H.R. 7608

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7608 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 7608

To halt removal of certain nationals of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, 
and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

February 20, 2026

Ms. Chu (for herself, Ms. Jayapal, Ms. Lofgren, Ms. Pressley, Mr. Amo, 
Mr. Bell, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. Garcia of California, Ms. Garcia 
of Texas, Mr. Goldman of New York, Mr. Gomez, Ms. Norton, Mr. Johnson 
of Georgia, Mr. Khanna, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Mr. Lieu, Ms. McCollum, Mr. 
McGovern, Ms. Meng, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, Ms. Omar, Mrs. Ramirez, Ms. 
Scanlon, Ms. Simon, Mr. Smith of Washington, Mr. Thanedar, Ms. Tlaib, 
Mrs. Trahan, Mr. Vargas, Ms. Velazquez, and Ms. Williams of Georgia) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To halt removal of certain nationals of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, 
and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Southeast Asian Deportation Relief 
Act of 2026''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds as follows:
(1) Millions of Southeast Asian Americans live in the 
United States, including 2,182,735 Vietnamese Americans, 
338,637 Cambodian Americans, 254,304 Laotian Americans, and 
326,843 Hmong Americans, according to the 2019 American 
Community Survey. Many of these communities arrived as refugees 
beginning over 40 years ago from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam in 
the aftermath of the wars in Southeast Asia (more commonly 
known as the ``Vietnam War'').
(2) The United States intervened in Cambodia, Laos, and 
Vietnam between 1954 and 1975, to prevent the spread of 
communism in Southeast Asia through direct military 
interventions and covert and clandestine operations.
(3) South Vietnam allied with the United States in 
opposition to the expansion of North Vietnam until the Fall of 
Saigon on April 30, 1975. As a result of this service, many 
Vietnamese Americans to this day still suffer lasting trauma 
from the war, including post-traumatic stress disorder and 
exposure to Agent Orange. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) 
and various agencies enlisted over 30,000 soldiers from Hmong, 
Lao, and Laotian ethnic groups in Laos as allies to aid United 
States forces in Southeast Asia, waging a 13-year covert 
operation called the ``Secret War'' against the Pathet Lao, 
Viet Cong, and Northern Vietnamese Army.
(4) The United States heavily bombed Laos, making it the 
most heavily bombed country in the world, with over 580,000 
bombing missions between 1964 and 1973. Today, an estimated 
80,000,000 bombs remain unexploded, with 20,000 people who have 
been injured or killed since the bombings stopped.
(5) Between 1969 to 1973, the United States dropped 540,000 
tons of bombs into Cambodia against Viet Cong forces, 
destabilizing the country's already fragile government. This 
mass bombing of Cambodia's countryside helped to fuel the rise 
of the Khmer Rouge, which subsequently carried out the 
destruction of Cambodian society and the genocide of an 
estimated 2,000,000 Cambodians.
(6) Over 3,000,000 individuals were displaced by war, 
conflict, and genocide from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. 
Between 1975 to 2008, the United States Government resettled 
over 1,200,000 Southeast Asian refugees in this country, as 
part of the largest refugee resettlement effort in the history 
of the United States. Southeast Asian refugees included 
survivors of the war in Vietnam and Laos, the genocide in 
Cambodia, Hmong soldiers and their families who received 
refugee status in exchange for their service in the Secret War, 
and other ethnic minority groups persecuted in the aftermath of 
the war.
(7) Many Southeast Asian refugees face significant physical 
