February 26, 2015

S. 534 – Immigration Rule of Law Act of 2015

 Noteworthy

Background: S. 534 was introduced in the Senate on February 23, 2015.

Floor Situation: On Monday, February 23, the Senate began the Rule XIV process on S. 534 by putting this legislation directly on the Senate calendar. A vote on the motion to proceed to S. 534 is expected upon completion of the pending DHS funding legislation.

Executive Summary: S. 534 includes nearly all of the immigration amendments that were contained in the House-passed legislation, except for those that sought to undo the president’s actions on immigration dating back to 2011 and 2012. S. 534 focuses solely on the actions taken by the president in 2014.

Considerations on the Bill

In recent years, the Obama administration has revised U.S. immigration law by taking various executive actions to direct government agencies to selectively enforce immigration laws. Because these executive actions have the force of law, they effectively ignore congressionally ratified statutes. For example, in 2011 the Obama administration directed personnel at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to exercise “prosecutorial discretion” when enforcing immigration laws. Later, in 2012, the administration allowed for deferred enforcement of immigration laws against some illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children.

In 2014, President Obama again revised immigration law when he announced executive actions to expand the eligible population of illegal immigrants from the 2011 and 2012 actions. Among other things, the president’s actions allowed work authorization for immigrants with newly permitted residency status.

In January, the House passed legislation funding the Department of Homeland Security that included five immigration related amendments. These amendments were designed to rein in the Obama administration’s various executive actions that have effectively revised U.S. immigration laws. Senate Democrats signaled that they would refuse to vote on legislation with these amendments and then blocked the Senate from considering funding DHS on four separate occasions. In light of the Democrats’ refusal to consider this legislation with the immigration related amendments, the Senate will proceed to consider the funding of DHS separately.  

Notable Bill Provisions

Section 2 – Prohibition on Funding For Certain Executive Actions Relating to Immigration

This section restricts the use of funds to carry out the administration’s various executive memoranda issued, or actions initiated, on November 20, 2014. It states that no funds may be used to carry out policies similar to those in the identified memoranda. This section states that the policies set forth in the various identified memoranda have no statutory or constitutional basis and therefore no legal effect. This section also prohibits the use of funds or fees, including those for a fee-funded adjudication agency like U.S. Customs and Immigration Services, to grant any federal benefit under the various executive memoranda issued last fall. It also excludes the budgetary effects of this section from being included in either statutory pay-go scorecard.

Section 3 – Prohibition on Funding Certain Civil Immigration Enforcement Priorities

This section requires DHS to treat illegal immigrants convicted of domestic violence, sexual abuse, child molestation, or child exploitation as being categorized within the department’s highest civil immigration enforcement priorities.

Section 4 – Findings on Policies that Disadvantage the Hiring of United States Citizens

This section says that under Obamacare many people and businesses have to pay for health insurance or pay a penalty. It also finds that people benefiting from the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program who receive work authorization are exempt from the Obamacare requirements imposed on U.S. citizens and lawfully employed immigrants. It finds that employers who hire DACA beneficiaries are not required to provide insurance, or in some cases pay a penalty. As such, this section expresses a sense of the Congress that such hiring disparities have the effect of discouraging the hiring of U.S. citizens. The section expresses the sense of Congress that the executive should refrain from policies that result in such disparities.

Section 5 – Sense of Congress on Policies that Disadvantage Lawfully Present Aliens

This section expresses the sense of Congress that the Obama administration should refrain from putting the interests of illegal immigrants ahead of those immigrants who have obeyed the law in coming to the United States. This section expresses the sense of Congress that the adjudication of immigration applications for illegal immigrants takes time and resources, which results in a backlog for the application process for other immigrants.

Administration Position

The administration does not support attempts to undo the president’s executive actions on immigration.

Cost

 CBO has estimated that S. 534 will increase deficits from 2016-2025 by $6.3 billion. This is the result of $12.6 billion in decreased direct spending and $18.9 billion in decreased tax revenue over the next 10 years.

Amendments

The amendment situation is unclear at this time.