S.Amdt. 1495

SA 1495. Mr. TUBERVILLE submitted an amendment intended to be
submitted by him to the bill H.R. 815, to amend title 38, United States
Code, to make certain improvements relating to the eligibility of
veterans to receive reimbursement for emergency treatment furnished
through the Veterans Community Care program, and for other purposes;
which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the appropriate place, insert the following:

SEC. __. NEGOTIATIONS BY SECRETARY OF STATE.

(a) Authorization To Negotiate.--The Secretary of State
shall seek to negotiate agreements, accords, and memoranda of
understanding between the United States, Mexico, Honduras, El
Salvador, Guatemala, and other countries in the Western
Hemisphere with respect to cooperation and burden sharing
required for effective regional immigration enforcement,
expediting legal claims by aliens for asylum, and the
processing, detention, and repatriation of foreign nationals
seeking to enter the United States unlawfully.
(b) Minimum Requirements.--The agreements required to be
negotiated under subsection (a) shall--
(1) be designed to facilitate a regional approach to
immigration enforcement; and
(2) provide that--
(A) the Government of Mexico authorize and accept the rapid
entrance into Mexico of nationals of countries other than
Mexico who seek asylum in Mexico, and process the asylum
claims of such nationals inside Mexico, in accordance with
both domestic law and international treaties and conventions
governing the processing of asylum claims;
(B) the Government of Mexico authorize and accept both the
rapid entrance into Mexico of all nationals of countries
other than Mexico who are ineligible for asylum in Mexico and
wish to apply for asylum in the United States, whether or not
at a port of entry, and the continued presence of such
nationals in Mexico while they wait for the adjudication of
their asylum claims to conclude in the United States;
(C) the Government of Mexico commit to provide the
individuals described in subparagraphs (A) and (B) with
appropriate humanitarian protections;
(D) the Government of Honduras, the Government of El
Salvador, and the Government of Guatemala each authorize and
accept the entrance into the respective countries of
nationals of other countries seeking asylum in the applicable
such country and process such claims in accordance with
applicable domestic law and international treaties and
conventions governing the processing of asylum claims;
(E) the Government of the United States commit to work to
accelerate the adjudication of asylum claims and to conclude
removal proceedings in the wake of asylum adjudications as
expeditiously as possible;
(F) the Government of the United States commit to continue
to assist the governments of countries in the Western
Hemisphere, such as the Government of Honduras, the
Government of El Salvador, and the Government of Guatemala,
by supporting the enhancement of asylum capacity in those
countries; and
(G) the Government of the United States commit to
monitoring developments in hemispheric immigration trends and
regional asylum capabilities to determine whether additional
asylum cooperation agreements are warranted.
(c) Notification in Accordance With Case-Zablocki Act.--Not
later than 48 hours after any agreement described in
subsection

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(a) is signed, the Secretary of State, in accordance with
section 112b of title 1, United States Code, shall inform the
relevant congressional committees of such agreement.
(d) Alien Defined.--In this section, the term ``alien'' has
the meaning given such term in section 101 of the Immigration
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101).
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