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• Immigration Legislation and Issues in the 114th Congress [February 3, 2016]

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  From the Summary: "The House and the Senate have considered immigration measures on a variety of issues in the 114th Congress. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 (P.L. 114-113) extends four immigration programs through September 30, 2016: the EB-5 immigrant investor Regional Center Pilot Program, the E-Verify employment eligibility verification system, the Conrad State program for foreign medical graduates, and the special immigrant religious worker program. P.L. 114-113 also contains provisions on the Visa Waiver Program and certain nonimmigrant visa categories. Other enacted immigration-related measures include the Border Jobs for Veterans Act of 2015 (P.L. 114-68) on border security personnel, the Adoptive Family Relief Act (P.L. 114-70) on intercountry adoption, and the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (P.L. 114-92) on the Afghan special immigrant visa program. The House has passed several other immigration-related bills. Among them are the Northern Border Security Review Act (H.R. 455), the Preclearance Authorization Act of 2015 (H.R. 998), the Border Security Technology Accountability Act of 2015 (H.R. 1634), the Enforce the Law for Sanctuary Cities Act (H.R. 3009), and the American SAFE Act of 2015 (H.R. 4038). H.R. 998 has also been reported by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. […] This report discusses these and other immigration-related issues that have received legislative action or are of significant congressional interest in the 114th Congress."

  Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

  Bruno, Andorra; Bjelopera, Jerome P.; Garcia, Michael John . . .

  2016-02-03
• Temporary Protected Status: Current Immigration Policy and Issues [February 18, 2016]

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  "When civil unrest, violence, or natural disasters erupt in spots around the world, concerns arise over the safety of foreign nationals from these troubled places who are in the United States. Provisions exist in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to offer temporary protected status (TPS) and other blanket forms of relief from removal under specified circumstances. A foreign national who is granted TPS receives a registration document and an employment authorization for the duration of TPS. The United States currently provides TPS to over 300,000 foreign nationals from a total of 13 countries: El Salvador, Guinea, Haiti, Honduras, Liberia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. Liberians have had relief from removal for the longest period, first receiving TPS in March 1991 following the outbreak of civil war, and again in 2014 due to the outbreak of the Ebola virus disease. The Administration designated TPS for foreign nationals from Yemen in 2015 due to the ongoing armed conflict in the country. Pressure is now on the Administration to extend TPS to migrants from Central America because of criminal and security challenges in the region. Under the INA, the executive branch grants TPS or relief from removal. The Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State, has the discretion to issue TPS for periods of 6 to 18 months and can extend these periods if conditions do not change in the designated country. Congress has also provided TPS legislatively."

  Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

  Argueta, Carla N.; Wasem, Ruth Ellen

  2016-02-18
• Border Security: Immigration Enforcement Between Ports of Entry [April 19, 2016]

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  "Border enforcement is a core element of the Department of Homeland Security's effort to control unauthorized migration, with the U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) within the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) as the lead agency along most of the border. Border enforcement has been an ongoing subject of congressional interest since the 1970s, when unauthorized immigration to the United States first registered as a serious national problem; and border security has received additional attention in the years since the terrorist attacks of 2001. [...] Enhanced border enforcement also may have contributed to a number of secondary costs and benefits. To the extent that border enforcement successfully deters unauthorized entries, such enforcement may reduce border-area violence and migrant deaths, protect fragile border ecosystems, and improve the quality of life in border communities. But to the extent that migrants are not deterred, the concentration of enforcement resources on the border may increase border area violence and migrant deaths, encourage unauthorized migrants to find new ways to enter and to remain in the United States for longer periods of time, damage border ecosystems, harm border-area businesses and the quality of life in border communities, and strain U.S. relations with Mexico and Canada."

  Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

  Argueta, Carla N.

  2016-04-19
• Border Security Metrics Between Ports of Entry [February 16, 2016]

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  "Understanding the risks present at the U.S. borders and developing methods to measure border security are key challenges for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Border Patrol, the agency within DHS charged with securing the border between ports of entry. Metrics for border security are used at both the strategic level, by DHS, and at the operational level by Customs and Border Protection (Border Patrol). This report reviews DHS's and the Border Patrol's use of metrics in evaluating their objective to secure the border between ports of entry. DHS and the Border Patrol can use metrics to measure their performance and estimate risks at the border. Additionally, metrics provide Congress with an understanding of DHS's and Border Patrol's progress in securing the border. At a strategic level, DHS uses performance metrics to understand its ability to meet border security objectives. However, DHS has struggled to create a comprehensive measure of border security. Most recently, DHS has labored to create a new generation of performance metrics, through the estimation of unauthorized entry of migrants into the United States. This measure represents the volume of migration entering the United States and can be influenced by factors outside of DHS's control, and therefore may not directly speak on border security. Congress may want to consider whether this is an adequate performance metric for border security and whether additional and/or more comprehensive and targeted metrics are required."

  Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

  Argueta, Carla N.

  2016-02-16
• EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa [April 22, 2016]

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  "The immigrant investor visa was created in 1990 to benefit the U.S. economy through employment creation and an influx of foreign capital into the United States. The visa is also referred to as the EB-5 visa because it is the fifth employment preference immigrant visa category. The EB-5 visa provides lawful permanent residence (i.e., LPR status) to foreign nationals who invest a specified amount of capital in a new commercial enterprise in the United States and create at least 10 jobs. The foreign nationals must invest $1,000,000, or $500,000 if they invest in a rural area or an area with high unemployment (referred to as targeted employment areas or TEAs). [...] Different policy issues surrounding the EB-5 visa have been debated. Proponents of the EB-5 visa contend that providing visas to foreign investors benefits the U.S. economy, in light of the potential economic growth and job creation it can create. Others argue that the EB-5 visa allows wealthy individuals to buy their way into the United States."

  Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

  Argueta, Carla N.; Siskin, Alison

  2016-04-22
• Numerical Limits on Permanent Employment-Based Immigration: Analysis of the Per-country Ceilings [July 28, 2016]

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  "Four major principles currently underlie U.S. policy on legal permanent immigration: the reunification of families, the admission of legal permanent residents (LPRs) with needed skills, the protection of refugees, and the diversity of admissions by country of origin. These principles are embodied in federal law, the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) first codified in 1952. […] Currently, permanent immigrants (or LPRs) enter the United States based on a preference system. Non-immigrants, who are admitted into the United States temporarily, are not admitted through this preference system. There are five preference categories for employment-based LPRs and each has its own eligibility requirements and numerical limitations, and at times different application processes. Per-country ceilings are an additional numerical limitation placed on permanent immigration in order to prevent any one country from taking too large of a share of the visas. […] The report opens with brief explanations of the employment-based preference categories and the per-country ceilings governing annual admissions of LPRs. The focus is on the five major employment-based preference categories. The report continues with a statistical analysis of the pending caseload of approved employment-based LPR petitions. The same analyses of approved pending employment-based petitions are performed on two different sets of data: approved pending petitions with the DOS [Department of State] National Visa Center; and approved pending petitions with USCIS [U.S. Citizenship and Immigrant Services], known by the petition number as the I-485 Inventory. The report concludes with a set of legislative options to revise per-country ceilings that are meant to serve as springboards for further discussions."

  Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

  Argueta, Carla N.

  2016-07-28
• Immigration Legislation and Issues in the 114th Congress [September 9, 2016]

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  "The House and the Senate have considered immigration measures on a variety of issues in the 114th Congress. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 (P.L. 114-113) extends four immigration programs through September 30, 2016: the EB-5 immigrant investor Regional Center Pilot Program, the E-Verify employment eligibility verification system, the Conrad State program for foreign medical graduates, and the special immigrant religious worker program. P.L. 114-113 also contains provisions on the Visa Waiver Program and certain nonimmigrant visa categories. [...] In addition, various bills on border security, interior enforcement, visa security, and asylum, among other issues, have been considered by a House or Senate committee. Border security-related measures have been reported by the House Homeland Security Committee (H.R. 399) or the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (S. 461, S. 750, S. 1808, S. 1864, S. 1873, S. 2976). Interior enforcement provisions are included in bills ordered to be reported by the House Judiciary Committee (H.R. 1147, H.R. 1148, H.R. 1153) or reported by the House Appropriations Committee (H.R. 3128). Several of these interior enforcement bills contain key provisions on other immigration issues, such as employment eligibility verification (H.R. 1147); visa security and naturalization (H.R. 1148); and expedited removal, asylum, parole, and unaccompanied alien children (H.R. 1153). [...] H.R. 1149, as ordered to be reported by the House Judiciary Committee, also addresses unaccompanied alien children. This report discusses these and other immigration-related issues that have received legislative action or are of significant congressional interest in the 114th Congress."

  Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

  Bruno, Andorra; Argueta, Carla N.; Bjelopera, Jerome P. . . .

