I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 251

To assist aliens who were transplanted to the United States as children 

in continuing their education and otherwise integrating into American society. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 6, 2005

Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL

To assist aliens who were transplanted to the United States 

as children in continuing their education and otherwise 

integrating into American society.

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 ‘‘Preserving Educational 

5 Opportunities for Immigrant Children Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find8 ings: 

9 (1) Many children are brought to the United 

10 States at a very young age by parents or other 
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1 adults to accompany them during the adults’ stay in 

2 the United States. 

3 (2) In many such instances, parents or other 

4 adults traveling to the United States enter and or 

5 remain in this country without benefit of inspection 

6 or authorization to be present in the United States. 

7 (3) Many children brought to the United States 

8 by parents or other adults arrive in this country 

9 without the ability to make independent decisions 

10 about where they wish to live. Once in the United 

11 States, many such children also are incapable of 

12 independent living. 

13 (4) Because of the early age at which many 

14 children arrive in the United States, as they become 

15 older, they become fully integrated into American 

16 life, learning English and either losing or never ac17 quiring the language of their native country. At the 

18 same time, many lose all ties to relatives in their 

19 country of origin or previous country of habitual res20 idence. 

21 (5) Many such children attend public elemen22 tary and secondary schools in the United States. 

23 Often, they excel in academics and contribute to 

24 both their communities and the families with whom 

25 they live. 
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1 (6) Current United States immigration laws do 

2 not provide the Attorney General with adequate 

3 flexibility to take into account the special humani4 tarian circumstances in which such transplanted 

5 alien children live. Consequently, such children are 

6 in danger of being removed to a country they do not 

7 know, an eventuality that would cause enormous dis8 ruptions in their lives and in the lives of their loved 

9 ones. 

10 (7) Current immigration laws effectively pre11 clude States and units of local government from pro12 viding such children access to State systems of high13 er education. Consequently, many such children can14 not continue their education upon graduating from 

15 high school. 

16 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—

17 (1) to provide for aliens who, through no fault 

18 of their own, were brought to the United States as 

19 children, opportunities to regularize their status in 

20 the United States, attend college, and become con21 tributing members of their communities in this coun22 try; and 

23 (2) to repeal certain legislative barriers that im24 pede the ability of such aliens to become fully inte25 grated into United States society. 
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1 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

2 (a) TRANSPLANTED CHILD.—As used in this Act, the 

3 term, ‘‘transplanted child’’ means an alien who is de4 scribed in section 101(a)(51) of the Immigration and Na5 tionality Act (as amended by subsection (b) of this Act). 

6 (b) AMENDMENT TO THE IMMIGRATION AND NA7 TIONALITY ACT.—Section 101(a) of the Immigration and 

8 Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)) is amended by adding 

9 at the end the following new paragraph: 

10 ‘‘(51) The term ‘transplanted child’ means an 

11 alien who has been granted cancellation of removal 

12 under section 240A(b)(3) or who has pending before 

13 the Attorney General an application for cancellation 

14 of removal under such section.’’. 

15 SEC. 4. RESTORATION OF STATE FLEXIBILITY IN PRO16 VIDING IN-STATE TUITION FOR COLLEGE-AGE 

17 ALIEN CHILDREN. 

18 (a) RESTORATION.—The Illegal Immigration Reform 

19 and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (division C of 

20 Public Law 104–208; 8 U.S.C. 1623) is amended by strik21 ing section 505. 

22 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by sub23 section (a) shall apply to postsecondary education benefits 

24 provided on or after July 1, 1998. 
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1 SEC. 5. ELIGIBILITY OF TRANSPLANTED CHILDREN FOR 

2 PUBLIC BENEFITS. 

3 Section 431(b) of the Personal Responsibility and 

4 Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 

5 1641(b)) is amended—

6 (1) at the end of paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘; 

7 or’’ and inserting a semicolon; 

8 (2) at the end of paragraph (7), by striking the 

9 period and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

10 (3) by adding after paragraph (7) the following 

11 new paragraph: 

12 ‘‘(8) an alien who is a transplanted child, as de13 fined in section 101(a)(51) of the Immigration and 

14 Nationality Act.’’. 

15 SEC. 6. AUTHORITY OF ATTORNEY GENERAL TO ADJUST 

16 STATUS OF CERTAIN CHILDREN. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 240A(b) of the Immigra18 tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1229b(b)) is amended 

19 by—

20 (1) redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph 

21 (4); and 

22 (2) inserting after paragraph (2) the following 

23 new paragraph: 

24 ‘‘(3) SPECIAL RULE FOR ALIENS BROUGHT TO

25 THE UNITED STATES AS CHILDREN.—
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1 ‘‘(A) AUTHORITY.—Subject to subpara2 graph (B), the Attorney General may cancel the 

3 removal of, and adjust to the status of an alien 

4 lawfully admitted for permanent residence, an 

5 alien who is inadmissible or deportable from the 

6 United States, if the Attorney General deter7 mines that—

8 ‘‘(i)(I) in the case of an alien who has 

9 not attained the age of 18, the alien has 

10 been physically present in the United 

11 States for a continuous period of not less 

12 than 3 years immediately preceding the 

13 date of such application and during such 

14 period the alien has been a person of good 

15 moral character; or 

16 ‘‘(II) in the case of an alien who is 18 

17 years of age or older, the alien has been 

18 physically present in the United States for 

19 a continuous period of not less than 5 

20 years immediately preceding the date of 

21 such application, including at least 3 years 

22 of continuous residence before reaching 18 

23 years of age and during such 5 year period 

24 the alien has been a person of good moral 

25 character; and 
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1 ‘‘(ii) the removal would result in ex2 treme hardship to the alien, the alien’s 

3 child, or the alien’s parent. 

4 ‘‘(B) RESTRICTIONS ON AUTHORITY.—The 

5 authority of the Attorney General under sub6 paragraph (A) shall not apply to—

7 ‘‘(i) an alien who is inadmissible 

8 under section 212(a)(2)(A)(i)(I) or deport9 able under section 237(a)(2)(A)(i) (relat10 ing to crimes of moral turpitude) unless 

11 the Attorney General determines that the 

12 alien’s removal would result in extreme 

13 hardship to the alien, the alien’s child, or 

14 (in the case of an alien who is a child) to 

15 the alien’s parent; or 

16 ‘‘(ii) an alien who is inadmissible 

17 under section 212(a)(3), or deportable 

18 under section 237(a)(2)(D)(i) or 

19 237(a)(2)(D)(ii) (relating to security and 

20 related grounds).’’. 

21 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 240A(b) of 

22 the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1229b(b)), 

23 is amended in paragraph (4) (as so redesignated by the 

24 amendment made by subsection (a)) by striking ‘‘para-
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1 graph (1) or (2)’’ each place it appears and inserting 

2 ‘‘paragraph (1), (2), or (3).’’.

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