I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4253 

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide for certain protections for aliens granted temporary protected status or deferred enforced 

departure, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 3, 2017 

Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ (for herself, Mr. TED LIEU of California, Ms. BASS, Mr. 

CROWLEY, Ms. NORTON, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mrs. DEMINGS, Mr. 

ESPAILLAT, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Mr. GOMEZ, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mrs. TORRES, Ms. MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM of New Mexico, Miss RICE of New York, Mr. CASTRO of Texas, and 

Mr. EVANS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide 

for certain protections for aliens granted temporary protected status or deferred enforced departure, 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 ‘‘American Promise Act 

5 of 2017’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS FOR CERTAIN NON-IMMI2 GRANT NATIONALS GRANTED TEMPORARY 

3 PROTECTED STATUS OR DEFERRED EN4 FORCED DEPARTURE. 

5 Title II of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 

6 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 

7 244 the following (and amending the table of contents ac8 cordingly): 

9 ‘‘SEC. 244A. ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS FOR CERTAIN NA10 TIONALS IN RECEIPT OF TEMPORARY PRO11 TECTED STATUS OR DEFERRED ENFORCED 

12 DEPARTURE. 

13 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The status of any alien described 

14 in subsection (c) shall be adjusted by the Secretary of 

15 Homeland Security to that of an alien lawfully admitted 

16 for permanent residence, if the alien— 

17 ‘‘(1) applies for such adjustment within 3 years 

18 after the date of enactment of this section; 

19 ‘‘(2) is determined to be admissible to the 

20 United States for permanent residence; and 

21 ‘‘(3) meets the criteria established under sub22 section (c) 

23 ‘‘(b) CERTAIN GROUNDS FOR INADMISSIBILITY INAP24 PLICABLE.— 

25 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of deter26 mining admissibility under subsection (a)(2), the 


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1 grounds for inadmissibility specified in paragraphs 

2 (4), (5), (6)(A), and (7)(A) of section 212(a) of the 

3 Immigration and Nationality Act shall not apply. 

4 ‘‘(2) ADDITIONAL WAIVER FOR INDIVIDUAL

5 ALIENS.—The Secretary may waive any other provi6 sion of section 212(a) in the case of an individual 

7 alien for humanitarian purposes, to assure family 

8 unity, or when it is otherwise in the public interest. 

9 ‘‘(c) ALIENS ELIGIBLE FOR ADJUSTMENT OF STA10 TUS.—An alien shall be eligible for adjustment of status 

11 if the alien— 

12 ‘‘(1) is a national of a country (or part of a 

13 country) with a designation under 244(b) of the Im14 migration and Nationality Act during the period 

15 specified in section 244(b)(2) and who was granted 

16 temporary protected status, or was otherwise eligible 

17 for temporary protected status, on or before October 

18 1, 2017, or has been granted Deferred Enforced De19 parture (hereinafter in this section referred to as 

20 ‘DED’) on or before October 1, 2017; and 

21 ‘‘(2) has been continuously physically present in 

22 the United States for a period of not less than 3 

23 years since the effective date of this Act’s enact24 ment. 


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1 ‘‘(d) WAIVER AUTHORIZED.—Notwithstanding any 

2 provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act, an alien 

3 who fails to meet the continuous physical presence require4 ment under paragraph (2) of subsection (c) shall be con5 sidered eligible for status adjustment as provided in this 

6 section if the Attorney General or the Secretary deter7 mines that the removal of the alien from the United States 

8 would result in extreme hardship to the alien, their spouse, 

9 their children, their parents, or their domestic partner. 

10 ‘‘(e) EFFECT OF APPLICATION ON CERTAIN OR11 DERS.—An alien present in the United States who has 

12 been ordered removed or has been granted voluntary de13 parture from the United States may, notwithstanding 

14 such order, apply for adjustment of status under this sec15 tion. Such alien shall not be required to file a separate 

16 motion to reopen, reconsider, or vacate the order of re17 moval. If the Secretary approves the application, the Sec18 retary shall cancel the order of removal. If the Secretary 

19 renders a final administrative decision to deny the applica20 tion, the order of removal shall be effective and enforce21 able to the same extent as if the application had not been 

22 made. 

23 ‘‘(f) WORK AUTHORIZATION.—The Secretary shall 

24 authorize an alien who has applied for adjustment of sta25 tus under this section to engage in employment in the 


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1 United States during the pendency of such application and 

2 shall provide the alien with an appropriate document signi3 fying authorization of employment. 

4 ‘‘(g) ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS FOR CERTAIN FAMILY

5 MEMBERS.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The status of an alien shall 

7 be adjusted by the Secretary to that of an alien law8 fully admitted for permanent residence if the alien— 

9 ‘‘(A) is the spouse, parent, or unmarried 

10 son or daughter of an alien whose status is ad11 justed under this section; 

12 ‘‘(B) applies for adjustment under this sec13 tion within 3 years after the date of enactment 

14 of this Act; and 

15 ‘‘(C) is determined to be admissible to the 

16 United States for permanent residence. 

17 ‘‘(2) CERTAIN GROUNDS FOR INADMISSIBILITY

18 INAPPLICABLE.—For purposes of determining ad19 missibility under subsection (g)(1)(C), the grounds 

20 for inadmissibility specified in paragraphs (4), (5), 

21 (6)(A), and (7)(A) of section 212(a) shall not apply. 

22 ‘‘(h) AVAILABILITY OF ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW.— 

23 The Secretary shall provide to aliens applying for adjust24 ment of status under this section the same right to, and 

25 procedures for, administrative review as are provided to— 


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1 ‘‘(1) applicants for adjustment of status under 

2 section 245; or 

3 ‘‘(2) aliens subject to removal proceedings 

4 under section 240. 

5 ‘‘(i) NO OFFSET IN NUMBER OF VISAS AVAIL6 ABLE.—The granting of adjustment of status under this 

7 section shall not reduce the number of immigrant visas 

8 authorized to be issued under any provision of the Immi9 gration and Nationality Act. 

10 ‘‘(j) TREATMENT OF BRIEF, CASUAL, AND INNOCENT

11 DEPARTURES AND CERTAIN OTHER ABSENCES.—An 

12 alien who has failed to maintain the 3-year continuous 

13 physical presence requirement under subsection (c) be14 cause of brief, casual, and innocent departures or, emer15 gency travel, or extenuating circumstances outside of the 

16 control of the alien, shall not be considered to have failed 

17 to maintain continuous physical presence in the United 

18 States. 

19 ‘‘(k) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 

20 shall be construed to include aliens (as a class or indi21 vidual basis) from previously designated countries that no 

22 longer have valid temporary protected status designation 

23 under section 244(b), or aliens who no longer have a valid 

24 deferred enforced departure status, unless such designated 


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1 status or previously deferred enforced departure expires 

2 on or after January 1, 2017. 

3 ‘‘(l) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

4 ‘‘(1) The term ‘domestic partner’ means an 

5 adult of at least 18 years of age in a committed rela6 tionship with the alien applying for adjustment. A 

7 committed relationship is one in which the employee 

8 and the domestic partner of the employee are each 

9 other’s sole domestic partner (and are not married 

10 to or domestic partners with anyone else) and share 

11 responsibility for a significant measure of each oth12 er’s common welfare and financial obligations. This 

13 includes, but is not limited to, any relationship be14 tween two individuals of the same or opposite sex 

15 that is granted legal recognition by a State or by the 

16 District of Columbia as a marriage or analogous re17 lationship (including, but not limited to, a civil 

18 union). 

19 ‘‘(2) The term ‘provide for its repatriated citi20 zens’ means a country’s ability to provide safety, 

21 and social safety net services, including preventive 

22 healthcare services, and housing. 

