This Week in Immigration- and Refugee-Related Legislation

Last Updated on Tuesday, May 7, 2013 at 8:30 am ED

Tweet

This Week on the Hill Archives

The Week of May 6, 2013 House and Senate Return from Week-Long Recess Senate Judiciary Committee to Begin Mark Up of the "Gang of Eight's" Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill Senate Homeland Security to Hold Hearing on the "Gang of Eight's" Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill Joint Economic Committee to Hold Two Hearings on the Contribution of Immigrants to the U.S. Economy House Homeland Security Committee to Hold Hearing on Boston Marathon Bombing This Week’s Hearings At the time of this writing, the folllowing hearings are scheduled for this week at which significant immigration- or refugee-related matters are likely to be examined: Joint Economic Committee Hearing on the Role of Immigration in Economic Strength:  The Joint Economic Committee has scheduled two hearings for this week titled "Immigration and Its Contributions to Our Economic Strength."  The first of the hearings is scheduled for Monday, May 7, 2013.  Witnesses at the first hearing will include Grover Norquist, President, Americans for Tax Reform; and Dr. Adriana Kugler, Professor, Georgetown Public Policy Institute, Georgetown University. The first hearing is scheduled for 9:30 am EDT on Tuesday, May 7, 2013, in Room SD-562 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. House Foreign Affairs Committee Hearing on Preventing Human Trafficking:  The House Committee on Foreign Affairs has scheduled a hearing for this week titled "Local and Private Sector Initiatives to Combat International Human Trafficking."  Scheduled to testify at the hearing are Don Knabe, Supervisor, Fourth District, Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors; Bradley Myles, Executive Director and CEO, Polaris Project; Shawn MacDonald, Director, Programs and Research, Verite. The hearing is scheduled for 10:00 am EDT on Tuesday, May 7, 2013, in Room 2172 of the Rayburn House Office Building.   Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Hearing on Border Security Provisions of "Gang of Eight" Immigration Reform Bill: The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs has scheduled a hearing for this week titled "Border Security: Examining Provisions in the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act."  Testifying at the hearing will be David F. Heyman, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Policy; Kevin K. McAleenan, Acting Deputy Commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection; Michael J. Fisher, Chief, U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Customs and Border Protection; Daniel H. Ragsdale, Deputy Director, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Anne L. Richards, Assistant Inspector general, Office of Audits, Office of Inspector General, Department of Homeland Security.   The hearing is scheduled for 10:30 am EDT on Tuesday, May 7, 2013, in Room SH-216 of the Hart Senate Office Building. Joint Economic Committee Hearing on the Role of Immigration in Economic Strength:  The Joint Economic Committee has scheduled two hearings for this week titled "Immigration and Its Contributions to Our Economic Strength."  The second of the hearings is scheduled for Tuesday, May 8, 2013.  Witnesses at the second hearing will include Dr. Madeline Zavodny, Professor of Economics, Agnes Scott College, Decatur, GA; and Dr. Steven A. Camarota, Director of Research, Center for Immigration Studies. The second hearing is scheduled for 2:00 pm EDT on Wednesday, May 8, 2013, in Room SD-G-01 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. Senate Commerce Committee Hearing on the Role of Immigrants in Americas Innovation Economy: The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee has scheduled a hearing for this week titled "The Role of Immigrants in Americas Innovation Economy."  At the time of this writing, the witness list for the hearing had not yet been publicly released.   The hearing is scheduled for 2:30 pm EDT on Wednesday, May 8, 2013, in Room SR-253 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. House Homeland Security Committee Hearing on the Boston Marathon Bombing:  The House Homeland Security Committee anticipates holding a series of hearings over the coming weeks, at which it will examine the Boston Marathon bombings, including how law enforcement addressed the area after the attack; how federal, state and local officials communicated with their counterparts at other agencies regarding the suspects before and following the event; and the challenges associated with securing the nation since 9/11.  The first hearing, scheduled for this week, is titled "First Look."  Scheduled to testify at the hearing are Edward Davis, Commissioner of Police, Boston; former Senator Joseph I Lieberman (D-CT); and Kurt Schwartz , Director of Homeland Security, State of Massachusetts. The hearing is scheduled for 9:00 am EDT on Thursday, May 9, 2013, in Room 311 of the Cannon House Office Building. House Oversight and Government Reform Panel to Hold Hearing on Biometric IDs:  The House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Government Operations has scheduled a hearing for this week titled "Federal Government Approaches to Issuing Biometric ID's." At the time of this writing, the witness list for the hearing had not yet been publicly released. The hearing is scheduled for 9:30 am EDT on Thursday, May 9, 2013, in Room 2154 of the Rayburn House Office Building.     