Reentry and Reunification Act

I 116TH 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 citi- zens of the United States, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 3, 2019 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 Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Reentry and Reunifica- 4 tion Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:56 Jan 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H168.IH H168 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 168 IH SEC. 2. LAWFUL PERMANENT RESIDENT STATUS FOR PRE- 1 VIOUSLY REMOVED SPOUSES AND PARENTS 2 OF CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES. 3 (a) ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 5 provision of law, the Secretary of Homeland Security 6 shall admit to the United States as an alien admit- 7 ted for lawful permanent residence an alien who is 8 inadmissible to or deportable from the United States 9 if the alien demonstrates that— 10 (A) the alien is the spouse, parent, or 11 guardian of a citizen of the United States; 12 (B)(i) prior to the date of the enactment 13 of this Act, the alien departed the United 14 States pursuant to an order of removal; or 15 (ii) as of the date of the enactment of this 16 Act, is subject to an order of removal, or is in 17 removal proceedings; 18 (C) the alien has been a person of good 19 moral character (as defined in section 101(f) of 20 the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 21 1101(f))) since the date the alien initially en- 22 tered the United States; 23 (D) subject to paragraph (2), the alien— 24 (i) is not inadmissible under para- 25 graph (1), (2), (3), (4), (6)(E), (8), 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:56 Jan 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H168.IH H168 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 168 IH (10)(A), (10)(C), or (10)(D) of section 1 212(a) of the Immigration and Nationality 2 Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)); 3 (ii) is not deportable under paragraph 4 (1)(E), (1)(G), (2), (4), (5), or (6) of sec- 5 tion 237(a) of the Immigration and Na- 6 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1227(a)); 7 (iii) has not ordered, incited, assisted, 8 or otherwise participated in the persecution 9 of any person on account of race, religion, 10 nationality, membership in a particular so- 11 cial group, or political opinion; and 12 (iv) other than an offense under State 13 or local law for which an essential element 14 was the alien’s immigration status, a 15 minor traffic offense, or a violation of the 16 immigration laws, has not been convicted 17 of— 18 (I) any offense under Federal or 19 State law punishable by a maximum 20 term of imprisonment of more than 1 21 year; or 22 (II) any combination of offenses 23 under Federal or State law, for which 24 the alien was imprisoned for a total of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:56 Jan 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H168.IH H168 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 168 IH more than 1 year in the aggregate; 1 and 2 (E) in the case of an alien described in 3 subparagraph (B)(ii), the alien has been con- 4 tinuously physically present in the United 5 States since the date that is 4 years before the 6 date of the enactment of this Act. 7 (2) WAIVER.—With respect to any benefit 8 under this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security 9 may waive subclauses (I) and (II) of paragraph 10 (1)(D)(iv), the ground of inadmissibility under para- 11 graph (1),(4), or (6)(E) of section 212(a) of the Im- 12 migration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)), 13 and the ground of deportability under paragraph (1) 14 of section 237(a) of that Act (8 U.S.C. 1227(a)), for 15 humanitarian purposes or family unity or when it is 16 otherwise in the public interest. 17 (b) APPLICATION PERIOD.—An alien seeking status 18 under this Act may file an application during the period 19 beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act and 20 ending on the date that is 3 years after such date. 21 (c) DETERMINATION OF CONTINUOUS PRESENCE.— 22 (1) TERMINATION OF CONTINUOUS PERIOD.— 23 Any period of continuous physical presence in the 24 United States of an alien described in subsection 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:56 Jan 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H168.IH H168 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 168 IH (a)(1)(B)(ii) who applies for status under this sec- 1 tion shall not terminate when the alien is served a 2 notice to appear under section 239(a) of the Immi- 3 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1229(a)). 4 (2) TREATMENT OF CERTAIN BREAKS IN PRES- 5 ENCE.— 6 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 7 subparagraphs (B) and (C), an alien shall be 8 considered to have failed to maintain contin- 9 uous physical presence in the United States 10 under subsection (a)(1)(E) if the alien has de- 11 parted from the United States for any period 12 exceeding 90 days or for any periods, in the ag- 13 gregate, exceeding 180 days. 14 (B) EXTENSIONS FOR EXTENUATING CIR- 15 CUMSTANCES.—The Secretary may extend the 16 time periods described in subparagraph (A) for 17 an alien who demonstrates that the failure to 18 timely return to the United States was due to 19 extenuating circumstances beyond the alien’s 20 control, including the serious illness of the 21 alien, or death or serious illness of a parent, 22 grandparent, sibling, or child of the alien. 23 (C) TRAVEL AUTHORIZED BY THE SEC- 24 RETARY.—Any period of travel outside of the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:56 Jan 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H168.IH H168 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 168 IH United States by an alien that was authorized 1 by the Secretary may not be counted toward 2 any period of departure from the United States 3 under subparagraph (A). 4 (d) NUMERICAL LIMITATIONS.—An alien admitted to 5 the United States under this section shall not be subject 6 to any numerical limitation under the immigration laws. 7 (e) DEFINITIONS.—Except as specifically provided, 8 the terms in this Act have the meanings given those terms 9 in the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 10 et seq.). 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:56 Jan 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H168.IH H168 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS