[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1587 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1587

To match willing United States workers with employers, to increase and 
fairly apportion H-2B visas, and to ensure that H-2B visas serve their 
                           intended purpose.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 13, 2005

Mr. Tancredo (for himself, Mr. Jones of North Carolina, Mr. Coble, and 
  Mr. Garrett of New Jersey) introduced the following bill; which was 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To match willing United States workers with employers, to increase and 
fairly apportion H-2B visas, and to ensure that H-2B visas serve their 
                           intended purpose.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. MATCHING WILLING UNITED STATES WORKERS WITH EMPLOYERS.

    (a) In General.--Section 212 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 
(8 U.S.C. 1182) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating the subsection (t) added by section 
        1(b)(2) of Public Law 108-449 (118 Stat. 3470) as subsection 
        (u); and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(v)(1) No alien may be admitted or provided status as a 
nonimmigrant under section 101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(b) unless the employer, in 
addition to meeting all other requirements specified in this Act, has 
filed with the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of 
Labor the following:
            ``(A) A signed attestation stating that the employer, prior 
        to filing the attestation, advertised each position for which 
        the employer seeks such a nonimmigrant on the Internet-based 
        job database provided jointly by the Department of Labor and 
        State employment security agencies and known as `America's Job 
        Bank' for at least 14 consecutive days.
            ``(B) Documentation from the employer's account on such 
        database showing the number of jobs posted by the employer and 
        the number of resumes the employer received in response to each 
        job posting.
    ``(2)(A) The Secretary of Labor, in consultation with the Secretary 
of Homeland Security, shall establish procedures to verify the accuracy 
and veracity of the documentation required under paragraph (1)(B).
    ``(B) An employer found to have submitted false or inaccurate 
documentation shall be ineligible to file a petition under section 
214(c)(1) with respect to any nonimmigrant under section 
101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(b)--
            ``(i) for a period of 3 years in the case of a first 
        violation; and
            ``(ii) for a period of 10 years in the case of a second or 
        subsequent violation.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
take effect 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 2. MATCHING NONIMMIGRANT WORKERS WITH EMPLOYERS.

    (a) In General.--Section 214(g)(1) of the Immigration and 
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1184(g)(1)(B)) is amended to read as follows:
            ``(B) under section 101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(b) may not exceed 
        131,000, of which not more than 65,500 aliens shall be issued 
        visas or otherwise provided nonimmigrant status during the 
        first 6 months of such fiscal year.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
take effect on the first day of the first fiscal year beginning after 
the date of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 3. ENSURING THAT H-2B WORKERS RETURN HOME.

    (a) Discouraging Community Ties.--Section 101(a)(15)(H) of the 
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(H)) is amended, 
in the matter following clause (iii), by striking ``this paragraph if 
accompanying'' and inserting ``this subparagraph, except any alien 
described in section 101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(b), if accompanying''.
    (b) Establishing Realistic Expectations.--Section 214(b) of the 
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1184(b)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``(b)'' and inserting ``(b)(1)''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(2) In order to overcome the presumption described in paragraph 
(1), an alien seeking the nonimmigrant status described in section 
101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(b), at the time of application for a nonimmigrant 
visa, shall be required to execute as a contract an affidavit--
            ``(A) stating that the alien understands the terms of such 
        nonimmigrant status, including the prohibition on accompanying 
        family members and the requirement that the alien depart the 
        United States before the alien's period of authorized stay 
        expires;
            ``(B) stating that the alien agrees--
                    ``(i) to depart the United States in full 
                compliance with the requirements of the entry and exit 
                data system (as defined in section 7208(b) of the 
                Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 
                2004 (8 U.S.C. 1365b(b))), once such requirements are 
                implemented at the port of departure from which the 
                alien intends to departs; and
                    ``(ii) to appear in person before an immigration 
                inspector immediately prior to departure from the 
                United States so that the inspector can record the 
                alien's departure until such time as such requirements 
                are implemented; and
            ``(C) affirming that the alien understands that the alien 
        will be permanently ineligible for any immigrant or 
        nonimmigrant visa should the alien fail to depart the United 
        States in the manner described in subparagraph (B).
    ``(3) At each port of departure where the exit procedures of the 
system referred to in paragraph (2)(B)(i) have not been implemented or 
are not functional at all times the port is open, the Secretary of 
Homeland Security shall designate at least one inspector during each 
shift to record the departure of nonimmigrants described in section 
101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(b).''.

SEC. 4. MANDATORY PARTICIPATION IN BASIC PILOT PROGRAM.

    Section 402(e) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant 
Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1324a note) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph (4); and
            (2) by inserting after paragraph (2) the following:
            ``(3) Employers of h-2b nonimmigrants.--Beginning January 
        1, 2006, any employer who employs one or more aliens described 
        in section 101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(b) of the Immigration and 
        Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(b)) shall 
        participate in, and comply with the terms of, the basic pilot 
        program described in section 403(a) with respect to all hiring, 
        recruitment, or referral conducted by the employer. In addition 
        to the consequences described in paragraph (4), failure to 
        comply with the preceding sentence shall result in permanent 
        revocation by the Secretary of Homeland Security of the 
        authority of the employer to employ aliens described in such 
        section 101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(b).''.

SEC. 5. OFFSETS FOR THE INCREASE IN H-2B CAP.

    (a) Elimination of Diversity Immigrant Program.--
            (1) Worldwide level of diversity immigrants.--Section 201 
        of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1151) is 
        amended--
                    (A) in subsection (a)--
                            (i) by inserting ``and'' at the end of 
                        paragraph (1);
                            (ii) by striking ``; and'' at the end of 
                        paragraph (2) and inserting a period; and
                            (iii) by striking paragraph (3); and
                    (B) by striking subsection (e).
            (2) Allocation of diversity immigrant visas.--Section 203 
        of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1153) is amended--
                    (A) by striking subsection (c);
                    (B) in subsection (d), by striking ``(a), (b), or 
                (c),'' and inserting ``(a) or (b),'';
                    (C) in subsection (e), by striking paragraph (2) 
                and redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph (2);
                    (D) in subsection (f), by striking ``(a), (b), or 
                (c)'' and inserting ``(a) or (b)''; and
                    (E) in subsection (g), by striking ``(a), (b), and 
                (c)'' and inserting ``(a) and (b)''.
            (3) Procedure for granting immigrant status.--Section 204 
        of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1154) is amended--
                    (A) by striking subsection (a)(1)(I); and
                    (B) in subsection (e), by striking ``(a), (b), or 
                (c)'' and inserting ``(a) or (b)''.
    (b) Elimination of ``Other Workers'' Classification.--
            (1) Worldwide level of employment-based immigrants.--
        Section 201(d)(1)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
        U.S.C. 1151(d)(1) (A)) is amended by striking ``140,000,'' and 
        inserting ``130,000,''.
            (2) Preference allocation for employment-based 
        immigrants.--Section 203(b) of the Immigration and Nationality 
        Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)) is amended--
                    (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``28.6'' and 
                inserting ``30.8'';
                    (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ``28.6'' and 
                inserting ``30.8'';
                    (C) in paragraph (3)--
                            (i) in subparagraph (A)--
                                    (I) by striking ``28.6'' and 
                                inserting ``23.1''; and
                                    (II) by striking clause (iii);
                            (ii) by striking subparagraph (B); and
                            (iii) by redesignating subparagraph (C) as 
                        subparagraph (B);
                    (D) in paragraph (4), by striking ``7.1'' and 
                inserting ``7.65''; and
                    (E) in paragraph (5), by striking ``7.1'' and 
                inserting ``7.65''.
    (c) Modifications to ``NACARA'' Temporary Reductions.--Section 203 
of the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (8 U.S.C. 
1101 note) is amended--
            (1) by amending the subsection heading of subsection (d) to 
        read as follows: ``Temporary Reduction in Visas for Brothers 
        and Sisters of Citizens.--'';
            (2) in paragraph (1) of subsection (d), by striking 
        ``section 201(e)'' and all that follows through the period and 
        inserting ``section 203(a)(4) of the Immigration and 
        Nationality Act shall be reduced by 10,000 from the number of 
        visas otherwise available under such section for such fiscal 
        year.'';
            (3) by striking subsection (e); and
            (4) by redesignating subsection (f) as subsection (e).
    (d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall take 
effect on the first day of the first fiscal year that begins after the 
date of the enactment of this Act.
                                 <all>