[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 241 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 241

To provide for sanctions on countries that have refused or unreasonably 
delayed repatriation of an alien who is a national of that country, or 
    that have an excessive repatriation failure rate, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 4, 2017

    Mr. Poe of Texas (for himself, Mr. Burgess, Mr. Jody B. Hice of 
  Georgia, Mr. Gosar, Mr. Weber of Texas, Mr. Brooks of Alabama, Mr. 
   Franks of Arizona, Mr. Farenthold, and Mrs. Black) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, 
and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide for sanctions on countries that have refused or unreasonably 
delayed repatriation of an alien who is a national of that country, or 
    that have an excessive repatriation failure rate, and for other 
                               purposes.

    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 ``Timely Repatriation Act''.

SEC. 2. TIMELY REPATRIATION.

    (a) Listing of Countries.--Beginning on the date that is 6 months 
after the date of enactment of this Act, and every 6 months thereafter, 
the Secretary of Homeland Security shall publish a report including the 
following:
            (1) A list of the following:
                    (A) Countries that have refused or unreasonably 
                delayed repatriation of an alien who is a national of 
                that country since the date of enactment of this Act 
                and the total number of such aliens, disaggregated by 
                nationality.
                    (B) Countries that have an excessive repatriation 
                failure rate.
            (2) A list of each country that was included under 
        subparagraph (B) or (C) of paragraph (1) in both the report 
        preceding the current report and the current report.
    (b) Sanctions.--Beginning on the date that a country is included in 
a list under subsection (a)(2) and ending on the date that that country 
is not included in such list, that country shall be subject to the 
following:
            (1) The Secretary of State may not issue visas under 
        section 101(a)(15)(A)(iii) of the Immigration and Nationality 
        Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(A)(iii)) to attendants, servants, 
        personal employees, and members of their immediate families, of 
        the officials and employees of that country who receive 
        nonimmigrant status under clause (i) or (ii) of section 
        101(a)(15)(A) of such Act.
            (2) Each 6 months thereafter that the country is included 
        in that list, the Secretary of State shall reduce the number of 
        visas available under clause (i) or (ii) of section 
        101(a)(15)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act in a 
        fiscal year to nationals of that country by an amount equal to 
        10 percent of the baseline visa number for that country. Except 
        as provided under section 243(d) of the Immigration and 
        Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1253), the Secretary may not reduce 
        the number to a level below 20 percent of the baseline visa 
        number.
    (c) Waivers.--
            (1) National security waiver.--If the Secretary of State 
        submits to Congress a written determination that significant 
        national security interests of the United States require a 
        waiver of the sanctions under subsection (b), the Secretary may 
        waive any reduction below 80 percent of the baseline visa 
        number. The Secretary of Homeland Security may not delegate the 
        authority under this subsection.
            (2) Temporary exigent circumstances.--If the Secretary of 
        State submits to Congress a written determination that 
        temporary exigent circumstances require a waiver of the 
        sanctions under subsection (b), the Secretary may waive any 
        reduction below 80 percent of the baseline visa number during 
        6-month renewable periods. The Secretary of Homeland Security 
        may not delegate the authority under this subsection.
    (d) Exemption.--The Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation 
with the Secretary of State, may exempt a country from inclusion in a 
list under subsection (a)(2) if the total number of nonrepatriations 
outstanding is less than 10 for the preceding 3-year period.
    (e) Unauthorized Visa Issuance.--Any visa issued in violation of 
this section shall be void.
    (f) Notice.--If an alien who has been convicted of a criminal 
offense before a Federal or State court whose repatriation was refused 
or unreasonably delayed is to be released from detention by the 
Secretary of Homeland Security, the Secretary shall provide notice to 
the State and local law enforcement agency for the jurisdictions in 
which the alien is required to report or is to be released. When 
possible, and particularly in the case of violent crime, the Secretary 
shall make a reasonable effort to provide notice of such release to any 
crime victims and their immediate family members.
    (g) Definitions.--For purposes of this section:
            (1) Refused or unreasonably delayed.--A country is deemed 
        to have refused or unreasonably delayed the acceptance of an 
        alien who is a citizen, subject, national, or resident of that 
        country if, not later than 90 days after receiving a request to 
        repatriate such alien from an official of the United States who 
        is authorized to make such a request, the country does not 
        accept the alien or issue valid travel documents.
            (2) Failure rate.--The term ``failure rate'' for a period 
        means the percentage determined by dividing the total number of 
        repatriation requests for aliens who are citizens, subjects, 
        nationals, or residents of a country that that country refused 
        or unreasonably delayed during that period by the total number 
        of such requests during that period.
            (3) Excessive repatriation failure rate.--The term 
        ``excessive repatriation failure rate'' means, with respect to 
        a report under subsection (a), a failure rate greater than 10 
        percent for any of the following:
                    (A) The period of the 3 full fiscal years preceding 
                the date of publication of the report.
                    (B) The period of 1 year preceding the date of 
                publication of the report.
            (4) Number of non-repatriations outstanding.--The term 
        ``number of non-repatriations outstanding'' means, for a 
        period, the number of unique aliens whose repatriation a 
        country has refused or unreasonably delayed and whose 
        repatriation has not occurred during that period.
            (5) Baseline visa number.--The term ``baseline visa 
        number'' means, with respect to a country, the average number 
        of visas issued each fiscal year to nationals of that country 
        under clauses (i) and (ii) of section 101(a)(15)(A) of the 
        Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(A)) for 
        the 3 full fiscal years immediately preceding the first report 
        under subsection (a) in which that country is included in the 
        list under subsection (a)(2).
    (h) GAO Report.--On the date that is 1 day after the date that the 
President submits a budget under section 1105(a) of title 31, United 
States Code, for fiscal year 2017, the Comptroller General of the 
United States shall submit a report to Congress regarding the progress 
of the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of State in 
implementation of this section and in making requests to repatriate 
aliens as appropriate.
                                 <all>