CREST Act
Latest action · Jul 17, 2014 Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedJul 17, 2014
- Passed SenateNot reached
- Passed HouseNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Children Returning on an Expedited and Safe Timeline Act or the CREST Act - Prohibits the federal government from providing non-security assistance to El Salvador, Guatemala, or Honduras until the President certifies that the government of such country is: (1) actively working to reduce the number of unaccompanied alien children who are attempting to illegally enter the United States, and (2) cooperating with the U.S. government to facilitate the repatriation of such children. Requires the Secretary of State to carry out in-country processing of refugee applications in such countries. Authorizes the President to authorize the admission of up to 5,000 refugees from each of such countries in FY2014 and FY2015.
Amends the federal criminal code to prohibit any person from: (1) knowingly transmitting the location, movement, or activities of law enforcement agents with intent to further a federal crime relating to immigration, customs, or other border controls; or (2) knowingly, and without authorization, damaging any physical or electronic device used by the government to control the border or making any structure to defeat such a border control device. Applies enhanced penalties for carrying or using a firearm during an alien smuggling crime.
Prohibits any person, while acting for financial gain, from knowingly directing or participating in an effort or scheme to assist or cause five or more persons to enter the United States illegally. Applies enhanced penalties for violations of such prohibition that involve: (1) serious bodily injury to, jeopardizing the life of, or the death of any person; (2) ten or more persons; (3) robbery, extortion, or bribery or corruption of a government official; (4) subjecting any person to an involuntary sexual act; (5) confining or restraining any alien; or (6) smuggling an unaccompanied child.
Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) to: (1) implement a strategy to deter, detect, and interdict human smuggling; and (2) submit an annual list of high traffic areas of human smuggling across U.S. borders.
Amends the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 to: (1) eliminate special rules for the repatriation of unaccompanied alien children from contiguous countries and to subject such children to expedited removal authority; and (2) prohibit unaccompanied alien children from being placed in the custody of a nongovernmental sponsor or otherwise released from the custody of the U.S. government until the child is repatriated or has been adjudicated to be admissible or subject to an exception to removal, with specified exceptions.
Directs the DHS Secretary to ensure that U.S. Border Patrol agents receive appropriate training in immigration laws relating to screening, identifying, and addressing vulnerable populations.
Declares that it shall be the goal of the Attorney General, the DHS Secretary, and the Director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review to use sums appropriated to resolve immigration cases within 30 days from the issuance of a notice to appear. Requires: (1) the Attorney General to designate up to 100 temporary immigration judges; (2) the Secretary to hire 150 new immigration litigation attorneys for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and 100 new asylum officers for Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS); and (3) the Director to establish a separate juvenile docket in every U.S. immigration court, with exceptions.
Sets forth reporting and monitoring requirements with respect to unaccompanied alien children who were discharged to parents or placed in a facility while remaining in the legal custody of the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) pending resolution of their immigration cases.
Cosponsors 4
Members who signed on, in the order they did. All signed on Jul 17, 2014.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-OK | James M. Inhofe | Original | Jul 17, 2014 |
| R-AZ | Jeff Flake | Original | Jul 17, 2014 |
| R-NH | Kelly Ayotte | Original | Jul 17, 2014 |
| R-SC | Lindsey Graham | Original | Jul 17, 2014 |
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Jul 17, 2014Introduced in Senate
- Jul 17, 2014Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Related bills 2
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| S 2561 | Human Smuggling Prevention Act of 2014 | Related bill | Jun 26, 2014 |
| HR 4961 | Human Smuggling Prevention Act of 2014 | Related bill | Jul 21, 2014 |
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement.
- Administrative remedies
- Agricultural trade
- Border security and unlawful immigration
- Canada
- Child health
- Child safety and welfare
- Civil actions and liability
- Congressional oversight
- Crime and Law Enforcement
- Crime prevention
- Crime victims
- Crimes against children
- Crimes against property
- Crimes against women
- Criminal procedure and sentencing
- Customs enforcement
- Department of Homeland Security
- Detention of persons
- Domestic violence and child abuse
- Drug trafficking and controlled substances
- El Salvador
- Firearms and explosives
- Fraud offenses and financial crimes
- Government buildings, facilities, and property
- Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management
- Government ethics and transparency, public corruption
- Guatemala
- Honduras
- Human trafficking
- Immigration status and procedures
- Intelligence activities, surveillance, classified information
- Intergovernmental relations
- International law and treaties
- International organizations and cooperation
- Judges
- Judicial procedure and administration
- Latin America
- Law enforcement administration and funding
- Law enforcement officers
- Lawyers and legal services
- Mental health
- Mexico
- Refugees, asylum, displaced persons
- Separation, divorce, custody, support
- Sex offenses
- Smuggling and trafficking
- State and local government operations
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Jul 17, 2014Introduced in Senate
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.
