Bill > S2619

This bill, known as the Children Returning on an Expedited and Safe Timeline Act (CREST Act), aims to address the issue of unaccompanied alien children, defined as individuals under 18 who are in the U.S. without lawful status and without a parent or legal guardian. It proposes to reduce the number of such children from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras by making U.S. foreign aid to these countries contingent on their cooperation in reducing child migration and facilitating repatriation, and by establishing in-country refugee processing. The bill also seeks to combat organized human smuggling by creating new criminal offenses and penalties for activities that hinder border controls or facilitate illegal entry, and by increasing penalties for using firearms during alien smuggling crimes. Additionally, it mandates a strategy to combat human smuggling, enhances training for border patrol agents, and aims to expedite immigration cases for unaccompanied alien children by increasing immigration judges, attorneys, and asylum officers, and establishing a separate juvenile docket. The bill also revises rules for the custody and treatment of unaccompanied alien children, including provisions for safe federal custody with specific exceptions for victims of trafficking or those with special needs, and requires enhanced monitoring and reporting to states regarding the placement of these children.