I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2235

To suspend certain nonessential visas, in order to provide temporary workload 

relief critical to the successful reorganization of the immigration and 

naturalization functions of the Department of Homeland Security, to 

ensure that the screening and monitoring of arriving immigrants and 

nonimmigrants, and the deterrence of entry and settlement by illegal 

or unauthorized aliens, is sufficient to maintain the integrity of the 

sovereign borders of the United States, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 22, 2003

Mr. GRAVES introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL

To suspend certain nonessential visas, in order to provide 

temporary workload relief critical to the successful reorganization of the immigration and naturalization functions of the Department of Homeland Security, to ensure 

that the screening and monitoring of arriving immigrants 

and nonimmigrants, and the deterrence of entry and 

settlement by illegal or unauthorized aliens, is sufficient 

to maintain the integrity of the sovereign borders of 

the United States, and for other purposes.
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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; TABLE OF CONTENTS; SEVER4 ABILITY; EFFECTIVE DATE. 

5 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

6 ‘‘Emergency Immigration Workload Reduction and Home7 land Security Enhancement Act of 2003’’. 

8 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

9 this Act is as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents; severability; effective date. 

Sec. 2. Findings. 

Sec. 3. Temporary suspension of visa waiver program. 

Sec. 4. Temporary suspension of adjustment of status. 

Sec. 5. Temporary suspension of renewals of temporary protected status. 

Sec. 6. Temporary suspension of certain immigrant visa programs. 

Sec. 7. Restriction of nonimmigrant visas for nationals of countries denying or 

delaying acceptance of aliens. 

Sec. 8. Waivers of temporary suspensions. 

Sec. 9. Termination of temporary suspensions. 

Sec. 10. Suspension of nonimmigrant visas. 

Sec. 11. Temporary funding for detention and removal assistance provided by 

State and local law enforcement agencies.

10 (c) SEVERABILITY.—If any provision of this Act, or 

11 the application of such a provision to any person or cir12 cumstance, is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder 

13 of the Act, and the application of this Act to any other 

14 person or circumstance, shall not be affected by such hold15 ing. 

16 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This Act shall take effect in 

17 each local time zone upon the commencement in such zone 

18 of the first Sunday that occurs two weeks after the date 

19 of the enactment of this Act. 
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 The Congress finds as follows: 

3 (1) The effective establishment and organiza4 tion of the Directorate of Border and Transpor5 tation Security of the Department of Homeland Se6 curity is imperative if the Directorate is to carry out 

7 the immigration enforcement responsibilities dele8 gated to it by the Congress in the manner expected 

9 by the American people. 

10 (2) The effective implementation of these duties 

11 will not be achieved without an unacceptable com12 promise to the security interests of the United 

13 States unless certain immigration programs are tem14 porarily suspended, and other material assistance is 

15 provided to law enforcement agencies and other enti16 ties that support the immigration enforcement func17 tions of the Directorate, until such time as the Sec18 retary of Homeland Security can make the certifi19 cations to Congress required in section 9. 

20 (3) Such certifications, taken together, will es21 tablish the effective operational transfer of immigra22 tion enforcement functions to the new Directorate. 
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1 SEC. 3. TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF VISA WAIVER PRO2 GRAM. 

3 The admission of aliens to the United States under 

4 section 217 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 

5 U.S.C. 1187) is suspended. 

6 SEC. 4. TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF ADJUSTMENT OF STA7 TUS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The authority of the Secretary of 

9 Homeland Security to adjust the status of any alien to 

10 that of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence 

11 under section 240A of the Immigration and Nationality 

12 Act (8 U.S.C. 1229b) or section 245 of such Act (8 U.S.C. 

13 1187), is suspended. 

14 (b) EFFECT ON APPLICATIONS.—The suspension de15 scribed in subsection (a) shall include the suspension of 

16 acceptance for filing of applications for the adjustments 

17 of status described in such subsection. 

