Secretary of State, the Secretary of Labor, the
Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Attorney
General, and the Commissioner of the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission shall--
``(i) develop policies and procedures for
their respective agencies that encourage the
use of and immediate application for continued
presence by the respective agency upon
identification of a victim of a severe form of
trafficking in persons under subparagraph
(A)(i) in appropriate cases;
``(ii) develop materials, in consultation
with the Secretary of Homeland Security, to
encourage and assist their respective Federal
agency personnel and other law enforcement
officials to request continued presence in
appropriate cases; and
``(iii) distribute the materials developed
pursuant to clause (ii) and provide training on
such materials to their respective Federal
agency personnel and other law enforcement
officials.''.
<all>