ASSIMILATION Act

(a) Repatriation and screening. Section 235(a) of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (8 U.S.C. 1232(a)) is amended—

(1) in paragraph (2)—

(A) in the paragraph heading, by striking Special rules for children from contiguous countries and inserting Rules for unaccompanied alien children;

(B) in subparagraph (A)—

(i) in the matter preceding clause (i), by striking who is a national or habitual resident of a country that is contiguous with the United States;

(ii) in clause (i), by inserting and after the semicolon;

(iii) in clause (ii), by striking ; and and inserting a period; and

(iv) by striking clause (iii); and

(C) in subparagraph (B)—

(i) in the matter preceding clause (i), by striking may;

(ii) in clause (i), by inserting may before permit such child; and

(iii) in clause (ii), by inserting shall before return such child;

(2) in paragraph (3), in the paragraph heading, by striking other children and inserting children not meeting paragraph (2)(A); and

(3) in paragraph (5)(D)—

(A) in the matter preceding clause (i), by striking , except for an unaccompanied alien child from a contiguous country subject to exceptions under subsection (a)(2), and inserting who does not meet the criteria listed in paragraph (2)(A); and

(B) in clause (i), by inserting before the semicolon at the end the following: , which shall include a hearing before an immigration judge not later than 14 days after being screened under paragraph (4).

(b) Custody, transfer, and notification. Section 235(b) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1232(b)) is amended—

(1) in paragraph (2)—

(A) in subparagraph (A), by inserting believed not to meet the criteria listed in subsection (a)(2)(A) before the semicolon at the end; and

(B) in subparagraph (B), by inserting and does not meet the criteria listed in subsection (a)(2)(A) before the period at the end; and

(2) by amending paragraph (3) to read as follows:

(c) Information sharing and access to counsel. Section 235(c) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1232(c)) is amended—

(1) in paragraph (3)—

(A) in subparagraph (A), by striking the second sentence and inserting Such determination shall, at a minimum, include verification of the identity of the proposed custodian, verification of the relationship of the proposed custodian to the child, if any, collection of information sufficient to identify and locate the proposed custodian and assess the suitability of the proposed placement, and an independent finding that the proposed custodian has not engaged in any activity that would indicate a potential risk of abuse, neglect, maltreatment, exploitation, or trafficking to the child.;

(B) in subparagraph (B)—

(i) in the first sentence, by striking first;

(ii) in the second sentence—

(I) by striking special needs; and

(II) by striking sponsor clearly presents a risk of abuse, maltreatment and inserting custodian clearly presents a risk of abuse, neglect, maltreatment; and

(iii) in the third sentence, by striking on children for whom a home study was conducted and is authorized to conduct follow-up services in cases involving children with mental health or other needs who could benefit from ongoing assistance from a social welfare agency and inserting for each child for whom a home study was conducted, and may conduct follow-up services in cases involving children with mental health needs or other needs who could benefit from continuing assistance from a social welfare agency;

(C) by amending subparagraph (C) to read as follows:

; and

(D) by adding at the end the following:

; and

(2) in paragraph (5), by striking have counsel to represent them and inserting have access to counsel, at no expense to the Government, to represent them.

(d) Effective date. The amendments made by this section shall apply to any unaccompanied alien child (as such term is defined in section 462(g) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 279(g))) apprehended on or after the date that is 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.