S. 53 — PRINTS Act

This section replaces the Attorney General's discretionary authority to waive alien fingerprinting requirements for nonimmigrants with a mandate for the Secretary of Homeland Security, through U.S. Customs and Border Protection, to obtain fingerprints from any alien younger than 14 years of age entering the United States if a Customs and Border Protection officer suspects the child is a victim of human trafficking (from the Attorney General's waiver authority). Fingerprinting must comply with standards under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000.

This section establishes a new criminal offense in 18 U.S.C. § 1430 for any person 18 years of age or older who knowingly uses a minor, to whom the individual is not a relative or guardian, for the purpose of gaining entry into the United States. A violation is punishable by a fine, imprisonment for not more than 10 years, or both, with "relative" defined as an individual related by consanguinity within the second degree, as determined by common law.

This section requires the Secretary of Homeland Security, upon request, to share with the Secretary of Health and Human Services fingerprints collected under section 262(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act for any unaccompanied alien child transferred from Department of Homeland Security custody to Department of Health and Human Services custody. (Thus, the Office of Refugee Resettlement, responsible under current law for the care and placement of such children, may access Department of Homeland Security biometric data for background checks and other child welfare purposes.)

This section directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to (1) submit an annual report to Congress identifying the number of minors fingerprinted during the most recently completed fiscal year pursuant to the authority under section 262(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as added by section 2; and (2) post monthly 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 an accompanying child was a close relative.