Sponsors (33)
Introduced February 20, 2026 by Judy Chu · Last progress February 20, 2026
The bill trades expanded stability, work authorization, and procedural remedies for certain long‑settled Southeast Asian noncitizens—improving legal protections for those communities—against increased fiscal, administrative, and potential enforcement risks, plus legal and political tensions over due‑process and immigration control.
Long-settled Cambodian, Laotian, and Vietnamese noncitizens (and their families) gain substantive stability—many prior removal orders can be vacated, they can reopen proceedings, are protected from detention/removal, and eligible individuals receive renewable work authorization—enabling lawful employment and family stability.
Restores and expands access to judicial relief and clearer procedural routes—motions to reopen are not time-barred, denials are subject to de novo federal district court review, and statutory reopening avenues are clarified—improving legal remedies for impacted noncitizens.
Reduces routine administrative burdens for eligible noncitizens by limiting in‑person supervision check‑ins (virtual contact no more than every 5 years) and providing clear written filing instructions, lowering travel costs and procedural errors for individuals and the immigration system.
Some provisions and related findings could enable expanded removals and reduced due‑process protections for Southeast Asian long‑term residents (and others) through amended enforcement agreements and statutory changes, increasing risk of deportation and human‑rights harms.
Taxpayers may face meaningful new costs for implementation and benefits processing—including government‑funded travel/return, parole and admission processing, work‑authorization processing, and potentially expanded renewal systems.
Reopening many prior removal cases and expanding eligibility will increase caseloads for immigration courts, federal district courts, and DHS (including individualized notice requirements), potentially slowing other proceedings and straining agency staff.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Prevents detention and deportation of Cambodian, Laotian, and Vietnamese nationals who entered the U.S. on or before January 1, 2008 and have lived continuously in the United States since that entry. It requires DHS to authorize renewable work authorization, relaxes in-person supervision requirements, directs the Department of Justice to reopen and vacate prior removal orders for eligible people and treat those orders as never having occurred, requires federal notice and return-travel support for eligible persons, and creates a private right of action (including class actions) to enforce the law.