18 SEC. 5. TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF RENEWALS OF TEM19 PORARY PROTECTED STATUS. 

20 The authority of the Secretary of Homeland Security 

21 to extend any designation made under subparagraph (B) 

22 or (C) of section 244(b)(1) of the Immigration and Na23 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254(b)(1)) is suspended. 
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1 SEC. 6. TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF CERTAIN IMMIGRANT 

2 VISA PROGRAMS. 

3 (a) BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF CITIZENS.—The al4 location of family-sponsored immigrant visas to alien 

5 brothers and sisters of citizens under section 203(a)(4) of 

6 the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

7 1153(a)(4)), and the admission of such aliens to the 

8 United States as immigrants, is suspended. 

9 (b) SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF CITIZENS.—The allo10 cation of family-sponsored immigrant visas to alien sons 

11 and daughters of citizens under paragraph (1) or (3) of 

12 section 203(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 

13 U.S.C. 1153(a)), and the admission of such aliens to the 

14 United States as immigrants, is suspended. 

15 (c) UNMARRIED SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF PERMA16 NENT RESIDENT ALIENS.—

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—The allocation of family18 sponsored immigrant visas to aliens who are the un19 married sons and daughters (but are not the chil20 dren) of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent 

21 residence under section 203(a)(2)(B) of the Immi22 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

23 1153(a)(2)(B)), and the admission of such aliens to 

24 the United States as immigrants, is suspended. 

25 (2) CHILDREN.—The allocation of family-spon26 sored immigrant visas to aliens who are the children
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1 of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent resi2 dence under section 203(a)(2)(A) of the Immigra3 tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(a)(2)(A)), 

4 and the admission of such aliens to the United 

5 States as immigrants, is suspended, except that this 

6 paragraph shall not apply to dependent children who 

7 are under 18 years of age at the time an immigrant 

8 visa becomes available to the child. 

9 (d) DIVERSITY IMMIGRANTS.—The allocation of im10 migrant visas to aliens under section 203(c) of the Immi11 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(c)), and the 

12 admission of such aliens to the United States as immi13 grants, is suspended. 

14 (e) EFFECT ON CLASSIFICATION PETITIONS.—The 

15 suspensions of immigrant visa allocations described in this 

16 section shall include the suspension of acceptance for filing 

17 of petitions for classification under section 204 of the Im18 migration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1154) with re19 spect to the affected immigrant visa categories. 

20 SEC. 7. RESTRICTION OF NONIMMIGRANT VISAS FOR NA21 TIONALS OF COUNTRIES DENYING OR DELAY22 ING ACCEPTANCE OF ALIENS. 

23 (a) PUBLIC LISTING OF ALIENS WITH NO SIGNIFI24 CANT LIKELIHOOD OF REMOVAL.—
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Homeland 

2 Security shall establish and maintain a public listing 

3 of every alien who is subject to a final order of re4 moval and with respect to whom the Secretary or 

5 any Federal court has determined that there is no 

6 significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably 

7 foreseeable future due to the refusal, or unreason8 able delay, of all countries designated by the alien or 

9 under this section to receive the alien. 

10 (2) DISCONTINUATION OF VISAS.—In the case 

11 of any foreign state for which 24 or more of the citi12 zens, subjects, or nationals of such state appear on 

13 the public listing described in paragraph (1), such 

14 foreign state shall be deemed to have denied or un15 reasonably delayed the acceptance of such aliens, 

16 and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall make 

17 the notification to the Secretary of State prescribed 

18 in section 243(d) of the Immigration and Nation19 ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1253(d)). Consular officers in 

20 such foreign state shall accordingly discontinue the 

21 issuance of nonimmigrant visas to citizens, subjects, 

22 or nationals of the state. 

