Official Summaries

Preventing the Recycling of Immigrants is Necessary for Trafficking Suspension Act or the PRINTS Act

This bill addresses migrant minor children entering the United States. Specifically, the bill makes it a crime for a person to knowingly use a minor to gain entry to the United States if the minor is not a close relative or if the person is not the minor’s guardian. In addition, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) must fingerprint all non-U.S. nationals (aliens under federal law) entering the United States who are younger than 14 years of age if a CBP officer suspects that the child is victim of human trafficking.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) must share with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) any fingerprints collected under this bill from an unaccompanied child if that child is transferred to HHS custody.

DHS must report to Congress on the number of children fingerprinted annually under this bill. DHS must also publish on a monthly basis the number of individuals apprehended for falsely claiming a child accompanying them into the United States was a close relative.  

Current Full Text

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 53 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 53

To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to fingerprint noncitizen 
minors entering the United States who are suspected of being victims of 
 human trafficking, to require the Secretary to publicly disclose the 
number of such minors who are fingerprinted by U.S. Customs and Border 
Protection (CBP) officials and the number of child traffickers who are 
 apprehended by CBP, to impose criminal penalties on noncitizen adults 
who use unrelated minors to gain entry into the United States, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 9, 2025

 Mrs. Blackburn (for herself, Mr. Cassidy, Mr. Daines, Ms. Ernst, Mr. 
  Grassley, Mr. Hoeven, Mrs. Hyde-Smith, Mr. Rounds, and Mr. Sheehy) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to fingerprint noncitizen 
minors entering the United States who are suspected of being victims of 
 human trafficking, to require the Secretary to publicly disclose the 
number of such minors who are fingerprinted by U.S. Customs and Border 
Protection (CBP) officials and the number of child traffickers who are 
 apprehended by CBP, to impose criminal penalties on noncitizen adults 
who use unrelated minors to gain entry into the United States, 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 TITLES.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Preventing the Recycling of 
Immigrants is Necessary for Trafficking Suspension Act'' or the 
``PRINTS Act''.

SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF FINGERPRINTING OF NONCITIZEN CHILDREN ENTERING 
              THE UNITED STATES TO REDUCE CHILD TRAFFICKING.

    Section 262(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
1302(c)) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(c) The Secretary of Homeland Security, working through U.S. 
Customs and Border Protection, in order to reduce the number of 
children who are trafficked into the United States, shall obtain a set 
of fingerprints from any alien younger than 14 years of age who is 
entering the United States if a U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
officer suspects that such child is a victim of human trafficking, in 
accordance with the standards established pursuant to the Trafficking 
Victims Protection Act of 2000 (34 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.).''.

SEC. 3. CRIMINALIZING RECYCLING OF MINORS.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 69 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 1430. Recycling of minors
    ``(a) In General.--Any person 18 years of age or older who 
knowingly uses, for the purpose of gaining entry into the United 
States, a minor to whom the individual is not a relative or guardian, 
shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or 
both.
    ``(b) Relative.--In this section, the term `relative' means an 
individual related by consanguinity within the second degree, as 
determined by common law.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for chapter 69 of 
title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 
following:

``1430. Recycling of minors.''.

SEC. 4. INFORMATION SHARING.

    With respect to any unaccompanied alien child (as defined in 
section 462(g) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 279(g))) 
who is transferred from the custody of the Secretary of Homeland 
Security to the custody of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, 
the Secretary of Homeland Security shall, on request, share with the 
Secretary of Health and Human Services the fingerprints collected under 
section 262(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as added by 
section 2.

SEC. 5. REPORTS.

    (a) Annual Report to Congress.--The Secretary of Homeland Security 
shall submit an annual report to Congress that identifies the number of 
minors who were fingerprinted during the most recently completed fiscal 
year pursuant to the authority granted under section 262(c) of the 
Immigration and Nationality Act, as added by section 2.
    (b) Online Publication.--The Secretary of Homeland Security shall 
post, on a monthly basis on a publicly accessible U.S. Customs and 
Border Protection website, the number of apprehensions during the 
previous month involving child traffickers who falsely claimed that a 
child accompanying them into the United States was a close relative.
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