To suspend the entry of covered aliens in response to the fentanyl public health crisis.
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Scott of South Carolina (for himself, Mr. Graham, Mr. …
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Alan T. Shao II Fentanyl Public Health Emergency and Overdose Prevention Act suspends the entry of certain undocumented migrants into the United States in response to the fentanyl crisis. It treats the opioid epidemic as a public health emergency and uses that framing to justify rapid deportation of specific categories of migrants.
Who Benefits and How
U.S. Citizens and Public Health Agencies: The bill is designed to reduce fentanyl entering the country, potentially lowering overdose deaths. It gives the Department of Homeland Security clear authority to rapidly return certain migrants.
Border Enforcement Agencies: DHS and Border Patrol receive explicit authorization to conduct rapid returns without standard immigration processing, streamlining their operations.
Who Bears the Burden and How
"Covered Aliens" (Undocumented Migrants): People attempting to enter from Canada or Mexico without proper travel documents will be returned "as rapidly as possible" to their country of origin or last point of entry. They lose access to asylum claims or other immigration proceedings that would otherwise be available.
Immigration Court System: By bypassing normal processing, the bill may shift workload patterns and reduce due process protections for affected individuals.
Key Provisions
- Defines "covered alien" as anyone attempting unlawful entry from Canada or Mexico without required travel documents who is being held at a point of entry or Border Patrol station
- Suspends admission of covered aliens beginning immediately upon enactment
- Mandates rapid return to country of origin or country of entry to prevent fentanyl dissemination
- Authorizes repatriation flights on a space-available basis
- Cites fentanyl crisis statistics: over 100,000 overdose deaths in 2021, 50 million fentanyl pills seized in 2022, noting fentanyl is 50x more potent than heroin
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
This bill aims to suspend the entry of certain aliens into the United States in response to the fentanyl public health crisis.
Policy Domains
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Homeland Security
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
The Secretary of Homeland Security
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology