Asylum at Ports of Entry System Improvements Act of 1993

Summary: Asylum at Ports of Entry System Improvements Act of 1993 - Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to create grounds for exclusion of an alien who:  (1) uses or attempts to use a fraudulent document to enter the United States or to board a common carrier for such purpose; or (2) uses a document to board a common carrier and then fails to present such document to an immigration official upon arrival at a U.S. port of entry. 
Directs the Attorney General to designate a class of senior asylum officers who shall perform specified expedited asylum examinations at U.S. airports or other ports of entry.  Authorizes such officers, upon a finding of frivolous claim or resettlement in another country, to exclude the alien from the United States.  Sets forth limited petition and review provisions. 
Increases penalties for certain alien smuggling offenses.  Creates a separate offense and penalty for an alien smuggler who seriously injures or jeopardizes an alien's life.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; REFERENCES IN ACT; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Asylum at Ports of 
Entry System Improvements Act of 1993''.
    (b) References to Immigration and Nationality Act.--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.
    (c) Table of Contents.--The table of contents of this Act is as 
follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; references in Act.
Sec. 2. Expedited consideration and exclusion procedures for asylum 
                            claims by persons with missing or 
                            fraudulent documents.
Sec. 3. Enhanced penalties for alien smuggling and asylum abuse.
Sec. 4. Definitions.
Sec. 5. Effective date.

SEC. 2. EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION AND EXCLUSION PROCEDURES FOR ASYLUM 
              CLAIMS BY PERSONS WITH MISSING OR FRAUDULENT DOCUMENTS.

    (a) Admissions Fraud.--Section 212(a)(6)(C) (8 U.S.C. 
1182(a)(6)(C)) is amended--
            (1) in the section heading by striking 
        ``misrepresentation'' and inserting ``fraud, misrepresentation, 
        and failure to present documents'',
            (2) in clause (i) by inserting ``or clause (ii)'' after 
        ``clause (i)'';
            (3) by redesignating clause (ii) as clause (iii), and
            (4) by inserting after clause (i) the following new clause:
                            ``(ii) Fraudulent documents and failure to 
                        present documents.--
                                    ``(I) Any alien who, in seeking 
                                entry to the United States or boarding 
                                a common carrier for the purpose of 
                                coming to the United States, presents 
                                any document which, in the 
                                determination of the immigration 
                                officer to whom the document is 
                                presented, is forged, counterfeit, 
                                altered, falsely made, stolen, or 
                                inapplicable to the alien presenting 
                                the document, or otherwise contains a 
                                misrepresentation of a material fact, 
                                is excludable.
                                    ``(II) Any alien who, in entering 
                                the United States or boarding a common 
                                carrier for the purpose of coming to 
                                the United States, presents a document 
                                which relates or purports to relate to 
                                the alien's eligibility to enter the 
                                United States, and willfully fails to 
                                present such document to an immigration 
                                officer upon arrival at a port of entry 
                                into the United States, is 
                                excludable.''.
    (b) Expedited Exclusion Procedures.--The Immigration and 
Nationality Act is amended by inserting after section 235 the following 
new section:

            ``expedited procedures for certain asylum cases

    ``Sec. 235A. (a) Senior Asylum Officers; Special Mobile Asylum 
Team.--
            ``(1) Senior asylum officers.--The Attorney General shall 
        designate a class of asylum officers having at least 2 years of 
        experience in asylum adjudications as senior asylum officers 
        who shall perform duties under this section at United States 
        airports and other ports of entry in the United States.
            ``(2) Special mobile asylum team.--
                    ``(A) The Attorney General may, from time to time, 
                designate from among the senior asylum officers 
                provided for in paragraph (1) such officers as the 
                Attorney General considers necessary to constitute a 
                Special Mobile Asylum Team to help manage large scale 
                asylum situations or to conduct spot checks at United 
                States airports or other ports of entry in the United 
                States.
                    ``(B) Funds appropriated subject to section 404(b) 
                shall be available to the Attorney General for 
                mobilizing the Special Mobile Asylum Team in emergency 
                large scale asylum situations.
    ``(b) Examination by Immigration Officer.--
            ``(1) Any alien who is believed by the examining 
        immigration officer, based on reasonable suspicion grounded on 
        articulable facts, to be excludable under section 212(a)(6)(C) 
        but who requests, or indicates a desire for, asylum shall be 
        detained for further inquiry to be conducted by a senior asylum 
        officer promptly after the alien's arrival.
            ``(2) Whenever any such officer has reason to believe that 
        an alien who is otherwise excludable under section 212(a)(6)(C) 
        of such Act may have a claim to asylum, such officer shall 
        inform the alien of his right to apply for asylum and inquire 
        of the alien to determine if the alien desires to request 
        asylum.
    ``(c) Determinations by Senior Asylum Officer.--
            ``(1) For each case under subsection (b), the senior asylum 
        officer shall determine only--
                    ``(A) whether the alien has a nonfrivolous claim 
                for asylum; and
                    ``(B) whether the alien has been firmly resettled 
                in another nation.
            ``(2) In each case under this subsection, the alien shall 
        have the opportunity to be represented by counsel of his 
        choosing (at no expense to the Government).
    ``(d) Ineligibility for Asylum and Exclusion.--(1)(A) If the senior 
asylum officer determines that the alien's claim to asylum is frivolous 
or that the alien has been firmly resettled in another nation, the 
officer shall find the alien ineligible for asylum and shall order the 
alien excluded from the United States. The alien shall be held in 
detention pending final disposition of the alien's case, except where 
the Attorney General determines that the alien's detention is not in 
the public interest.
    ``(B) Any alien ordered excluded under subparagraph (A) shall be 
ineligible for withholding of deportation under section 243.
    ``(2) The exclusion of an alien in the United States under 
paragraph (1) shall be directed by the Attorney General to a country 
promptly designated by the alien if that country is willing to accept 
the alien into its territory, unless the Attorney General concludes 
that deportation to such country would be prejudicial to the interests 
of the United States. No alien shall be permitted to make more than one 
such designation. If the government of the country designated by the 
alien fails to advise the Attorney General within 5 days following the 
original inquiry whether that government will or will not accept such 
alien into its territory, then the Attorney General may thereafter 
disregard such designation.
    ``(e) Petition for Review.--An alien adversely affected by an order 
of a senior asylum officer under this section may, within 48 hours 
after such order is issued, file a petition for review of the order in 
a proceeding before an asylum immigration judge. Such review shall be 
the sole and exclusive administrative review of such order.
    ``(f) Administrative Review.--An asylum immigration judge, shall 
promptly hold an administrative hearing which shall be limited to the 
issues set forth in subsection (g).
    ``(g) Scope of Review.--The issues referred to in subsection (f) 
are--
            ``(1) whether the applicant is an alien;
            ``(2) whether the applicant has sought entry to the United 
        States with fraudulent documents or with no documents;
            ``(3) whether the applicant's request for asylum is 
        frivolous; and
            ``(4) whether the applicant has been firmly resettled in 
        another nation.
    ``(h) Asylum Adjudication in Certain Circumstances.--A senior 
asylum officer may refer an alien not excludable under subsection (d) 
for asylum adjudication by the Executive Office of Immigration Review 
while an exclusion proceeding is pending if such proceeding cannot be 
scheduled within 90 days.
    ``(i) Judicial Review.--No court shall have jurisdiction to review, 
except by petition for habeas corpus, any individual determination made 
with respect to an alien found excludable from the United States under 
subsection (d). In any such case, review by habeas corpus shall be 
limited to examination on the questions set forth in subsection (g).''.
    (c) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents of such Act is 
amended by inserting after the item relating to section 235 the 
following new item:

``Sec. 235A. Expedited procedures for certain asylum cases.''.
    (d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to aliens who arrive in, or seek admission to, the United States 
on or after the date of enactment of this Act.

SEC. 3. ENHANCED PENALTIES FOR ALIEN SMUGGLING AND ASYLUM ABUSE.

    (a) In General.--Section 274(a)(1) (8 U.S.C. 1324(a)(1)) is 
amended--
            (1) by inserting ``for the purpose of commercial advantage 
        or private financial gain'' after ``Any person who'';
            (2) by striking ``five years'' and inserting ``10 years''; 
        and
            (3) by inserting before the period at the end of such 
        paragraph ``(or 20 years, or both, in the case of such a 
        violation in which the person is determined to knowingly or 
        recklessly have caused serious bodily injury to, or have placed 
        in jeopardy the life of, any alien involved in the offense)''.
    (b) Effective Dates.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
apply to violations occurring on or after the date of the enactment of 
this Act.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    Section 101(a) (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)) is amended by adding at the end 
the following new paragraphs:
    ``(47) The term `frivolous' means, with respect to a claim for 
asylum, a claim that--
            ``(A) the grounds of the claim are outside the scope of the 
        definition of a refugee under this section,
            ``(B) the claim is totally lacking in substance, or
            ``(C) the claim is manifestly lacking in any credibility.
    ``(48) The term `firmly resettled' means, after an alien's entry 
into a country of refuge, the alien's receipt of an offer of permanent 
resident status, citizenship, or some other type of permanent 
resettlement unless the alien establishes that--
            ``(A) the entry into that country was a necessary 
        consequence of the flight from persecution, that the alien 
        remained in the country only as long as was necessary to 
        arrange onward travel, and that the alien did not establish 
        significant ties in that country; or
            ``(B) the conditions of residence in that country were so 
        substantially and consciously restricted by the authorities of 
        the country that the alien was not in fact resettled, taking 
        into account the conditions under which other residents of that 
        country live, the type of housing made available to the alien, 
        whether permanent or temporary, the types and extent of 
        employment available to the alien, whether permanent or 
        temporary, and the extent to which the alien received 
        permission to hold property and to enjoy other rights and 
        privileges ordinarily available to other residents in the 
        country such as travel documentation (including documentation 
        for a right of entry or reentry), education, public relief, or 
        naturalization.''.

SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    Except as otherwise provided, the amendments made by this Act shall 
take effect 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.