  2016-09-09
• Federal Land Ownership: Overview and Data [March 3, 2017]

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  "Today the federal government owns and manages roughly 640 million acres of land in the United States. Four major federal land management agencies manage 610.1 million acres of this land, or about 95% of all federal land in the United States. These agencies are as follows: Bureau of Land Management (BLM), 248.3 million acres; Forest Service (FS), 192.9 million acres; Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), 89.1 million acres; and National Park Service (NPS), 79.8 million acres. Most of these lands are in the West, including Alaska. In addition, the Department of Defense (DOD) administers 11.4 million acres in the United States, about 2% of all federal land. The remaining acreage, approximately 3% of all federal land, is managed by a variety of government agencies. Ownership and use of federal lands have stirred controversy for decades. Conflicting public values concerning federal lands raise many questions and issues, including the extent to which the federal government should own land; whether to focus resources on maintenance of existing infrastructure and lands or acquisition of new areas; how to balance use and protection; and how to ensure the security of international borders along the federal lands of multiple agencies. Congress continues to examine these questions through legislative proposals, program oversight, and annual appropriations for the federal land management agencies."

  Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

  Hardy Vincent, Carol; Hanson, Laura A.; Argueta, Carla N.

  2017-03-03
• DHS Appropriations FY2017: Security, Enforcement, and Investigations [October 27, 2016]

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  "This report is part of a suite of reports that discuss appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for FY2017 [Fiscal Year 2017]. It specifically discusses appropriations for the components of DHS included in the second title of the homeland security appropriations bill-Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Transportation Security Administration, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the U.S. Secret Service. Collectively, Congress has labeled these components in recent years as 'Security, Enforcement, and Investigations'. The report provides an overview of the Administration's FY2017 request for these components, and the appropriations proposed by the Senate and House appropriations committees in response. Rather than limiting the scope of its review to the first titles of the bills, the report includes information on provisions throughout the bills and reports that directly affect these components. Security, Enforcement, and Investigations is the largest of the four titles that carry the bulk of the funding in the bill. The Administration requested $32.27 billion for these components in FY2017, $797 million less than was provided for FY2016 [Fiscal Year 2016]. The amount requested for these components is 68% of the Administration's $47.7 billion request in net discretionary budget authority and disaster relief funding for DHS. The largest budget increase proposed in the request for these components was a $625 million (5.7%) increase for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, while the largest budget decrease proposed was a $745 million (15.3%) reduction in the budget for the Transportation Security Administration, which was proposed to be replaced with an $880 million increase in fee collections."

  Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

  Painter, William L.; Argueta, Carla N.; Elias, Bartholomew . . .

  2016-10-27
• Temporary Protected Status: Current Immigration Policy and Issues [January 17, 2017]

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  "When civil unrest, violence, or natural disasters erupt in spots around the world, concerns arise over the safety of foreign nationals from these troubled places who are in the United States. Provisions exist in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to offer temporary protected status (TPS) and other blanket forms of relief from removal under specified circumstances. A foreign national who is granted TPS receives a registration document and an employment authorization for the duration of TPS. The Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State, has the discretion to issue TPS for periods of 6 to 18 months and can extend these periods if conditions do not change in the designated country. Congress has also provided TPS legislatively. The United States currently provides TPS to over 300,000 foreign nationals from a total of 13 countries: El Salvador, Guinea, Haiti, Honduras, Liberia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. Liberians have had relief from removal for the longest period, first receiving TPS in March 1991 following the outbreak of civil war, and again in 2014 due to the outbreak of the Ebola virus disease. On September 26, 2016, the Obama Administration announced that the TPS designation for Liberia, along with Sierra Leone and Guinea, would be terminated on May 21, 2017. Current debates have focused on whether the Administration should extend TPS to migrants from Central America because of criminal and security challenges in the region and whether it should re-designate TPS to Haiti due to effects of Hurricane Matthew."

  Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

  Argueta, Carla N.

  2017-01-17
• DHS Appropriations FY2016: Security, Enforcement and Investigations [Updated May 2, 2016]

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  From the Document: "This report is part of a suite of reports that discuss appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for FY2016. It specifically discusses appropriations for the components of DHS included in the second title of the homeland security appropriations bill--Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), and the U.S. Secret Service (USSS). Collectively, Congress has labeled these components in recent years as 'Security, Enforcement, and Investigations.' The report provides an overview of the Administration's FY2016 request for Security, Enforcement, and Investigations, the appropriations proposed by Congress in response, and those enacted thus far. Rather than limiting the scope of its review to the second title, the report includes information on provisions throughout the proposed bill and report that directly affect these functions."

  Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

  Painter, William L.; Elias, Bartholomew; Seghetti, Lisa M. . . .

  2016-05-02