Southeast Asian Deportation Relief Act of 2026
Sponsored By: Representative Chu
Introduced
Summary
Limits detention and removal for certain long‑resident Southeast Asian nationals while creating a narrow path to reopen old deportation cases. This bill would bar detention or removal of Cambodian, Laotian, and Vietnamese nationals who entered by January 1, 2008 and have lived continuously in the United States since then, and it would let many people reopen or reconsider past removal orders from April 24, 1996 onward.
Show full summary
- Eligible Southeast Asian nationals would be protected from detention and removal on and after enactment and would receive permanent work authorization via an employment endorsement or a 5‑year renewable work permit.
- People with qualifying past removal, deportation, or exclusion orders could file for mandatory reopening or reconsideration; reopened cases would be terminated with prejudice and prior orders vacated so the person is treated as not having been removed.
- The Department of Homeland Security must notify affected individuals within 60 days where practicable, the government may transport and parole eligible people back for proceedings at government expense, and federal courts may hear class actions to enforce the law.
Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.
No detention and virtual check-ins
If enacted, the bill would bar detention or removal after enactment for nationals of Cambodia, Laos, or Vietnam who entered on or before January 1, 2008 and have lived in the U.S. continuously since that entry. If enacted, people under an order of supervision could apply to DHS to substitute virtual periodic identification for in-person check-ins. DHS would require those virtual appearances no more often than once every five years.
Reopen removal cases for Southeast Asians
If enacted, the bill would require reopening or reconsideration of certain removal orders for Cambodian, Laotian, and Vietnamese nationals ordered removed, deported, excluded, or who took voluntary departure on or after April 24, 1996 and before enactment, if they show they would not have been detained or removed under this bill. The reopened proceeding would be terminated with prejudice and the old removal order would be vacated, and the person would be treated as not removed for immigration-law purposes. DHS would, to the extent practicable, notify covered people within 60 days and would pay for travel and travel documents to bring eligible people back and admit or parole them for further proceedings. The bill would waive certain motion deadlines, bar denials based only on missing old applications, allow district courts to review denials de novo, and permit suits (including class actions) to enforce the Act.
Work permits for Cambodian, Laotian, Vietnamese
If enacted, the bill would require DHS to authorize eligible nationals of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam to work in the United States. To qualify you would need to have entered on or before January 1, 2008 and lived continuously in the U.S. since that entry. DHS would issue an "employment authorized" endorsement or a work permit valid five years. The five-year permit could be renewed any number of times.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Chu
CA • D
Cosponsors
Jayapal
WA • D
Sponsored 2/20/2026
Lofgren
CA • D
Sponsored 2/20/2026
Pressley
MA • D
Sponsored 2/20/2026
Amo
RI • D
Sponsored 2/20/2026
Bell
MO • D
Sponsored 2/20/2026
Clarke (NY)
NY • D
Sponsored 2/20/2026
Garcia (CA)
CA • D
Sponsored 2/20/2026
Garcia (TX)
TX • D
Sponsored 2/20/2026
Goldman (NY)
NY • D
Sponsored 2/20/2026
Gomez
CA • D
Sponsored 2/20/2026
Del. Norton, Eleanor Holmes [D-DC-At Large]
DC • D
Sponsored 2/20/2026
Johnson (GA)
GA • D
Sponsored 2/20/2026
Khanna
CA • D
Sponsored 2/20/2026
Krishnamoorthi
IL • D
Sponsored 2/20/2026
Lieu
CA • D
Sponsored 2/20/2026
McCollum
MN • D
Sponsored 2/20/2026
McGovern
MA • D
Sponsored 2/20/2026
Meng
NY • D
Sponsored 2/20/2026
Moore (WI)
WI • D
Sponsored 2/20/2026
Omar
MN • D
Sponsored 2/20/2026
Ramirez
IL • D
Sponsored 2/20/2026
Scanlon
PA • D
Sponsored 2/20/2026
Simon
CA • D
Sponsored 2/20/2026
Smith (WA)
WA • D
Sponsored 2/20/2026
Thanedar
MI • D
Sponsored 2/20/2026
Tlaib
MI • D
Sponsored 2/20/2026
Trahan
MA • D
Sponsored 2/20/2026
Vargas
CA • D
Sponsored 2/20/2026
Velazquez
NY • D
Sponsored 2/20/2026
Williams (GA)
GA • D
Sponsored 2/20/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.govRelated Bills
HR51 — Washington, D.C. Admission Act
Full statehood for Washington, Douglass Commonwealth would admit the District of Columbia as a new state on equal footing, while defining a smaller federal "Capital" and setting staged transitions for courts, property, and federal programs. - Capital residents would gain full congressional representation: two U.S. Senators and one U.S. Representative. The bill also requires states to allow "absent Capital" residents to vote by absentee ballot in federal elections. - The U.S. House would be permanently increased to 436 members and apportionment would be adjusted beginning with the first decennial census after admission. - The bill defines the federal Capital with a required 180-day survey, preserves federal court, prosecutorial, prison, parole, National Guard, and employee benefit arrangements on a temporary basis, and phases those responsibilities to the State as it certifies the necessary laws and personnel are in place.
