S-534 : Still Just a Bill

Immigration Rule of Law Act of 2015

This bill prohibits the use of any funds made available to the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) or to any other federal official, including deposits into the Immigration Examinations Fee Account, to carry out any of the policy changes set forth in the following memoranda dated either November 20 or November 21, 2014 (or any substantially similar policy changes issued or taken on or after January 9, 2015):

• Southern Border and Approaches Campaign;
• Policies for the Apprehension, Detention and Removal of Undocumented Immigrants;
• Secure Communities;
• Exercising Prosecutorial Discretion with Respect to Individuals Who Came to the United States as Children and with Respect to Certain Individuals Who Are the Parents of U.S. Citizens or Permanent Residents;
• Expansion of the Provisional Waiver Program;
• Policies Supporting U.S. High-Skilled Businesses and Workers;
• Families of U.S. Armed Forces Members and Enlistees;
• Directive to Provide Consistency Regarding Advance Parole;
• Policies to Promote and Increase Access to U.S. Citizenship;
• Modernizing and Streamlining the U.S. Immigrant Visa System for the 21st Century; and
• Creating Welcoming Communities and Fully Integrating Immigrants and Refugees.

Such memoranda or substantially similar policy changes are declared to have no statutory or constitutional basis and therefore no legal effect.

No funds or fees made available to the Secretary or to any federal official may be used to grant any federal benefit to any alien pursuant to any of such policy changes.

No funds or fees made available to the Secretary may be used to carry out any policy relating to the apprehension, detention, or removal of aliens that does not treat any alien convicted of any offense involving domestic violence, sexual abuse, child molestation, or child exploitation as within the categories of aliens subject to the highest DHS civil immigration enforcement priorities.

It is the sense of Congress that:

• disparate employer/employee health insurance requirements discourage the hiring of U.S. citizens and those in lawful immigration status; and
• the Executive Branch should refrain from pursuing policies such as granting to unlawfully present individuals any deferred action under the deferred action for childhood arrivals program and work authorization.

It is the sense of Congress that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service should:

• stop putting the interests of aliens who are unlawfully present in the United States ahead of the interests of aliens who are following proper immigration laws and procedures by taking specified actions, and
• use the funds available under existing law to improve services and increase the efficiency of the immigration benefits application process for aliens abroad or who are lawfully present in the United States.