and mental health issues, such as post-traumatic stress 
disorder and depression, stemming from their experiences 
escaping war, genocide, torture, and mass starvation. 
Additionally, many Southeast Asian refugees were resettled in 
communities that were heavily disinvested and lacked long-term 
resettlement support, causing many Southeast Asians to also 
suffer from systemic poverty, discrimination, and linguistic 
barriers.
(8) Immigrant communities face significant challenges 
assimilating as a result of the trauma of war. A 2018 study 
published by Rashmi Gangamma and Daran Shipman in the Journal 
of Marital and Family Therapy noted that ``the traumatic nature 
of (immigrant's) forced displacement flight, and resettlement 
can increase vulnerability to mental distress''. First 
generation immigrants are especially vulnerable to gang 
violence within communities in which their parents cannot guide 
them with cultural or political familiarity.
(9) Key policies during the 1990s including the period's 
``War on Drugs'', passage of the Violent Crime Control and Law 
Enforcement Act, expansion of the carceral system, and over-
policing of low-income communities of color entangled a 
significant number of Southeast Asian Americans, especially 
Southeast Asian youth, within the criminal justice system. 
During this period, Southeast Asian youth were incarcerated at 
twice the rate of White youth for similar offenses.
(10) Additional immigration policies during the 1990s 
reinforced this emerging prison to deportation pipeline. The 
Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 
1996 (IIRIRA) and the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty 
Act (AEDPA) expanded the category of crimes that could lead to 
deportation and limited due process protections for 
noncitizens. IIRIRA also applied these changes retroactively 
without proper consideration of an individual's lived 
circumstances.
(11) Approximately 15,000 long-term residents of Southeast 
Asian descent, many of whom initially arrived as child 
refugees, live in the United States with a final order of 
removal. These individuals often do not speak the native 
language of that country, lack familial connections there, and 
are at risk of being targeted for human rights abuses as a 
result of historic support for United States anti-communist 
policies.
(12) The United States accepted thousands of Vietnamese 
refugees through the Orderly Departure Program, Humanitarian 
Resettlement program, and McCain Amendment through 2009, 
including survivors of re-education centers, former employees 
of the United States Government and United States companies or 
organizations, and immediate family members.
(13) In 2002, the United States and Cambodia signed a 
bilateral repatriation agreement, hereafter known as the 2002 
U.S.-Cambodia Repatriation Agreement. Deportations of Cambodian 
Americans to Cambodia increased by 366 percent the following 
year. Over 1,000 Cambodian Americans have been deported to 
Cambodia since then.
(14) In 2008, the United States and Vietnam signed a 
bilateral repatriation agreement, hereafter known as the 2008 
U.S.-Vietnam Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). According to 
section 2, article 2 of the 2008 Vietnam-U.S. MOU, ``Vietnamese 
citizens are not subject to return to Vietnam under this 
Agreement if they arrived in the United States before July 12, 
1995, the date on which diplomatic relations were re-
established between the U.S. Government and the Vietnamese 
Government''. President George W. Bush and President Barack 
Obama both recognized the 2008 United States-Vietnam MOU's 
removal protections for pre-1995 refugees.
(15) In 2020, President Trump's administration entered into 
a new memorandum of understanding with Vietnam, expanding the 
categories of immigrants it could deport to include pre-95 
Vietnamese refugees who were previously protected from removal 
by the 2008 MOU.

