[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8628 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8628
To repeal section 101(a)(15)(U) of the Immigration and Nationality Act,
and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 30, 2026
Mr. Roy (for himself, Mr. Self, and Mr. Crane) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To repeal section 101(a)(15)(U) of the Immigration and Nationality Act,
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 ``End U Visa Abuse Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) In 2000, Congress established the U visa program with
the intention of facilitating cooperation from alleged alien
crime victims who might otherwise be reluctant to report crimes
by deferring removal for foreign nationals, including illegal
aliens, and providing work authorization and a pathway to
lawful permanent status for U visa beneficiaries. Nearly all
grounds of inadmissibility are waived for U visa applicants.
(2) Congress imposed a cap of 10,000 U visas per year. U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services created a waitlist that
confers immigration benefits without any formal adjudication.
Once waitlisted, aliens receive deferred action from removal
and other immigration benefits. Additionally, there is no limit
to derivative visas issued to qualifying family members.
(3) As of June 2025, there are over 400,000 U visa
applications currently pending.
(4) The U visa program is rife with fraud and abuse and has
demonstrated a record of illegal aliens using it to obtain
lawful status and work permits to skirt deportation and
removal, such as staging fake crimes and making false
allegations to remain in the United States and possibly sponsor
relatives who may also have unlawful status.
(5) According to testimony submitted to the House Judiciary
Committee's Subcommittee on Immigration, Integrity, Security,
and Enforcement on June 25, 2025, U visa ``certifications are
routinely rubberstamped, especially in sanctuary jurisdictions
like California, where State laws like SB 674 pressure law
enforcement agencies to certify U visas unless they
affirmatively justify denial''.
(6) The same testimony found ``The program allows any
illegal alien to secretly accuse a U.S. citizen of a crime and
apply for a visa after securing a law enforcement
certification. No arrest. No charges. No conviction. Just an
allegation--often with no notice to the accused. The process is
entirely ex parte, and there is no mechanism for rebuttal''.
(7) U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services does not
track the number of crimes solved through the issuance of a U
visa.
(8) As an example of sweeping U visa fraud, on July 17,
2025, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced the
indictment of 5 individuals, including 4 active and former law
enforcement officers who were charged for bribery, conspiracy
to commit visa fraud, and mail fraud, where charged individuals
were accused of operating a 9-year scheme of fabricating fake
crimes and police reports so aliens who were supposed victims
could apply for U visas.
(9) On May 17, 2024, the Department of Justice announced
the indictment of 6 individuals who allegedly conspired to
stage armed robberies in Chicago and the suburbs so that
purported victims could apply for U visas.
(10) Local law enforcement in Houston, Texas, uncovered a
scheme that staged fake robberies at gunpoint for aliens to
obtain U visas after a bystander reportedly shot and killed an
individual who was pretending to be an armed robber who took
the belongings of a couple at a gas station in January 2024,
only to discover the purported thief and victims were staging a
crime to garner a U visa.
(11) In March 2020, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services released a report examining U visa applications filed
between 2012 and 2018, which found that only 5 percent of U
visa petitioners reported having lawful immigration status at
the time of application. 79 percent reported never having
lawful status, and 14 percent said they were visa overstays.
(12) The March 2020 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services report also found that 10 percent of U visa recipients
had committed immigration fraud, 8 percent reentered the United
States illegally after removal, and 6 percent of those approved
for the U visa had been ordered removed.
(13) On January 6, 2022, the Department of Homeland
Security Office of Inspector General released a report entitled
``U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' U Visa Program Is
Not Managed Effectively and Is Susceptible to Fraud''. The
report found that as part of the U visa process, applicants
must submit the Form I-918 Supplement B, U Nonimmigrant Status
Certification, which includes a signature from an authorized
agency or law enforcement official certifying the crime
happened and attesting to the victim's cooperation. One of
Office of Inspector General's findings was that it ``asked 125
law enforcement offices to confirm whether the signature on
Supplement B forms certified by their office was that of an
authorized signer''. The Office of Inspector General found that
at least 10 of the 125 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services-approved petitions had ``forged, unauthorized,
altered, or suspicious law enforcement certifications''.
(14) Additionally, the Office of Inspector General found
that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services did not
implement its recommendations regarding fraud in the program.
(15) As of April 10, 2026, 10 foreign nationals were
indicted for visa fraud conspiracy for allegedly carrying out
staged armed robberies of convenience store clerks so they
could falsely claim a U visa to remain in the country.
(16) Victimization should not be a basis for an immigration
benefit. If an alien is a crime victim and is actively
cooperating with law enforcement as a witness, the S visa is
already available and should be utilized if needed,
alternatively, the Department of Homeland Security Secretary
can grant humanitarian immigration parole to purported alien
crime victims or witnesses on a case-by-case basis if they are
needed by law enforcement or are required to testify.
(17) Congress should repeal the U visa program in full, as
it no longer serves a valid purpose and encourages fraud,
rewarding illegal aliens who commit it with the likelihood of a
green card and work permit, further enabling lawlessness and
illegal immigration, leaving law-abiding American citizens and
legal immigrants to deal with the consequences.
SEC. 3. REPEAL OF U VISA PROGRAM.
(a) Repeal.--Subparagraph (U) of section 101(a)(15) of the
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)) is repealed.
(b) Conforming Amendments.--The Immigration and Nationality Act (8
U.S.C. 1101 et seq.) is amended--
(1) in section 204--
(A) in subsection (a)(1)(L), by striking ``or
(U)''; and
(B) in subsection (l)(2)(E), by striking ``or in
`U' nonimmigrant status as described in section
101(a)(15)(U)(ii)'';
(2) in section 212--
(A) in subsection (a)(4)(E)--
(i) by striking clause (ii); and
(ii) redesignating clause (iii) as clause
(ii); and
(B) in subsection (d), by striking paragraph (14);
(3) in section 214, by striking subsection (p);
(4) in section 237(d)(1), by striking ``or (U)'' each place
it appears;
(5) in section 239(e)(2)(B), by striking ``or (U)'';
(6) in section 245--
(A) in subsection (l)(7), by striking
``101(a)(15)(U),''; and
(B) by striking subsection (m); and
(7) in section 248(b), by striking ``or (U)''.
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