II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1249

To deny Federal public benefits to individuals who participated in Nazi

persecution.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 21, 1999

Mr. TORRICELLI introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To deny Federal public benefits to individuals who

participated in Nazi persecution.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Nazi Benefits Termi5 nation Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. DENIAL OF FEDERAL PUBLIC BENEFITS TO NAZI

7 PERSECUTORS.

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi9 sion of law, an individual who is determined under this
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1 Act to have been a participant in Nazi persecution is not

2 eligible for any Federal public benefit.

3 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act:

4 (1) FEDERAL PUBLIC BENEFIT.—The term

5 ‘‘Federal public benefit’’ shall have the meaning

6 given such term by section 401(c)(1) of the Personal

7 Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation

8 Act of 1996, but shall not include any benefit de9 scribed in section 401(b)(1) of such Act (and, for

10 purposes of applying such section 401(b)(1), the

11 term ‘‘alien’’ shall be considered to mean ‘‘indi12 vidual’’).

13 (2) PARTICIPANT IN NAZI PERSECUTION.—The

14 term ‘‘participant in Nazi persecution’’ means an in15 dividual who—

16 (A) if an alien, is shown by a preponder17 ance of the evidence to fall within the class of

18 persons who (if present within the United

19 States) would be deportable under section

20 237(a)(4)(D) of the Immigration and Nation21 ality Act; or

22 (B) if a citizen, is shown by a preponder23 ance of the evidence—

24 (i) to have procured citizenship ille25 gally or by concealment of a material fact
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1 or willful misrepresentation within the

2 meaning of section 340(a) of the Immigra3 tion and Nationality Act; and

4 (ii) to have participated in Nazi perse5 cution within the meaning of section

6 212(a)(3)(E) of the Immigration and Na7 tionality Act.

8 SEC. 3. DETERMINATIONS.

9 (a) HEARING BY IMMIGRATION JUDGE.—If the At10 torney General has reason to believe that an individual

11 who has applied for or is receiving a Federal public benefit

12 may have been a participant in Nazi persecution (within

13 the meaning of section 2 of this Act), the Attorney General

14 may provide an opportunity for a hearing on the record

15 with respect to the matter. The Attorney General may del16 egate the conduct of the hearing to an immigration judge

17 appointed by the Attorney General under section

18 101(b)(4) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

19 (b) PROCEDURE.—

20 (1) RIGHT OF RESPONDENTS TO APPEAR.—

21 (A) CITIZENS, PERMANENT RESIDENT

22 ALIENS, AND PERSONS PRESENT IN THE

23 UNITED STATES.—At a hearing under this sec24 tion, each respondent may appear in person if

25 the respondent is a United States citizen, a per-
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1 manent resident alien, or present within the

2 United States when the proceeding under this

3 section is initiated.

4 (B) OTHERS.—A respondent who is not a

5 citizen, a permanent resident alien, or present

6 within the United States when the proceeding

7 under this section is initiated may appear by

8 video conference.

9 (C) RULE OF INTERPRETATION.—This Act

10 shall not be construed to permit the return to

11 the United States of an individual who is inad12 missible under section 212(a)(3)(E) of the Im13 migration and Nationality Act.

14 (2) OTHER RIGHTS OF RESPONDENTS.—At a

15 hearing under this section, each respondent may be

16 represented by counsel at no expense to the Federal

17 Government, present evidence, cross-examine wit18 nesses, and obtain the issuance of subpoenas for the

19 attendance of witnesses and presentation of evi20 dence.

21 (3) RULES OF EVIDENCE.—Unless otherwise

22 provided in this Act, rules regarding the presen23 tation of evidence in the hearing shall apply in the

24 same manner in which such rules would apply in a

25 removal proceeding before a United States immigra-
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1 tion judge under section 240 of the Immigration and

2 Nationality Act.

3 (c) HEARINGS, FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS, AND

4 ORDER.—

5 (1) FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS.—Within 60

6 days after the end of a hearing conducted under this

7 section, the immigration judge shall make findings

8 of fact and conclusions of law with respect to wheth9 er the respondent has been a participant in Nazi

10 persecution (within the meaning of section 2 of this

11 Act).

12 (2) ORDER.—

13 (A) FINDING THAT RESPONDENT HAS

14 BEEN A PARTICIPANT IN NAZI PERSECUTION.—

15 If the immigration judge finds, by a preponder16 ance of the evidence, that the respondent has

17 been a participant in Nazi persecution (within

18 the meaning of section 2 of this Act), the immi19 gration judge shall promptly issue an order de20 claring the respondent to be ineligible for any

21 Federal public benefit, and prohibiting any per22 son from providing such a benefit, directly or

23 indirectly, to the respondent, and shall transmit

24 a copy of the order to any governmental entity
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1 or person known to be so providing such a ben2 efit.

3 (B) FINDING THAT RESPONDENT HAS NOT

4 BEEN A PARTICIPANT IN NAZI PERSECUTION.—

5 If the immigration judge finds that there is in6 sufficient evidence for a finding under subpara7 graph (A) that a respondent has been a partici8 pant in Nazi persecution (within the meaning of

9 section 2 of this Act), the immigration judge

10 shall issue an order dismissing the proceeding.

11 (C) EFFECTIVE DATE; LIMITATION OF LI12 ABILITY.—

13 (i) EFFECTIVE DATE.—An order

14 issued pursuant to subparagraph (A) shall

15 be effective on the date of issuance.

16 (ii) LIMITATION OF LIABILITY.—Not17 withstanding clause (i), a person or entity

18 shall not be found to have provided a ben19 efit to an individual in violation of this Act

20 until the person or entity has received ac21 tual notice of the issuance of an order

22 under subparagraph (A) with respect to

23 the individual and has had a reasonable

24 opportunity to comply with the order.
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1 (d) REVIEW BY ATTORNEY GENERAL; SERVICE OF

2 FINAL ORDER.—

3 (1) REVIEW BY ATTORNEY GENERAL.—The At4 torney General may, in her discretion, review any

5 finding or conclusion made, or order issued, under

6 subsection (c), and shall complete the review not

7 later than 30 days after the finding or conclusion is

8 so made, or order is so issued. Otherwise, the find9 ing, conclusion, or order shall be final.

10 (2) SERVICE OF FINAL ORDER.—The Attorney

11 General shall cause the findings of fact and conclu12 sions of law made with respect to any final order

13 issued under this section, together with a copy of the

14 order, to be served on the respondent involved.

15 (e) JUDICIAL REVIEW.—Any party aggrieved by a

16 final order issued under this section may obtain a review

17 of the order by the United States Court of Appeals for

18 the Federal Circuit by filing a petition for such review not

19 later than 30 days after the final order is issued.

20 (f) ISSUE AND CLAIM PRECLUSION.—In any adminis21 trative or judicial proceeding under this Act, the ordinary

22 rules of issue preclusion and claim preclusion shall apply.
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1 SEC. 4. JURISDICTION OF UNITED STATES COURT OF AP2 PEALS FOR THE FEDERAL CIRCUIT OVER AP3 PEALS UNDER THIS ACT.

4 Section 1295(a) of title 28, United States Code, is

5 amended—

6 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph

7 (13);

8 (2) by striking the period at the end of para9 graph (14) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

10 (3) by adding at the end the following:

11 ‘‘(15) of an appeal from a final order issued

12 under the Nazi Benefits Termination Act of 1999.’’.

Æ