SEC. 3. LIMITATION ON THE DETENTION AND REMOVAL OF NATIONALS OF 
CAMBODIA, LAOS, AND VIETNAM.

(a) Limitation on Detention and Removal.--An alien who is subject 
to an order of removal may not be detained or removed from the United 
States on or after the date of enactment of this Act if the alien--
(1) is a national of Cambodia, Laos, or Vietnam;
(2) entered the United States on or before January 1, 2008; 
and
(3) has continuously resided in the United States since 
such entry.
(b) Employment Authorization.--The Secretary of Homeland Security 
shall authorize an alien described in subsection (a) to permanently 
engage in employment in the United States and provide such alien with 
an ``employment authorized'' endorsement or other appropriate work 
permit, which shall be valid for a period of 5 years, and may be 
renewed any number of times.
(c) Limitation on Periodic Identification.--Upon application to the 
Secretary of Homeland Security, an alien described in subsection (a) 
who is subject to an order of supervision under section 241(a)(3) of 
the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1231(a)(3)) shall not be 
required to appear in person before an immigration officer for periodic 
identification pursuant to such order of supervision. The Secretary 
shall, in lieu of such periodic identification, require such an alien 
to appear virtually before an immigration officer not more frequently 
than once every 5 years.

SEC. 4. RECONSIDERING AND REOPENING IMMIGRATION CASES.

(a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 
Attorney General--
(1) shall grant a motion to reconsider or reopen 
proceedings pursuant to paragraph (6) or (7) of section 240(c) 
of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1229a(c)) with 
respect to any alien who--
(A) on or after April 24, 1996, but before the date 
of enactment of this Act--
(i) was ordered removed, deported, or 
excluded; or
(ii) departed the United States pursuant to 
a grant of voluntary departure under section 
240B of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
U.S.C. 1229c) (regardless of whether or not the 
alien was ordered removed, deported, or 
excluded);
(B) is a national of Cambodia, Laos, or Vietnam; 
and
(C) demonstrates that the alien would not have been 
subject to detention or removal pursuant to this Act if 
this Act had been in effect on the date on which such 
order was issued or the voluntary departure took place 
(except that the requirement under section 3(a)(3) 
shall not apply);
(2) shall terminate any removal proceedings reopened under 
paragraph (1) with prejudice and vacate any order of removal 
entered before the date of enactment of this Act; and
(3) shall deem an alien who makes the demonstration under 
paragraph (1)(C) as not having been removed, deported, 
excluded, or departed, and as not having failed to depart under 
a voluntary departure order, for all purposes under the 
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.).
(b) Previously Filed Application; Previous Motions To Reopen or 
Reconsider.--The Attorney General may not reject or deny a motion to 
reconsider or reopen under subsection (a) because--
(1) the alien did not include a copy of any previously 
filed application for relief; or
(2) the alien had previously filed a motion to reopen or 
reconsider.
(c) Deadline.--The deadline described in paragraphs (6)(B) and 
(7)(C)(i) of section 240(c) of the Immigrations and Nationality Act (8 
U.S.C. 1229a(c)) shall not apply to a motion to reopen or reconsider 
under this section.
(d) Transportation.--The Secretary of Homeland Security, in 
coordination with the Secretary of State, shall provide transportation 
and travel documents for aliens eligible for reopening or 
reconsideration of their proceedings under this section, at Government 
expense, to return to the United States for further immigration 
proceedings and shall admit or parole the alien into the United States.
(e) Physical Presence Requirement.--For the purpose of applications 
filed subsequent to reopening under this section pursuant to section 
240A of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1229b), or any 
other application for relief under the immigration laws (as defined in 
section 101(a)(17) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
1101(a)(17))), removal, deportation, exclusion, or voluntary departure 
shall not be considered to toll any physical presence requirement.
(f) Judicial Review.--Notwithstanding any other provision of the 
Immigration and National Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.), any denial of a 
motion to reopen or reconsider submitted pursuant to this section is 
subject to de novo judicial review in a Federal district court having 
jurisdiction over the applicant's residence or, in the case of an 
applicant who was removed from the United States, the last known 
residential address of the applicant in the United States.

SEC. 5. NOTICE FOR CERTAIN NATIONALS OF CAMBODIA, LAOS, AND VIETNAM 
WITH REMOVAL ORDERS.

(a) In General.--Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall--
(1) provide notice of the provisions of this Act to each 
alien described in section 3(a); and
(2) to the extent practicable, provide notice of the 
provisions of this Act to each alien described in section 4(a).
(b) Contents of Notice.--The notice described in subsection (a) 
shall include information explaining the requirements and instructions 
for filing a motion to reconsider and reopen removal proceedings under 
section 240(c)(6) and (7) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
U.S.C. 1229a(c)) and under section 4 of this Act.

SEC. 6. JUDICIAL REVIEW.

(a) Review.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an 
individual or entity who has been harmed by a violation of this Act may 
file an action in an appropriate district court of the United States to 
seek declaratory or injunctive relief.
(b) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this Act may be construed to 
preclude an action filed pursuant to subsection (a) from proceeding as 
a class action (as such term is defined in section 1711 of title 28, 
United States Code).
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