On May 13, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved, by unanimous consent, a bill (S. 1609) that would penalize legal immigrants and foreign visa applicants who are delinquent in child support payments in the United States or their countries of origin.
Sponsored by Chair Orrin Hatch (R-UT), the Parental Responsibility Obligations Met through Immigration System Enforcement (PROMISE) Act would require the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to share information on child support payments with the Departments of Justice, State, and Homeland Security. Applicants who are delinquent in their payments would be barred from entering the United States. Legal immigrants owing child support would be found “without good moral character” and therefore ineligible to become American citizens.
S. 1609 would specify that HHS should utilize the Federal Parent Locator Service to determine if a legal immigrant is delinquent in his or her child support payments. The measure also would allow immigration officers to perform paternity tests on foreigners entering the United States.
In a press release announcing committee passage of the bill, Sen. Hatch stated, “Permission to enter the United States is a privilege, not a right. We cannot afford to grant this privilege to individuals who do not respect the law of our nation, the laws of their home country, or their moral duty to provide for their children.”
