Central America Reform and Enforcement Act
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. (text: continuing resolutionA stopgap law funding the government at existing levels when the annual appropriations bills are not done by October 1.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) S2820-2831)
Central America Reform and Enforcement Act
This bill establishes programs to address the humanitarian crisis in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras (the Northern Triangle countries) and to handle asylum-seekers from those countries.
The Department of State shall report to Congress a five-year interagency strategy to address the factors driving migration from Central America.
The bill establishes various new immigration-related penalties, such as making it unlawful to knowingly destroy any government-deployed border-control device (e.g., fence or camera).
The State Department shall work to expand the capacity of other countries to provide asylum.
The State Department shall establish at least four Designated Application Processing Centers in the Northern Triangle countries and Mexico to adjudicate asylum applications and admit qualified aliens from the Northern Triangle countries as refugees.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) shall provide certain assessments and health care services to unaccompanied alien children.
The rights of a parent or guardian over an unaccompanied alien child may be terminated only pursuant to a court order.
The Office of Refugee Resettlement shall conduct certain background checks on prospective sponsors of an unaccompanied alien child.
To receive certain funding, a local educational agency must ensure that unaccompanied alien children are served.
An unaccompanied alien child shall be appointed free counsel in immigration proceedings.
The Department of Justice shall increase the number of immigration judges and Board of Immigration Appeals staff attorneys.
The Department of Homeland Security, HHS, and the State Department shall develop a process for repatriating unaccompanied children to their country of origin. This process must require a determination of the child's best interests.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on May 14, 2019. 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 May 14, 2019: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. (text: CR S2820-2831)
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- 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 116th Congress (2019-20), 344 of the 14,345 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.4 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?
Charles Schumer (D-NY) introduced it on May 14, 2019, and 37 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 35 Democrats, 2 independents.
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 14, 2019, 2676 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 2676 days ago, on May 14, 2019.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 116th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2021 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
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers