I

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 5240

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide temporary protected status to certain unaccompanied alien children, to provide for

the adjustment of status of aliens unlawfully present in the United

States who are under 18 years of age, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SEPTEMBER 21, 2000

Mr. WU (for himself, Mrs. MEEK of Florida, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Ms.

ROS-LEHTINEN, and Mr. DIAZ-BALART) introduced the following bill;

which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide

temporary protected status to certain unaccompanied

alien children, to provide for the adjustment of status

of aliens unlawfully present in the United States who

are under 18 years of age, and for other purposes.

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 ‘‘Alien Children Protec5 tion Act of 2000’’.
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1 SEC. 2. USE OF APPROPRIATE FACILITIES FOR THE DETEN2 TION OF ALIEN CHILDREN.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection

4 (b), in the case of any alien under 18 years of age who

5 is awaiting final adjudication of the alien’s immigration

6 status and who does not have a parent, guardian, or rel7 ative in the United States into whose custody the alien

8 may be released, the Attorney General shall place such

9 alien in a facility appropriate for children not later than

10 72 hours after the Attorney General has taken custody

11 of the alien.

12 (b) EXCEPTION.—The provisions of subsection (a) do

13 not apply to any alien under 18 years of age who the At14 torney General finds has engaged in delinquent behavior,

15 is an escape risk, or has a security need greater than that

16 provided in a facility appropriate for children.

17 (c) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘facility

18 appropriate for children’’ means a facility, such as foster

19 care or group homes, operated by a private nonprofit orga20 nization, or by a local governmental entity, with experience

21 and expertise in providing for the legal, psychological, edu22 cational, physical, social, nutritional, and health require23 ments of children. The term ‘‘facility appropriate for chil24 dren’’ does not include any facility used primarily to house

25 adults or delinquent minors.
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1 SEC. 3. ADJUSTMENT TO PERMANENT RESIDENT STATUS.

2 Section 245 of the Immigration and Nationality Act

3 (8 U.S.C. 1255) is amended by adding at the end the fol4 lowing:

5 ‘‘(l)(1) The Attorney General may, in the Attorney

6 General’s discretion, adjust the status of an alien under

7 18 years of age (or who was under 18 years of age when

8 taken into Government custody) who has no lawful immi9 gration status in the United States to that of an alien

10 lawfully admitted for permanent residence if—

11 ‘‘(A)(i) the alien (or a parent or legal guardian

12 acting on the alien’s behalf) has applied for the sta13 tus; and

14 ‘‘(ii) the alien has resided in the United States

15 for a period of 5 consecutive years; or

16 ‘‘(B)(i) no parent or legal guardian requests the

17 alien’s return to the country of the parent’s or

18 guardian’s domicile, or with respect to whom the At19 torney General finds that returning the child to his

20 or her country of origin would subject the child to

21 mental or physical abuse; and

22 ‘‘(ii) the Attorney General determines that it is

23 in the best interests of the alien to remain in the

24 United States notwithstanding the fact that the

25 alien is not eligible for asylum protection under sec26 tion 208 or protection under section 101(a)(27)(J).
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1 ‘‘(2) The Attorney General shall make a determina2 tion under paragraph (1)(B)(ii) based on input from a

3 person or entity that is not employed by or a part of the

4 Service and that is qualified to evaluate children and opine

5 as to what is in their best interest in a given situation.

6 ‘‘(3) Upon the approval of adjustment of status of

7 an alien under paragraph (1), the Attorney General shall

8 record the alien’s lawful admission for permanent resi9 dence as of the date of such approval, and the Secretary

10 of State shall reduce by one the number of visas author11 ized to be issued under sections 201(d) and 203(b)(4) for

12 the fiscal year then current.

13 ‘‘(4) Not more than 500 aliens may be granted per14 manent resident status under this subsection in any fiscal

15 year.’’.

16 SEC. 4. ASSIGNMENT OF GUARDIANS AD LITEM TO ALIEN

17 CHILDREN.

18 (a) ASSIGNMENT.—Whenever a covered alien is a

19 party to an immigration proceeding, the Attorney General

20 shall assign such covered alien a child welfare professional

21 or other individual who has received training in child wel22 fare matters and who is recognized by the Attorney Gen23 eral as being qualified to serve as a guardian ad litem (in

24 this section referred to as the ‘‘guardian’’). The guardian
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1 shall not be an employee of the Immigration and Natu2 ralization Service.

3 (b) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The guardian shall ensure

4 that—

5 (1) the covered alien’s best interests are pro6 moted while the covered alien participates in, or is

7 subject to, the immigration proceeding; and

8 (2) the covered alien understands the pro9 ceeding.

10 (c) REQUIREMENTS ON THE ATTORNEY GENERAL.—

11 The Attorney General shall serve notice of all matters af12 fecting a covered alien’s immigration status (including all

13 papers filed in an immigration proceeding) on the covered

14 alien’s guardian.

15 (d) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘covered

16 alien’’ means an alien—

17 (1) who is under 18 years of age;

18 (2) who has no lawful immigration status in the

19 United States and is not within the physical custody

20 of a parent or legal guardian; and

21 (3) whom no parent or legal guardian requests

22 the person’s return to the country of the parent’s or

23 guardian’s domicile or with respect to whom the At24 torney General finds that returning the child to his
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1 or her country of origin would subject the child to

2 physical or mental abuse.

3 SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

4 Congress commends the Immigration and Naturaliza5 tion Service for its issuance of its ‘‘Guidelines for Chil6 dren’s Asylum Claims’’, dated December 1998, and en7 courages and supports the Service’s implementation of

8 such guidelines in an effort to facilitate the handling of

9 children’s asylum claims.

10 SEC. 6. GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE REPORT.

11 The General Accounting Office shall prepare a report

12 to Congress regarding whether and to what extent U.S.

13 Embassy and consular officials are fulfilling their obliga14 tion to reunify, on a priority basis, children in foreign

15 countries whose parent or parents are legally present in

16 the United States.

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