Congress·In Committee·H.R. 7608

Southeast Asian Deportation Relief Act of 2026

House Bill Would Shield 15,000 Southeast Asian Refugees from Deportation Under Southeast Asian Deportation Relief Act

Feb 20·View on Congress.gov

This bill is one vehicle in a longer effort. See the full story across every version.View effort →

Next up: A house committee

A house committee must act next: committee consideration.

Legislative Progress

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Senate

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Law

How we got here

This bill’s path across every version that has carried it.

Reintroduced
Reintroduced from H.R. 5248 (118th), which died when its Congress ended.
H.R. 5248 (118th) →

Key Points

This bill would stop the government from deporting or holding in jail people from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam who have lived in the U.S. since at least 2008. Many of these people came to the U.S. as refugees escaping wars and have lived here for decades.
People covered by this law would get work permits that last for five years and can be renewed. They would also no longer have to check in with immigration officers in person; instead, they would do a video check-in once every five years.
The bill also helps people who were already deported. It allows them to reopen their legal cases and requires the U.S. government to pay for their flight back to America so they can go to court and try to stay permanently.
This plan focuses on about 15,000 people who have been told they must leave the country. Many of these individuals arrived as children, do not speak the language of their birth country, and have no family left there to help them.

ImmigrationCivil RightsLabor Employment

Impact Analysis

Personal Impact

Scores run from -100 (strongly harmful) to +100 (strongly beneficial) for each group, combining impact, certainty, scope, and duration ratings of 1-5. How impact scoring works

Life & Work

While naturalized citizens themselves cannot be deported under normal circumstances, this bill benefits the broader Southeast Asian American community — over 3 million people — by protecting their family members, friends, and community members from deportation. The emotional and economic toll of family separation through deportation would be reduced for these communities.

ImpactCertaintyScopeDurationSentiment

Disabilities

State Impacts

StateScoreImpactCertaintyScopeDurationSentiment

Scores: 1 = low, 5 = highSentiment: -5 to +5 (net benefit)

Milestones

2 milestones2 actions

Feb 20, 2026House

Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

Feb 20, 2026

Introduced in House

The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.

Related News

1 article

The Rebel Yellow·Feb 23

Lawmakers reintroduce bill to protect Southeast Asian refugees from deportation

Asian American lawmakers are leading a push to shield Southeast Asian refugees from deportation as the Trump administration continues its crackdown. Reps. Judy Chu and Pramila Jayapal reintroduced the Southeast Asian Deportation Relief Act of 2026 (SEADRA) to protect those who arrived by 2008.

Center Left

No votes or related bills recorded for this bill yet.