23 ‘‘(3) The term ‘Deferred Enforced Departure’ 

24 or ‘DED’ refers to the presidential directive issued 

25 on September 28, 2016.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS REGARDING FUTURE 

2 DISCONTINUED ELIGIBILITY OF ALIENS 

3 FROM COUNTRIES CURRENTLY LISTED 

4 UNDER TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS. 

5 (a) ADDITIONAL REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.—Sec6 tion 244(b)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 

7 U.S.C. 1254a(b)(3)) is amended by adding at the end, the 

8 following: 

9 ‘‘(D) REPORT ON TERMINATIONS.—Within 

10 3 days after the Attorney General’s announce11 ment, including by notice in the Federal Reg12 ister, of a country’s designation being termi13 nated from Temporary Protected Status, the 

14 Attorney General shall submit to the Committee 

15 on the Judiciary of the Senate and the House 

16 Judiciary Committee a report that includes— 

17 ‘‘(i) an explanation of the event or 

18 events that initially prompted a country’s 

19 designation under temporary protected sta20 tus; 

21 ‘‘(ii) the progress the country has 

22 made in remedying the designation speci23 fied in clause (i), including any significant 

24 challenges or shortcomings that have not 

25 been addressed since the initial designa26 tion; 


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1 ‘‘(iii) an analysis, with applicable and 

2 relevant metrics as determined by the Sec3 retary, of the country’s ability to repatriate 

4 its nationals, including— 

5 ‘‘(I) the country’s financial abil6 ity to provide for its repatriated citi7 zens; 

8 ‘‘(II) the country’s financial abil9 ity to address the initial designation 

10 specified in clause (i) without foreign 

11 assistance; 

12 ‘‘(III) the country’s gross domes13 tic product, gross domestic product 

14 per capita, and an analysis of the 

15 country’s ability to be economically 

16 self-sufficient without foreign assist17 ance; 

18 ‘‘(IV) the economic and social 

19 impact repatriation of nationals in 

20 possession of temporary protected sta21 tus would have on the recipient coun22 try; and 

23 ‘‘(V) any additional metrics the 

24 Secretary deems necessary.’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. ADJUSTMENT OF RELATION OF PERIOD OF TEM2 PORARY PROTECTED STATUS TO CANCELLA3 TION OF REMOVAL. 

4 Section 244(e) of the Immigration and Nationality 

5 Act (8 U.S.C.1254a(e)) is amended— 

6 (1) by striking ‘‘With respect to an alien’’ and 

7 inserting the following: 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—With respect to an alien’’; 

9 and 

10 (2) by adding at the end, the following: 

11 ‘‘(2) WAIVER FOR CERTAIN TEMPORARY PRO12 TECTED STATUS HOLDERS.—The provisions in sub13 section (e) shall not apply to an Alien who is eligible 

14 for adjustment of status pursuant to section 244A 

15 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.’’. 

16 SEC. 5. ELIGIBILITY FOR NATURALIZATION. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding sections 319(b), 

18 328, and 329 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 

19 U.S.C. 1430(b), 1439, and 1440), an alien whose status 

20 is adjusted under section 244A of the Immigration and 

21 Nationality Act to that of an alien lawfully admitted for 

22 permanent residence may apply for naturalization under 

23 chapter 2 of title III of the Immigration and Nationality 

24 Act (8 U.S.C. 1421 et seq.) not earlier than 5 years after 

25 such adjustment of status. 


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1 (b) LANGUAGE REQUIREMENT WAIVER.—Section 

2 312(b)(2) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 

3 U.S.C. 1423(b)(2)) is amended— 

4 (1) in subparagraph (A), by adding ‘‘or’’ at the 

5 end; 

6 (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period 

7 and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

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

9 ‘‘(C) is an alien in receipt of status adjust10 ment under section 244A of the Immigration 

11 and Nationality Act.’’. 

Æ 


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