23 (b) SUNSET.—Subsection (a) shall sunset in accord24 ance with section 9. 
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1 SEC. 8. WAIVERS OF TEMPORARY SUSPENSIONS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Homeland Secu3 rity may, in the Secretary’s discretion—

4 (1) waive on an individual case-by-case basis 

5 sections 4, 6, and 7; or 

6 (2) waive, with the concurrence for the Sec7 retary of State, section 3 for designated classes of 

8 applicants, if such applicants are not inadmissible 

9 under section 212(a) of the Immigration and Na10 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)) or deportable under 

11 section 237(a) of such Act (8 U.S.C 1227). 

12 (b) DELEGATION.—The Secretary of Homeland Se13 curity may, in the discretion of the Secretary, delegate to 

14 the Secretary of State, for designated classes of appli15 cants, the waiver authority of subsection (a)(1) with re16 spect to sections 6 and 7. 

17 SEC. 9. TERMINATION OF TEMPORARY SUSPENSIONS. 

18 Sections 3 through 8 shall cease to be effective one 

19 week after the certification by the Secretary of Homeland 

20 Security to the Congress that the following conditions are 

21 satisfied: 

22 (1) The integrated entry and exit data system 

23 required by the Immigration and Naturalization 

24 Service Data Management Improvement Act of 2000 

25 (Public Law 106–215), including the requirements 

26 added by section 302(a) of the Enhanced Border Se-
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1 curity and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002 (Public 

2 Law 107–173), is fully operational at all ports of 

3 entry. 

4 (2) The system of machine-readable tamper-re5 sistant visas and other travel and entry documents 

6 required by section 302(b) of the Enhanced Border 

7 Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002 (Pub8 lic Law 107–173), as well as the technology stand9 ard for visa waiver program participants required by 

10 section 302(c) of such Act, are fully operational at 

11 all ports of entry and, where applicable, at consular 

12 posts abroad. 

13 (3) The Department of Homeland Security has 

14 the operational capability to take into custody and 

15 remove from the United States any alien described 

16 in section 237(a) of the Immigration and Nationality 

17 Act (8 U.S.C. 1227(a)) who has been brought to the 

18 attention of the Service by a State or local law en19 forcement agency. 

20 (4) Adequate Federal funds have been appro21 priated and are available to reimburse all verified 

22 claims described in section 11. 

23 (5) The data system for the registration of 

24 aliens under chapter 7 of title II of the Immigration 
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1 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 261 et seq.) is fully 

2 operational and—

3 (A) is fully compliant with the data system 

4 integration and interoperability standards en5 acted in section 202(a) of the Enhanced Border 

6 Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002 

7 (Public Law 107–173); 

8 (B) ensures the entry of all registrations 

9 made in accordance with section 221(b) of the 

10 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

11 1201(b)) into the registration system at the 

12 time at the time of the relevant visa application; 

13 (C) ensures that all other registrations 

14 made under procedures required by section 264 

15 of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1304) are entered into 

16 the data system within 72 hours of submission 

17 by the alien of an approved form of registra18 tion; and 

19 (D) ensures that all notices of change of 

20 address required by section 265 of such Act (8 

21 U.S.C. 1305) are entered in the data system 

22 within 5 working days of submission by the 

23 alien of an approved change of address form. 

24 (6) A program for the random audit of the 

25 backlog of applications for changes in immigration
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1 status by aliens present in the United States exist2 ing on the effective date of this Act has been fully 

3 implemented by the Department of Homeland Secu4 rity. 

5 (7) The program described in paragraph (6) re6 liably indicates that the incidence of fraud or false 

7 statements is no more than 3 percent of all approved 

8 applications. 

9 (8) The foreign student monitoring system de10 scribed in section 641 of the Illegal Immigration Re11 form and Immigrant Responsibility Act (8 U.S.C. 

12 1372), as amended and expanded by sections 501 

13 and 502 of the Enhanced Border Security and Visa 

14 Entry Reform Act of 2002 (Public Law 107–173), 

15 is fully operational, and no educational institution 

16 certified to receive nonimmigrant students under 

17 subparagraph (F), (M), or (J) of section 101(a)(15) 

18 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

19 1101(a)(15)) registers or admits aliens present in 

20 the United States in violation of law. 

