LegiStorm

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, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (P.L. 114-92) on the Afghan special immigrant visa program, the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act (P.L. 114-94) on border infrastructure, the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 (P.L. 114-125) on preclearance operations, and the Edward "Ted" Kaufman and Michael Leavitt Presidential Transitions Improvements Act of 2015 (P.L. 114-136) on border security vulnerabilities. The House and the Senate have each passed several other immigration-related bills. Among the House-passed bills 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), the Promoting Resilience and Efficiency in Preparing for Attacks and Responding to Emergencies (PREPARE) Act (H.R. 3583), the Border and Maritime Coordination Improvement Act (H.R. 3586), the American SAFE Act of 2015 (H.R. 4038), the Southwest Border Security Threat Assessment Act of 2016 (H.R. 4482), and the Department of Homeland Security Strategy for International Programs Act (H.R. 4780). The Senate has passed the Department of State Operations Authorization and Embassy Security Act, Fiscal Year 2016 (S. 1635). The House and the Senate have both passed versions of the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2017 (S. 2943), which include different immigration-related provisions. 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). Visa security provisions are likewise included in H.R. 5203, as ordered to be reported by the House Judiciary Committee, and H.R. 5253, as ordered to be reported by the House Homeland Security Committee. 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. Department of Homeland Security appropriations are addressed in CRS Report R44053, Department of Homeland Security Appropriations: FY2016, and, for the most part, are not covered here.