[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5415 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5415

   To require the Federal Government to report on efforts to locate, 
establish contact with, conduct wellness checks on, and investigate any 
    suspicion of human trafficking related to approximately 85,000 
unaccompanied alien children who crossed the U.S. southern border, were 
  released from Federal custody, and with whom subsequent contact has 
                               been lost.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 12, 2023

Mr. Smith of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. Aderholt, Mr. Ciscomani, Mr. 
 Griffith, Mr. Harris, Mr. Hunt, Mr. Lamborn, Mrs. Miller of Illinois, 
Mr. Norman, Mr. Ogles, Mr. Sessions, Ms. Van Duyne, Mr. Weber of Texas, 
Mr. Diaz-Balart, Ms. Malliotakis, Mr. Walberg, Mr. Van Drew, Mr. Kelly 
     of Pennsylvania, Mr. Bilirakis, Mr. Burgess, and Mr. Simpson) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Appropriations, 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 require the Federal Government to report on efforts to locate, 
establish contact with, conduct wellness checks on, and investigate any 
    suspicion of human trafficking related to approximately 85,000 
unaccompanied alien children who crossed the U.S. southern border, were 
  released from Federal custody, and with whom subsequent contact has 
                               been lost.

    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 ``Safeguarding Endangered Children, 
Unaccompanied and at Risk of Exploitation Act of 2023'' or as the 
``SECURE Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

     Congress finds the following:
            (1) According to statistics kept by U.S. Customs and Border 
        Protection, at least 345,000 children have crossed the United 
        States southern border unaccompanied since early 2021.
            (2) Thousands of these children have been victims of child 
        sex trafficking, forced child labor, or child sexual 
        exploitation and abuse, or some combination of these crimes.
            (3) The Department of Health and Human Services, through 
        its Office of Refugee Resettlement, was and is responsible for 
        the well-being of these children up through repatriation or 
        placement in safe homes within the United States.
            (4) The Department and the Office have lost contact with as 
        many as 85,000 of these migrant children after placing them 
        with sponsors in the United States and their locations and 
        well-being is currently unknown.
            (5) The risk of child sex trafficking, forced child labor, 
        and sexual exploitation and abuse of these children is 
        immediate and grave.

SEC. 3. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 75 days after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Secretary 
of Homeland Security, and the Director of the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation shall jointly submit a status report to the Committee on 
the Judiciary of the House of Representatives, the Committee on Energy 
and Commerce of the House of Representatives, the Committee on Homeland 
Security of the House of Representatives, the Committee on Homeland 
Security and Government Affairs of the Senate, the Committee on the 
Judiciary of the Senate, and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 
and Pensions of the Senate on the status of all unaccompanied alien 
children that have been in the custody and care of the Office of 
Refugee Resettlement since January 1, 2021, and have been released to a 
parent, family-member, or sponsor within the United States.
    (b) Contents of Report.--Such status report shall include, at a 
minimum, all information known by the Secretaries and FBI concerning--
            (1) the age, sex, and location (including the city and 
        State) for each child;
            (2) the number of days the child was in the custody and 
        care of the Secretary of Health and Human Services before 
        placement with a sponsor within the United States;
            (3) whether they live with a non-relative or relative and 
        the degree of kinship;
            (4) the number of related and unrelated adults living in 
        the child's home;
            (5) the number of formerly unaccompanied alien children in 
        the home;
            (6) an assessment (and the results thereof) of the child's 
        cognitive, emotional, physical, and behavioral well-being;
            (7) an assessment (and the results thereof) of whether the 
        child is a victim of, or is at risk of being a victim of child 
        sexual exploitation and abuse or severe forms of trafficking in 
        persons as defined by Public Law 106-386, including an 
        explanation of the methodology used in each assessment;
            (8) whether all the adults in the home have been subject to 
        a fingerprint-based check of national crime information 
        databases (as defined in section 534(f)(3)(A) of title 28, 
        United States Code);
            (9) whether a fingerprint or other background check has 
        revealed an adult in the home has a record of a conviction for 
        child abuse or neglect, for spousal abuse, for a crime against 
        children (including child pornography), or for a crime 
        involving violence, including rape, sexual assault, or 
        homicide, a felony drug-related offense or three or more 
        misdemeanor drug offenses, or crimes of involving moral 
        turpitude; and
            (10) the number of children that the Office of Refugee 
        Resettlement has tried to contact without success on at least 
        three separate attempts.
    (c) Update and Resubmission of Report.--The joint status report 
required by this section shall be updated and resubmitted every 60 days 
to the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives, the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives, the 
Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives, the 
Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs of the Senate, 
the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate, and the Committee on 
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate.
    (d) Termination Date.--The reporting requirements under this 
section shall remain in effect until the unaccompanied alien children 
described in subsection (a) have been adequately accounted for, or that 
three years have elapsed since the first report, whichever comes first.

SEC. 4. FUNDING CONDITIONS.

    (a) In General.--For each day the required status report is 
submitted late to the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 
Representatives, the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of 
Representatives, the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of 
Representatives, the Committee on Homeland Security and Government 
Affairs of the Senate, the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate, 
and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the 
Senate, as determined by the relevant committee chairs and ranking 
members--
            (1) $100,000 shall be rescinded from unobligated funds made 
        available for the salaries and expenses of the Office of the 
        Secretary for Health and Human Services;
            (2) $100,000 shall be rescinded from unobligated funds made 
        available for the salaries and expenses of the Office of the 
        Secretary for Homeland Security; and
            (3) $100,000 shall be rescinded from unobligated funds made 
        available for the salaries and expenses of the Office the 
        Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
    (b) Limitation on Rescission.--The amount of funds rescinded for 
each office shall not exceed $10,000,000 per fiscal year.
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