[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2626 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2626

  To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 and the Immigration and 
 Nationality Act to improve visa security, visa applicant vetting, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 24, 2017

   Mr. Hurd (for himself, Mr. McCaul, and Mr. Katko) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, 
and in addition to the Committee on Homeland Security, 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 amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 and the Immigration and 
 Nationality Act to improve visa security, visa applicant vetting, 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 ``Strong Visa Integrity Secures 
America Act''.

SEC. 2. VISA SECURITY.

    (a) Visa Security Units at High-Risk Posts.--Paragraph (1) of 
section 428(e) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 236(e)) 
is amended--
            (1) by striking ``The Secretary'' and inserting the 
        following:
                    ``(A) Authorization.--The Secretary''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
                    ``(B) Risk-based assignments.--
                            ``(i) In general.--The Secretary shall 
                        assign, in a risk-based manner, and based on 
                        the criteria described in clause (ii), 
                        employees of the Department to not fewer than 
                        30 diplomatic and consular posts at which visas 
                        are issued.
                            ``(ii) Criteria described.--The criteria 
                        referred to in clause (i) are the following:
                                    ``(I) The number of nationals of a 
                                country in which any of the diplomatic 
                                and consular posts referred to in 
                                clause (i) are located who were 
                                identified in United States Government 
                                databases related to the identities of 
                                known or suspected terrorists during 
                                the previous year.
                                    ``(II) The level of cooperation of 
                                such country with the counterterrorism 
                                efforts of the United States.
                                    ``(III) Information analyzing the 
                                presence, activity, or movement of 
                                terrorist organizations (as such term 
                                is defined in section 212(a)(3)(B)(vi) 
                                of the Immigration and Nationality Act 
                                (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)(B)(vi))) within or 
                                through such country.
                                    ``(IV) The number of derogatory 
                                Security Advisory Opinions issued by 
                                the Visa Security Advisory Opinion Unit 
                                pursuant to paragraph (10) regarding 
                                nationals of a country in which any of 
                                the diplomatic and consular posts 
                                referred to in clause (i) are located.
                                    ``(V) The adequacy of the border 
                                and immigration control of such 
                                country.
                                    ``(VI) Any other criteria the 
                                Secretary determines appropriate.
                            ``(iii) Rule of construction.--The 
                        assignment of employees of the Department 
                        pursuant to this subparagraph is solely the 
                        authority of the Secretary and may not be 
                        altered or rejected by the Secretary of 
                        State.''.
    (b) Counterterror Vetting and Screening.--Paragraph (2) of section 
428(e) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subparagraph (C) as subparagraph (D); 
        and
            (2) by inserting after subparagraph (B) the following new 
        subparagraph:
                    ``(C) Screen any such applications against the 
                appropriate criminal, national security, and terrorism 
                databases maintained by the Federal Government.''.
    (c) Training and Hiring.--Subparagraph (A) of section 428(e)(6) of 
the Homeland Security Act of 2002 is amended by--
            (1) striking ``The Secretary shall ensure, to the extent 
        possible, that any employees'' and inserting ``The Secretary, 
        acting through the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border 
        Protection and the Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs 
        Enforcement, shall provide training to any employees''; and
            (2) striking ``shall be provided the necessary training''.
    (d) Pre-Adjudicated Visa Security Assistance and Visa Security 
Advisory Opinion Unit.--Subsection (e) of section 428 of the Homeland 
Security Act of 2002 is amended by adding at the end the following new 
paragraphs:
            ``(9) Remote pre-adjudicated visa security assistance.--At 
        the visa-issuing posts at which employees of the Department are 
        not assigned pursuant to paragraph (1), the Secretary shall, to 
        the greatest extent possible, in a risk-based manner, and in 
        consultation, where appropriate, with the Secretary of State, 
        assign employees of the Department to remotely perform the 
        functions required under paragraph (2) for such posts.
            ``(10) Visa security advisory opinion unit.--The Secretary 
        shall establish within U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement 
        a Visa Security Advisory Opinion Unit to respond to requests 
        from the Secretary of State to conduct a visa security review 
        using information maintained by the Department on visa 
        applicants, including terrorism association, criminal history, 
        and other relevant factors, as determined by the Secretary.''.

