[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 168 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 168
To authorize the Secretary of Homeland Security to provide lawful
permanent resident status to previously removed alien parents and
spouses of citizens of the United States, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 4, 2021
Mr. Green of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To authorize the Secretary of Homeland Security to provide lawful
permanent resident status to previously removed alien parents and
spouses of citizens of 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 the ``Reentry and Reunification Act''.
SEC. 2. LAWFUL PERMANENT RESIDENT STATUS FOR PREVIOUSLY REMOVED SPOUSES
AND PARENTS OF CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES.
(a) Eligibility Requirements.--
(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
law, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall admit to the
United States as an alien admitted for lawful permanent
residence an alien who is inadmissible to or deportable from
the United States if the alien demonstrates that--
(A) the alien is the spouse, parent, or guardian of
a citizen of the United States;
(B)(i) prior to the date of the enactment of this
Act, the alien departed the United States pursuant to
an order of removal; or
(ii) as of the date of the enactment of this Act,
is subject to an order of removal, or is in removal
proceedings;
(C) the alien has been a person of good moral
character (as defined in section 101(f) of the
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(f)))
since the date the alien initially entered the United
States;
(D) subject to paragraph (2), the alien--
(i) is not inadmissible under paragraph
(1), (2), (3), (4), (6)(E), (8), (10)(A),
(10)(C), or (10)(D) of section 212(a) of the
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C.
1182(a));
(ii) is not deportable under paragraph
(1)(E), (1)(G), (2), (4), (5), or (6) of
section 237(a) of the Immigration and
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1227(a));
(iii) has not ordered, incited, assisted,
or otherwise participated in the persecution of
any person on account of race, religion,
nationality, membership in a particular social
group, or political opinion; and
(iv) other than an offense under State or
local law for which an essential element was
the alien's immigration status, a minor traffic
offense, or a violation of the immigration
laws, has not been convicted of--
(I) any offense under Federal or
State law punishable by a maximum term
of imprisonment of more than 1 year; or
(II) any combination of offenses
under Federal or State law, for which
the alien was imprisoned for a total of
more than 1 year in the aggregate; and
(E) in the case of an alien described in
subparagraph (B)(ii), the alien has been continuously
physically present in the United States since the date
that is 4 years before the date of the enactment of
this Act.
(2) Waiver.--With respect to any benefit under this Act,
the Secretary of Homeland Security may waive subclauses (I) and
(II) of paragraph (1)(D)(iv), the ground of inadmissibility
under paragraph (1), (4), or (6)(E) of section 212(a) of the
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)), and the
ground of deportability under paragraph (1) of section 237(a)
of that Act (8 U.S.C. 1227(a)), for humanitarian purposes or
family unity or when it is otherwise in the public interest.
(b) Application Period.--An alien seeking status under this Act may
file an application during the period beginning on the date of the
enactment of this Act and ending on the date that is 3 years after such
date.
(c) Determination of Continuous Presence.--
(1) Termination of continuous period.--Any period of
continuous physical presence in the United States of an alien
described in subsection (a)(1)(B)(ii) who applies for status
under this section shall not terminate when the alien is served
a notice to appear under section 239(a) of the Immigration and
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1229(a)).
(2) Treatment of certain breaks in presence.--
(A) In general.--Except as provided in
subparagraphs (B) and (C), an alien shall be considered
to have failed to maintain continuous physical presence
in the United States under subsection (a)(1)(E) if the
alien has departed from the United States for any
period exceeding 90 days or for any periods, in the
aggregate, exceeding 180 days.
(B) Extensions for extenuating circumstances.--The
Secretary may extend the time periods described in
subparagraph (A) for an alien who demonstrates that the
failure to timely return to the United States was due
to extenuating circumstances beyond the alien's
control, including the serious illness of the alien, or
death or serious illness of a parent, grandparent,
sibling, or child of the alien.
(C) Travel authorized by the secretary.--Any period
of travel outside of the United States by an alien that
was authorized by the Secretary may not be counted
toward any period of departure from the United States
under subparagraph (A).
(d) Numerical Limitations.--An alien admitted to the United States
under this section shall not be subject to any numerical limitation
under the immigration laws.
(e) Definitions.--Except as specifically provided, the terms in
this Act have the meanings given those terms in the Immigration and
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.).
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