H.R. 8628

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8628 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8628

To repeal section 101(a)(15)(U) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 
and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

April 30, 2026

Mr. Roy (for himself, Mr. Self, and Mr. Crane) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To repeal section 101(a)(15)(U) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 
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 ``End U Visa Abuse Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds the following:
(1) In 2000, Congress established the U visa program with 
the intention of facilitating cooperation from alleged alien 
crime victims who might otherwise be reluctant to report crimes 
by deferring removal for foreign nationals, including illegal 
aliens, and providing work authorization and a pathway to 
lawful permanent status for U visa beneficiaries. Nearly all 
grounds of inadmissibility are waived for U visa applicants.
(2) Congress imposed a cap of 10,000 U visas per year. U.S. 
Citizenship and Immigration Services created a waitlist that 
confers immigration benefits without any formal adjudication. 
Once waitlisted, aliens receive deferred action from removal 
and other immigration benefits. Additionally, there is no limit 
to derivative visas issued to qualifying family members.
(3) As of June 2025, there are over 400,000 U visa 
applications currently pending.
(4) The U visa program is rife with fraud and abuse and has 
demonstrated a record of illegal aliens using it to obtain 
lawful status and work permits to skirt deportation and 
removal, such as staging fake crimes and making false 
allegations to remain in the United States and possibly sponsor 
relatives who may also have unlawful status.
(5) According to testimony submitted to the House Judiciary 
Committee's Subcommittee on Immigration, Integrity, Security, 
and Enforcement on June 25, 2025, U visa ``certifications are 
routinely rubberstamped, especially in sanctuary jurisdictions 
like California, where State laws like SB 674 pressure law 
enforcement agencies to certify U visas unless they 
affirmatively justify denial''.
(6) The same testimony found ``The program allows any 
illegal alien to secretly accuse a U.S. citizen of a crime and 
apply for a visa after securing a law enforcement 
certification. No arrest. No charges. No conviction. Just an 
allegation--often with no notice to the accused. The process is 
entirely ex parte, and there is no mechanism for rebuttal''.
(7) U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services does not 
track the number of crimes solved through the issuance of a U 
visa.
(8) As an example of sweeping U visa fraud, on July 17, 
2025, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced the 
indictment of 5 individuals, including 4 active and former law 
enforcement officers who were charged for bribery, conspiracy 
to commit visa fraud, and mail fraud, where charged individuals 
were accused of operating a 9-year scheme of fabricating fake 
crimes and police reports so aliens who were supposed victims 
could apply for U visas.
(9) On May 17, 2024, the Department of Justice announced 
the indictment of 6 individuals who allegedly conspired to 
stage armed robberies in Chicago and the suburbs so that 
purported victims could apply for U visas.
(10) Local law enforcement in Houston, Texas, uncovered a 
scheme that staged fake robberies at gunpoint for aliens to 
obtain U visas after a bystander reportedly shot and killed an 
individual who was pretending to be an armed robber who took 
the belongings of a couple at a gas station in January 2024, 
only to discover the purported thief and victims were staging a 
crime to garner a U visa.
(11) In March 2020, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration 
Services released a report examining U visa applications filed 
between 2012 and 2018, which found that only 5 percent of U 
visa petitioners reported having lawful immigration status at 
the time of application. 79 percent reported never having 
lawful status, and 14 percent said they were visa overstays.
(12) The March 2020 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration 
Services report also found that 10 percent of U visa recipients 
had committed immigration fraud, 8 percent reentered the United 
States illegally after removal, and 6 percent of those approved 
for the U visa had been ordered removed.
(13) On January 6, 2022, the Department of Homeland 
Security Office of Inspector General released a report entitled 
``U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' U Visa Program Is 
Not Managed Effectively and Is Susceptible to Fraud''. The 
report found that as part of the U visa process, applicants 
must submit the Form I-918 Supplement B, U Nonimmigrant Status 
Certification, which includes a signature from an authorized 
agency or law enforcement official certifying the crime 
happened and attesting to the victim's cooperation. One of 
Office of Inspector General's findings was that it ``asked 125 
law enforcement offices to confirm whether the signature on 
Supplement B forms certified by their office was that of an 
authorized signer''. The Office of Inspector General found that 
at least 10 of the 125 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration 
Services-approved petitions had ``forged, unauthorized, 
altered, or suspicious law enforcement certifications''.
(14) Additionally, the Office of Inspector General found 
that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services did not 
implement its recommendations regarding fraud in the program.
(15) As of April 10, 2026, 10 foreign nationals were 
indicted for visa fraud conspiracy for allegedly carrying out 
staged armed robberies of convenience store clerks so they 
could falsely claim a U visa to remain in the country.
(16) Victimization should not be a basis for an immigration 
benefit. If an alien is a crime victim and is actively 
cooperating with law enforcement as a witness, the S visa is 
already available and should be utilized if needed, 
alternatively, the Department of Homeland Security Secretary 
can grant humanitarian immigration parole to purported alien 
crime victims or witnesses on a case-by-case basis if they are 
needed by law enforcement or are required to testify.
(17) Congress should repeal the U visa program in full, as 
it no longer serves a valid purpose and encourages fraud, 
rewarding illegal aliens who commit it with the likelihood of a 
green card and work permit, further enabling lawlessness and 
illegal immigration, leaving law-abiding American citizens and 
legal immigrants to deal with the consequences.

SEC. 3. REPEAL OF U VISA PROGRAM.

(a) Repeal.--Subparagraph (U) of section 101(a)(15) of the 
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)) is repealed.
(b) Conforming Amendments.--The Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
U.S.C. 1101 et seq.) is amended--
(1) in section 204--
(A) in subsection (a)(1)(L), by striking ``or 
(U)''; and
(B) in subsection (l)(2)(E), by striking ``or in 
`U' nonimmigrant status as described in section 
101(a)(15)(U)(ii)'';
(2) in section 212--
(A) in subsection (a)(4)(E)--
(i) by striking clause (ii); and
(ii) redesignating clause (iii) as clause 
(ii); and
(B) in subsection (d), by striking paragraph (14);
(3) in section 214, by striking subsection (p);
(4) in section 237(d)(1), by striking ``or (U)'' each place 
it appears;
(5) in section 239(e)(2)(B), by striking ``or (U)'';
(6) in section 245--
(A) in subsection (l)(7), by striking 
``101(a)(15)(U),''; and
(B) by striking subsection (m); and
(7) in section 248(b), by striking ``or (U)''.
<all>