SEC. 3. ELECTRONIC PASSPORT SCREENING AND BIOMETRIC MATCHING.

    (a) In General.--Subtitle C of title IV of the Homeland Security 
Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 231 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 
following new sections:

``SEC. 434. ELECTRONIC PASSPORT SCREENING AND BIOMETRIC MATCHING.

    ``(a) In General.--Not later than one year after the date of the 
enactment of this section, the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border 
Protection shall--
            ``(1) screen electronic passports at airports of entry by 
        reading each such passport's embedded chip; and
            ``(2) to the greatest extent practicable, utilize facial 
        recognition technology or other biometric technology, as 
        determined by the Commissioner, to screen travelers at United 
        States airports of entry.
    ``(b) Applicability.--
            ``(1) Electronic passport screening.--Paragraph (1) of 
        subsection (a) shall apply to passports belonging to 
        individuals who are United States citizens, individuals who are 
        nationals of a program country pursuant to section 217 of the 
        Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1187), and 
        individuals who are nationals of any other foreign country that 
        issues electronic passports.
            ``(2) Facial recognition matching.--Paragraph (2) of 
        subsection (a) shall apply to individuals who are nationals of 
        a program country pursuant to section 217 of the Immigration 
        and Nationality Act.

``SEC. 435. CONTINUOUS SCREENING BY U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION.

    ``The Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection shall, in 
a risk-based manner, continuously screen individuals issued any visa, 
and individuals who are nationals of a program country pursuant to 
section 217 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, who are present, or 
will soon be arriving, in the United States, against the appropriate 
criminal, national security, and terrorism databases maintained by the 
Federal Government.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents in section 1(b) of 
the Homeland Security Act of 2002 is amended by inserting after the 
item relating to section 433 the following new items:

``Sec. 434. Electronic passport screening and biometric matching.
``Sec. 435. Continuous screening by U.S. Customs and Border 
                            Protection.''.

SEC. 4. REPORTING OF VISA OVERSTAYS.

    Section 2 of Public Law 105-173 (8 U.S.C. 1376) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) by striking ``Attorney General'' and inserting 
                ``Secretary of Homeland Security''; and
                    (B) by inserting before the period at the end the 
                following: ``, and any additional information that the 
                Secretary determines necessary for purposes of the 
                report under subsection (b)''; and
            (2) by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:
    ``(b) Annual Report.--Not later than June 30, 2017, and not later 
than June 30 of each year thereafter, the Secretary of Homeland 
Security shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Security and the 
Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives and to the 
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the 
Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate a report providing, for the 
preceding fiscal year, numerical estimates of--
            ``(1) for each country, the number of aliens from the 
        country who are described in subsection (a), including--
                    ``(A) the total number of such aliens within all 
                classes of nonimmigrant aliens described in section 
                101(a)(15) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
                U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)); and
                    ``(B) the number of such aliens within each of the 
                classes of nonimmigrant aliens, as well as the number 
                of such aliens within each of the subclasses of such 
                classes of nonimmigrant aliens, as applicable;
            ``(2) for each country, the percentage of the total number 
        of aliens from the country who were present in the United 
        States and were admitted to the United States as nonimmigrants 
        who are described in subsection (a);
            ``(3) the number of aliens described in subsection (a) who 
        arrived by land at a port of entry into the United States; and
            ``(4) the number of aliens described in subsection (a) who 
        entered the United States using a border crossing 
        identification card (as such term is defined in section 
        101(a)(6) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
        1101(a)(6))).''.

SEC. 5. STUDENT AND EXCHANGE VISITOR INFORMATION SYSTEM VERIFICATION.

    Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
the Secretary of Homeland Security shall ensure that the information 
collected under the program established under section 641 of the 
Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 
U.S.C. 1372) is available to officers of U.S. Customs and Border 
Protection conducting primary inspections of aliens seeking admission 
to the United States at each port of entry of the United States.
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