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108th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 440
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to adjust the status of
certain aliens with longstanding ties to the United States to that of
an alien lawfully admitted to permanent residence, to promote family
unity, to improve national security, to modify provisions of such Act
affecting removal of aliens from the United States, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 29, 2003
Mr. Gutierrez (for himself, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. Pastor, Mr. Serrano,
Ms. Solis, Mr. Grijalva, and Mr. Acevedo-Vila) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to adjust the status of
certain aliens with longstanding ties to the United States to that of
an alien lawfully admitted to permanent residence, to promote family
unity, to improve national security, to modify provisions of such Act
affecting removal of aliens from the United States, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as--
(1) the ``Unity, Security, Accountability, and Family
Act''; or
(2) the ``U.S.A. Family Act''.
SEC. 2. REFERENCES.
Except as otherwise expressly provided, whenever in this Act an
amendment or repeal is expressed in terms of an amendment to, or repeal
of, a section or other provision, the reference shall be considered to
be made to a section or other provision of the Immigration and
Nationality Act.
SEC. 3. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.
(a) Findings.--The Congress finds that--
(1) immigrants play a vital role in filling voids in our
workforce and adding strength and stability to our economy;
(2) the Labor Department estimates that the total number of
jobs requiring only short-term training will increase from
53,200,000 in 2000 to 60,900,000 by 2010, a net increase of
7,700,000 jobs;
(3) the number of workers currently available and able to
fill jobs that require short-term training continues to fall
because of an aging workforce and rising education levels;
(4) the National Academy of Sciences reports that immigrant
households paid $133,000,000,000 in direct taxes to Federal,
State, and local governments in 1997, and that a typical
immigrant and his or her descendants pay an estimated $80,000
more in taxes than they receive in local, State, and Federal
benefits over their lifetimes;
(5) separating families can be damaging to a household's
financial and emotional well-being and efforts should be taken
to keep husbands and wives, parents, and children together;
(6) a mechanism that provides workers the opportunity for
legal permanent residence in the United States would save the
Federal Government billions of dollars each year in enforcement
initiatives and allow thousands of government personnel to
concentrate their efforts on safeguarding the homeland and
fighting terrorism; and
(7) men and women entering the United States to fill
vacancies in the workforce and provide for their families are
being exploited and injured in increasing numbers because the
current system and market realities have crated a violent and
lucrative human border smuggling operation.
(b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to create a system that
recognizes and reflects the enormous contributions immigrants make to
our workforce and economy, helps hardworking families stay together,
and protects our homeland by--
(1) creating an improved system of accountability that
allows critical resources and manpower to be redirected to
fight the war on terror;
(2) providing legal permanent residence to immigrants who
have been living in the United States for 5 years or more;
(3) granting conditional legal status and work
authorization to all law-abiding immigrants living in the
United States for less than 5 years; and
(4) repealing provisions that bar certain alien from
admission into the United States for a period of 3 to 10 years
or that place aliens at risk of removal from the United States
for having committed minor nonviolent offenses.
TITLE I--LEGALIZATION OF STATUS
SEC. 101. ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS OF CERTAIN 5-YEAR RESIDENTS TO THAT OF
PERSON ADMITTED FOR LAWFUL PERMANENT RESIDENCE.
(a) In General.--Chapter 5 of title II (8 U.S.C. 1255 et seq.) is
amended by inserting after section 245A the following:
``adjustment of status of certain 5-year residents to that of person
admitted for lawful permanent residence
``Sec. 245B. (a) Resident Status.--
``(1) In general.--The Attorney General shall adjust the
status of an alien to that of an alien lawfully admitted for
permanent residence if the alien meets the requirements of this
subsection.
``(2) Timely application.--
``(A) During application period.--The alien must
apply for such adjustment during the 24-month period
beginning on the date final regulations are issued to
carry out this section.
``(B) Information included in application.--Each
application under subparagraph (A) shall contain such
information as the Attorney General may require,
including information on living relatives of the
applicant with respect to whom a petition for
preference or other status may be filed by the
applicant at any later date under section 204(a).
``(3) Continuous 5-year residence.--
``(A) In general.--
``(i) 5 years.--The alien must establish
continuous residence in the United States
during the 5-year period ending on January 29,
2003, and through the date the application was
filed.
``(ii) Treatment of certain absences.--An
alien shall not be considered to have lost
continuous residence by reason of an absence
from the United States permitted under
subsection (b)(9).
``(B) Exchange visitors.--If the alien was at any
time a nonimmigrant exchange alien (as defined in
section 101(a)(15)(J)), the alien must establish that
the alien was not subject to the two-year foreign
residence requirement of section 212(e) or has
fulfilled that requirement or received a waiver
thereof.
``(4) Continuous presence.--
``(A) In general.--The alien must establish that
the alien has been continuously physically present in
the United States since January 29, 2003.
``(B) Treatment of brief, casual, and innocent
absences.--An alien shall not be considered to have
failed to maintain continuous physical presence in the
United States for purposes of subparagraph (A) by
virtue of brief, casual, and innocent absences from the
United States.
``(C) Admissions.--Nothing in this section shall be
construed as authorizing an alien to apply for
admission to, or to be admitted to, the United States
in order to apply for adjustment of status under this
subsection.
``(5) Admissible as immigrant.--The alien must establish
that the alien--
``(A) is admissible to the United States as an
immigrant, except as otherwise provided under
subsection (c)(2);
``(B) has not been convicted of any felony or three
or more misdemeanors committed in the United States;
``(C) has not assisted in the persecution of any
person or persons on account of race, religion,
nationality, membership in a particular group, or
political opinion;
``(D) is registered or registering under the
Military Selective Service Act, if the alien is
required to be so registered; and
``(E) has not received public cash assistance.
``(b) Applications for Adjustment of Status.--
``(1) Conditions for acceptance of application.--An
application shall be accepted under this subsection upon a
determination that the applicant is prima facie eligible for
adjustment of status under subsection (a), which determination
shall not be made before, at a minimum, the identity of the
applicant has been checked against all appropriate electronic
databases maintained by the Attorney General and by the
Secretary of State and appropriate foreign entities or
international law enforcement databases to determine any
grounds on which the alien may be inadmissible to the United
States that may not be waived under subsection (c)(2).
``(2) To whom may be made.--
``(A) In general.--The Attorney General shall
provide that applications for adjustment of status
under subsection (a) may be filed--
``(i) with the Attorney General; or
``(ii) with a qualified designated entity,
but only if the applicant consents to the
forwarding of the application to the Attorney
General.
``(B) Definition.--As used in this section, the
term `qualified designated entity' means an
organization or person designated under paragraph (3).
``(3) Designation of qualified entities to receive
applications.--For purposes of assisting in the program of
legalization provided under this section, the Attorney
General--
``(A) shall designate qualified voluntary
organizations and other qualified State, local, and
community organizations; and
``(B) may designate such other persons as the
Attorney General determines are qualified and have
substantial experience, demonstrated competence, and
traditional long-term involvement in the preparation
and submittal of applications for adjustment of status
under section 209 or 245, Public Law 89-732, or Public
Law 95-145.
``(4) Treatment of applications by designated entities.--
Each qualified designated entity must agree to forward to the
Attorney General applications filed with it in accordance with
paragraph (2)(A)(ii) but not to forward to the Attorney General
applications filed with it unless the applicant has consented
to such forwarding. No such entity may make a determination
required by this section to be made by the Attorney General.
``(5) Limitation on access to information.--Files and
records of qualified designated entities relating to an alien's
seeking assistance or information with respect to filing an
application under this section are confidential and the
Attorney General and the Service shall not have access to such
files or records relating to an alien without the consent of
the alien.
``(6) Confidentiality of information.--
``(A) In general.--Except as provided in this
paragraph, neither the Attorney General, nor any other
official or employee of the Department of Justice, or
bureau or agency thereof, may--
``(i) use the information furnished by the
applicant pursuant to an application filed
under this section for any purpose other than
to make a determination on the application, for
enforcement of paragraph (7);
``(ii) make any publication whereby the
information furnished by any particular
applicant can be identified; or
``(iii) permit anyone other than the sworn
officers and employees of the Department or
bureau or agency or, with respect to
applications filed with a designated entity,
that designated entity, to examine individual
applications.
``(B) Required disclosures.--The Attorney General
shall provide the information furnished under this
section, and any other information derived from such
furnished information, to a duly recognized law
enforcement entity in connection with a criminal
investigation or prosecution, when such information is
requested in writing by such entity, or to an official
coroner for purposes of affirmatively identifying a
deceased individual (whether or not such individual is
deceased as a result of a crime).
``(C) Authorized disclosures.--The Attorney General
may provide, in the Attorney General's discretion, for
the furnishing of information furnished under this
section in the same manner and circumstances as census
information may be disclosed by the Secretary of
Commerce under section 8 of title 13, United States
Code.
``(D) Construction.--
``(i) In general.--Nothing in this
paragraph shall be construed to limit the use,
or release, for immigration enforcement
purposes or law enforcement purposes of
information contained in files or records of
the Service pertaining to an application filed
under this section, other than information
furnished by an applicant pursuant to the
application, or any other information derived
from the application, that is not available
from any other source.
``(ii) Criminal convictions.--Information
concerning whether the applicant has at any
time been convicted of a crime may be used or
released for immigration enforcement or law
enforcement purposes.
``(E) Crime.--Whoever knowingly uses, publishes, or
permits information to be examined in violation of this
paragraph shall be fined not more than $10,000.
``(7) Penalties for false statements in applications.--
Whoever files an application for adjustment of status under
this section and knowingly and willfully falsifies,
misrepresents, conceals, or covers up a material fact or makes
any false, fictitious, or fraudulent statements or
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