Keeping the Promise of IRCA Act
Latest action. Referred to the subcommitteeA smaller panel inside a standing committee with jurisdiction over a slice of its subject matter. Most hearings and the first markup usually happen here.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) on Immigration and Border Security.
Keeping the Promise of IRCA Act - Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to require an employer to attest, during the verification period and under penalty of perjury, that the employer has verified that an individual is not an unauthorized alien by: (1) obtaining and recording the individual's social security account number, and (2) examining specified documents that establish such individual's identity and employment authorization.
Requires an individual to attest that he or she is a U.S. citizen or national, a lawful permanent resident, or an alien authorized to work in the United States. Subjects an individual who knowingly uses the social security number or other identification of another person to criminal penalties.
Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) (Secretary) to establish an employment eligibility verification system (EEVS), patterned after the E-Verify system. (Eliminates the current paper-based I-9 system.)
Sets forth EEVS responsibilities of the Commissioner of Social Security (SSA) and the Secretary.
Establishes a phased-in EEVS participation deadline (six months to two years) for different categories of employers.
Directs the Secretary to work with the states to establish a common data set and data exchange protocol for electronic birth and death registration systems.
Directs the Secretary to check against all available terrorist watch lists those alien smugglers and smuggled individuals who are interdicted at U.S. land, air, and sea borders.
Revises alien smuggling and related criminal offense and penalty provisions.
Provides extraterritorial jurisdiction over such offenses.
Limits a defense of necessity for knowingly bringing an illegal alien into the United States from the high seas.
Exempts from certain of such violations a bona fide nonprofit, religious organization in the United States that enables an alien who is present in the United States to serve as a volunteer minister or missionary for such organization in the United States.
Prohibits a state or local government from receiving criminal alien assistance program (SCAAP) assistance if it is not in compliance with the prohibition of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 against any restriction by a government entity or official of communications by any other government entity or official with a federal immigration agency involving information about an individual's citizenship or immigration status.
The summary continues for 12 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on May 23, 2013. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on June 14, 2013: Referred to the Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 113th Congress (2013-14), 296 of the 9,091 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.3 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
John Barrow (D-GA) introduced it on May 23, 2013. No cosponsors are recorded.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on May 23, 2013, 4858 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 4836 days ago, on June 14, 2013.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 113th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2015 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers