Project 2025 Tracker / What’s done, what’s next

5. Department of Homeland Security · Major · Needs Congress

Repeal Section 235 of the TVPRA

Not started

148 5. Department of Homeland Security

“Congress should repeal Section 235 of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (TVPRA), which provides numerous immigration benefits to unaccompanied alien children and only encourages more parents to send their children across the border illegally and unaccompanied.”

What has happened

  1. Not started

    No bill repealing TVPRA §235 was introduced. The House passed the Kayla Hamilton Act (H.R. 4371, 2025-12-16, 225–201), which amends §235(c) to tighten sponsor vetting and placement of unaccompanied children and leaves the rest of §235 — the treatment of children from non-contiguous countries, and the asylum and Special Immigrant Juvenile routes the Mandate objects to — untouched. Progress is measured on this ask, not on an adjacent bill: amending §235(c) vetting is not repealing §235, so one-chamber passage of that bill does not move this Recommendation. It has not moved in the Senate.

Research log

What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence

Research notes

  • H.R. 4371 Kayla Hamilton Act: reported by House Judiciary 2025-10-17 (H. Rept. 119-345), passed the House 2025-12-16 under H.Res. 951 (roll no. 340, 225–201), received in the Senate 2025-12-17. Engrossed text read at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-119hr4371eh/html/BILLS-119hr4371eh.htm: it rewrites §235(c)(2) (placement determinations, consultation with DHS and DOJ, gang and flight-risk screening) and 6 U.S.C. 279(b)(2). It leaves the rest of §235 — the non-contiguous-country treatment, the asylum and Special Immigrant Juvenile provisions the Mandate objects to — in place. We read it as related, not as partial enactment of the repeal; see Judgment calls.
  • Federal Register full-text “Section 235” “Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization” unaccompanied since 2025-01-20: two unrelated DHS rules. No executive workaround found.
Action
repeal
Object
Section 235 of the TVPRA
ID
349