This Week’s Markups At the time of this writing, the following markups are scheduled for this week on measures that could have significant immigration- or refugee-related consequences: Senate Judiciary Committee Markup of Comprehensive Immigration Reform Legislation: The Senate Committee on the Judiciary this week is scheduled to begin what could be a several weeks-long markup of S. 744, the “Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013”, a comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) bill introduced by a bipartisan group, known colloquially as the "Gang of Eight."   The first markup session is scheduled to begin at 9:30 am EDT on Thursday, May 9, 2013 in Room SH-216 of the Hart Senate Office Building.   This Week’s Floor Activity At the time of this writing, the following floor action is possible this week on measures containing significant immigration- or refugee-related provisions or on measures that could become a target for immigration- or refugee-related amendments: No floor action is scheduled for this week in the U.S. House of Representatives or U.S. Senate on measures containing significant iimmigration- or refugee-related provisions. This Week's Conference Committee Activity No measures containing significant immigration- or refugee-related provisions are officially in conference. Off of the House and Senate Floors At the time of this writing, the following "off of the floor" activity on immigration- or refugee-related legislative matters is anticipated this week: Capitol Hill Issues Briefing on Immigration Issues:  The National Press Foundation, Politico, and the Center on Congress at Indiana University have scheduled an issues briefing for this week on comprehensive immigration reform legislation.  Participants in the briefing will include  Muzaffar Chishti, Director, Migration Policy Institute Office at NYU School of Law; Tamar Jacoby, President and CEO, ImmigrationWorks USA; Daniel Stein, President, Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR); Mark Krikorian, Executive Director, Center for Immigration Studies; Carrie Budoff Brown, POLITICO; Franco Ordonez, McClatchy; and Alan Gomez, USA TODAY. The briefing is scheduled for 8:45 am EDT on Monday, May 6, 2013, at the Washington, DC offices of the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars. Discussion on Migration & Human Capital for the U.S., Mexico, and Central America:  The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) has scheduled a discussion for this week on "Thinking Regionally to Compete Globally: A New View on Migration & Human Capital for the U.S., Mexico, and Central America." Participants in the discussion will include former Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez; Eduardo Stein, former Vice President and Foreign Minister of Guatemala; former Rep. James Jones (D-OK), former Ambassador to Mexico; Demetrios Papademetriou, President of MPI; Doris Meissner, Director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at MPI; and Andrew Selee, Vice President for Programs at the Woodrow Wilson Center. The discussion is scheduled for 9:30 am EDT on Monday, May 6, 2013, at the Washington, DC offices of the Migration Policy Institute. Discussion on Media Bias in Reporting on Immigration Policy:  The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) has scheduled a discussion for this week titled "Does Media Bias Poison Immigration Debate?"  Participants in the discussion will include Jerry Kammer, Senior Research Fellow at CIS; Mickey Kaus, journalist at the Daily Caller; Donald Barlett, Contributing Editor at Vanity Fair; and Ted Hesson, Immigration Editor at Fusion. The discussion is scheduled for 1:00 pm EDT on Monday, May 6, 2013, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Discussion on Displacement and Migration:  The Brookings Institution has scheduled a discussion for this week titled "Displacement and Migration Policies: Exploring the Interconnections."  Participants in the discussion will include Anne Richard, Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration at the U.S. Department of State; Ambassador Claude Wild, head of Human Security Division at the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs; Chaloka Beyani, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of IDPs and Co-Director of the Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement; and Senior Fellow Elizabeth Ferris, Co-Director of the Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement. The discussion is scheduled for 1:30 pm EDT on Tuesday, May 7, 2013, at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC. White House Daily Briefings:  White House Press Secretary Jay Carney is scheduled to conduct daily briefings every day, at which he fields questions from the White House press corps, including possible questions on immigration- and refugee-related matters. The White House Daily Briefings will take place in the White House's Brady Briefing Room when the President is in Washington.  They usually occur off-camera aboard Air Force One when the President is traveling.