HR20 — Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2025
Strengthens worker organizing rights and enforcement. The bill broadens who counts as an employee or joint employer and builds tougher remedies, penalties, and election rules to make organizing and bargaining easier to enforce and monitor. - Workers: Expands who is treated as an employee by tightening the three-part test for independent contractors and broadening the joint-employer test to include direct, indirect, and reserved control. It adds clear protections for strike participation and allows back pay without reduction and liquidated damages equal to twice awarded damages. - Employers: Requires prompt disclosure and new notice duties including a detailed voter list within two business days and multilingual employee notices. Noncompliance can trigger civil penalties including up to $50,000 per unfair labor practice, up to $10,000 per refusal to obey Board orders, and fines for posting or voter-list violations. - Elections, agencies, and unions: NLRB must adopt remote electronic voting within one year and aim to hold elections within twenty business days. The bill also boosts NLRB reporting and transparency, expands private suits, and creates new whistleblower protections and expedited enforcement.
HR1589 — American Dream and Promise Act of 2025
New pathways to permanent residence. This bill would create a ten‑year conditional permanent resident status for certain people who entered as children and would add an adjustment pathway for specified Temporary Protected Status and Deferred Enforced Departure holders. - Young long‑term residents and DACA‑eligible people could get a ten‑year conditional status if they meet rules like continuous presence since Jan 1, 2021 and education or credential benchmarks. They could convert to full permanent residence after meeting removal‑of‑condition rules and have limits on removal while applying. - Nationals with qualifying TPS or DED status who meet continuous‑presence rules could apply within a three‑year window and face a capped application fee of $1,140. - The bill creates a competitive grant program to help applicants, allows fee exemptions for youth, low‑income people, foster care alumni, and those with serious disabilities, and adds a $25 supplemental surcharge to fund appointed counsel.
HR5390 — FAMILY Act
This bill would create a federally administered paid family and medical leave insurance program that pays eligible workers for caregiving and serious medical needs while adding job and health coverage protections. It sets benefit formulas, eligibility rules, and a new Office of Paid Family and Medical Leave inside the Social Security Administration to run the program. - Families and caregivers: Would get paid leave based on earnings with benefits calculated using a three-tier formula and monthly minimum and maximum amounts. Caregiving is tracked in 1-hour units and capped per benefit period at 12 times an individual’s regular weekly hours, and the eligibility wage floor is $2,000 for benefit periods beginning in 2026. - Workers and job protections: Would include restoration to the same or equivalent job, continuation of health coverage during leave, anti-retaliation rules with a 12-month rebuttable presumption for recent leave takers, and limited exclusions for new hires. - Administration and employers: Creates a Deputy Commissioner‑led office at the SSA to set rules, run payments, publish annual demographic usage reports, share data with federal agencies, manage legacy State programs to avoid double counting, and require a GAO study after 2026 and every five years thereafter.
HR15 — Equality Act
Adds sexual orientation and gender identity to the federal definition of sex and creates a uniform, nationwide nondiscrimination framework across employment, housing, credit, education, public accommodations, jury service, and programs that receive federal funds. The bill would harmonize definitions, remedies, and rules of construction across multiple civil rights statutes to make enforcement and claims more consistent. - Workers: Private and federal employees would gain explicit protection from discrimination for sexual orientation and gender identity. The bill would update Title VII rules, expand remedies, and adjust bona fide occupational qualification rules to account for gender identity. - People using public places, students, and tenants: Public accommodations and education laws would explicitly bar discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The Fair Housing Act would adopt the same definitions and protections to cover renters and buyers. - Borrowers, juries, and enforcement: The Equal Credit Opportunity Act would bar credit discrimination on these bases. Jury selection rules would be updated to prevent discrimination. The bill would also prevent the Religious Freedom Restoration Act from being used to challenge enforcement under the covered civil rights laws.
HR14 — John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2025
This bill would restore robust federal oversight of voting rights by rewriting Section 2 and creating a broad practice-based preclearance system. It sets new tests for vote-dilution and vote-denial claims, adds retrogression rules for actions on or after January 1, 2021, and requires extensive public notice, data disclosure, and observer powers. - Minority and language-minority voters: Provides clearer legal paths to challenge districting and practices that dilute or abridge votes, recognizes coalitions of minority groups, and applies retrogression rules to actions from January 1, 2021. - States and local election officials: Triggers preclearance using a 25-year lookback with numeric thresholds and creates an administrative bailout that requires demonstrating sustained compliance over a 10-year period to avoid coverage. - Enforcement, oversight, and courts: Expands who may sue to include private "aggrieved persons", centralizes observer authority in the Attorney General, and authorizes pre-suit inspection and information demands that courts may enforce or modify.
Take It Personal
Get Your Personalized Policy View
Create a free account to save research, track policy impacts, and unlock your personalized versions of these pages.
Already have an account? Sign in