21 (9) The number of aliens removed from the 

22 United States, during each of 4 months preceding 

23 the month in which the certification under this sec24 tion is executed, was at least 25 percent higher than 

25 in the comparable months of the previous year. 
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1 (10) All reports and plans, and all operational 

2 transfers of functions, required under title IV of the 

3 Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 201 et 

4 seq.) have been successfully performed and imple5 mented to the extent required by law as of the cer6 tification date. 

7 (11) The elimination of the backlog of immigra8 tion benefit applications required by section 458 of 

9 the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Public Law 

10 107–296; 116 Stat. 2201) has been completed. 

11 (12) The annual report required by section 

12 205(b) of the American Competitiveness in the 

13 Twenty-first Century Act of 2000 (8 U.S.C. 

14 1574(b)), for the fiscal year preceding the date of 

15 the certification, has been submitted to the Con16 gress. 

17 (13) Process changes described in section 

18 205(b)(2)(C)(vi) of the American Competitiveness in 

19 the Twenty-first Century Act of 2000 (8 U.S.C. 

20 1574(b)(2)(C)(vi)) have been implemented and are 

21 substantially operational. 

22 SEC. 10. SUSPENSION OF NONIMMIGRANT VISAS. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—The authority of the Secretary of 

24 State to issue nonimmigrant visas is suspended. The au-
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1 thority of the Secretary of Homeland Security to admit 

2 nonimmigrant aliens into the United States is suspended. 

3 (b) EFFECT ON APPLICATIONS.—The suspensions 

4 described in subsection (a) shall include the suspension of 

5 acceptance for filing of applications for nonimmigrant 

6 visas and applications for admission as a nonimmigrant. 

7 (c) WAIVERS AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary of 

8 Homeland Security may, in the Secretary’s discretion, 

9 waive the application of subsection (a) in the case of any 

10 alien or class of aliens if the following conditions are satis11 fied: 

12 (1) Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Na13 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(c), and any other provi14 sion of law authorizing the issuance of diversity im15 migrant visas, is repealed. 

16 (2) Personal interviews are mandatory for ad17 mission of aliens to the United States under section 

18 217 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 

19 U.S.C. 1187). 

20 (3) The Secretary, with the Secretary of State, 

21 verifies that each alien admitted on the basis of a 

22 nonimmigrant visa has had a personal interview with 

23 a consular officer prior to the issuance of the visa. 

24 (d) CONSTRUCTION.—During any period in which a 

25 waiver granted under subsection (c) applies to aliens 
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1 barred from receipt of nonimmigrant visas under section 

2 7(a)(2), the bar shall supersede the waiver. 

3 SEC. 11. TEMPORARY FUNDING FOR DETENTION AND RE4 MOVAL ASSISTANCE PROVIDED BY STATE 

5 AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES. 

6 The Secretary of Homeland Security shall reimburse 

7 verifiable claims submitted by a law enforcement agency 

8 of a State, or any political subdivision of a State, that 

9 were lawfully incurred for the emergency medical care, 

10 housing, and care in a secure facility, and the transpor11 tation into Federal custody at a location designated by the 

12 Secretary, of any alien detained as inadmissible under sec13 tion 212(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 

14 U.S.C. 1182(a)) or deportable under section 237(a) of 

15 such Act (8 U.S.C. 1227(a)), if—

16 (1) transfer to Federal custody has occurred; 

17 (2)(A) a determination is subsequently made 

18 under section 240(c)(1) of the Immigration and Na19 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1229a(c)(1)) that such alien 

20 is removable; or 

21 (B) a determination is made that the alien has 

22 permanently departed the United States; 

23 (3) reimbursement for all costs excepting trans24 portation costs is made according to a per diem rate 

25 established by the Secretary; and 
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1 (4) the first day of such detention is not later 

2 than the date on which the certification described in 

3 section 9 is made.

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