I have been trying to figure out what is what. Maybe you have been too. So I’ve thrown together (perhaps a bit hastily) this collection of facts and links; I hope it helps.
The Compromise Bill
In May moderate republicans led by Carlos Curbelo of Florida mounted an effort to get a discharge petition to vote on a real bipartisan bill on immigration, H.R. 4760, which included a good solution for Dreamers, and had strong democratic support as well. They were within striking distance with 216 of 218 and enough rumored yeses to get there, so Paul Ryan had to promise to introduce his own compromise bill and let it come up for a vote to stop HR4760 from coming up for a vote. His “Compromise” bill (a compromise between moderate and conservative Republicans) is being voted on today. The Border Security and Immigration Reform Act of 2018 HR6136 works to provide:
- Path to Citizenship
- Border Wall funding
- Keeps families together
- Require employers to use e-verify
- 299 pages of other things too
It is not really expected to pass, but this morning Trump tweeted
“HOUSE REPUBLICANS SHOULD PASS THE STRONG BUT FAIR IMMIGRATION BILL, KNOWN AS GOODLATTE II, IN THEIR AFTERNOON VOTE TODAY, EVEN THOUGH THE DEMS WON’T LET IT PASS IN THE SENATE. PASSAGE WILL SHOW THAT WE WANT STRONG BORDERS & SECURITY WHILE THE DEMS WANT OPEN BORDERS = CRIME. WIN!”
Capitalization is in the original.
But that isn’t all that is going on. Currently, there are five Republican and two Democratic bills proposed.
The Democrats’ simple fix S3036: the Keep Families Together Act
This is Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s proposal, and all Senate Democrats and Independents have signed on as cosponsors. There are no Republican sponsors.
- An agency may not remove a child from a parent or legal guardian solely for the policy goal of deterring individuals from migrating to the United States or for the policy goal of promoting compliance with civil immigration laws. (exceptions for the welfare of the child)
- Require all agents and officers be given evidence-based training to make those decisions “with an emphasis on the best interests of the child, childhood trauma, attachment, and child development.”
- Require public guidance, in English and Spanish, instructing parents on how to locate their child in the event of separation. It would also require that separated parents be given a monthly update on the activities, health, and immigration status of their child.
- Require an annual report with details on each case of separation, as well as a Government Accountability Office study on the prosecution of asylum seekers from 2008 to 2018.
The GovTrack write up of the bill which is concise and clear.
The Republicans’ simple fix S3093: Keep Families Together and Enforce the Law Act
- Requires that children and their parents remain together during their legal proceedings (with welfare exceptions)
- Formally overturn Flores
- The bill would also set minimum standards for detention centers near the border for elements such as food, water, and medical care.
The GovTrack write up of the bill is also a good overview.
Cruz’s Simple Fix: Protect Kids and Parents Act
Keeps kids together in detention with families, funds more jails and judges to speed things up
Background on Related Issues
Alternatives to Detention
The family case management program was a promising alternative to detention but was recently shut down. Here’s an Atlantic piece talking about how it was cost-effective and seemed to be working.
USAID
Here is a piece from the Washington Post about what these families are fleeing in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala.
These families are willing to take these risks to immigrate because otherwise their children will be murdered. Or else raped and then murdered.
Where are the children?
- The Office of Refugee Resettlement is supposed to place migrant children into sponsor homes and track the status of those children.
- The ORRs process is:
- interview prospective sponsors;
- require prospective sponsors to complete an “Authorization for Release of Information;”
- conduct background checks on all prospective sponsors;
- coordinate fingerprint checks of the FBI database for non-parental sponsors, or for parental sponsors where there is a documented risk to the safety of the child, the child is especially vulnerable, or the case is being referred for a mandatory home study; and
- coordinate a check of the immigration Central Index System in some cases.
- Once children are placed in sponsor homes, funding and care stops for them. The ORR is supposed to follow up and track them. But if the sponsor “parents” don’t answer the phone or respond, then apparently the children are reported as missing.
- There is publicly available info of the number of children released by State and County, but it’s only updated as of April 2018.
- Parents may have a yellow bracelet put on them.
The Central Index System is a database of children and their sponsors’ citizenship status (since Jan 2014) and hopefully the children’s biological parents.
The DHS also has written a statement on this: https://www.dhs.gov/news/2018/06/18/myth-vs-fact-dhs-zero-tolerance-policy
For more information on the “crisis at the border” and Trump’s recent Executive Order, read Sarah’s excellent blog from last week
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