II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1704 

To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish a veterans visa 

program to permit veterans who have been removed from the United 

States to return as immigrants, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 2, 2017 

Ms. DUCKWORTH introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish 

a veterans visa program to permit veterans who have 

been removed from the United States to return as immigrants, 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 ‘‘Veterans Visa and Pro5 tection Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) CRIME OF VIOLENCE.—The term ‘‘crime of 

2 violence’’ means an offense defined in section 16 of 

3 title 18, United States Code— 

4 (A) that is not a purely political offense; 

5 and 

6 (B) for which the noncitizen has served a 

7 term of imprisonment of at least 5 years. 

8 (2) DEPORTED VETERAN.—The term ‘‘deported 

9 veteran’’ means a veteran who— 

10 (A) is a noncitizen; and 

11 (B)(i) was removed from the United 

12 States; or 

13 (ii) is abroad and is inadmissible under 

14 section 212(a) of the Immigration and Nation15 ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)). 

16 (3) NONCITIZEN.—The term ‘‘noncitizen’’ 

17 means an individual who is not a national of the 

18 United States, as defined in section 101(a)(22) of 

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

20 1101(a)(22)). 

21 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

22 the Secretary of Homeland Security. 

23 (5) SERVICE MEMBER.—The term ‘‘service 

24 member’’ means an individual who is serving as— 


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1 (A) a member of a regular or reserve com2 ponent of the Armed Forces of the United 

3 States on active duty; or 

4 (B) a member of a reserve component of 

5 the Armed Forces in an active status. 

6 (6) VETERAN.—The term ‘‘veteran’’ has the 

7 meaning given such term under section 101(2) of 

8 title 38, United States Code. 

9 SEC. 3. RETURN OF NONCITIZEN VETERANS REMOVED 

10 FROM THE UNITED STATES; STATUS FOR 

11 NONCITIZEN VETERANS IN THE UNITED 

12 STATES. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

14 (1) DUTIES OF SECRETARY.—Not later than 

15 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 

16 the Secretary shall— 

17 (A) establish a program and application 

18 procedure to permit— 

19 (i) a deported veteran who meets each 

20 requirement under subsection (b) to enter 

21 the United States as an alien lawfully ad22 mitted for permanent residence; and 

23 (ii) a noncitizen veteran in the United 

24 States who meets each requirement under 

25 subsection (b) to adjust status to that of 


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1 an alien lawfully admitted for permanent 

2 residence; and 

3 (B) cancel the removal of any noncitizen 

4 veteran ordered removed who meets each re5 quirement under subsection (b) and allow the 

6 noncitizen veteran to adjust status to that of an 

7 alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence. 

8 (2) NO NUMERICAL LIMITATIONS.—Nothing in 

9 this section or in any other law may be construed to 

10 apply a numerical limitation on the number of vet11 erans who may be eligible to receive a benefit under 

12 paragraph (1). 

13 (b) ELIGIBILITY.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

15 provision of law, including sections 212 and 237 of 

16 the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182 

17 and 1227), a veteran shall be eligible to participate 

18 in the program established under subsection 

19 (a)(1)(A), or for cancellation of removal under sub20 section (a)(1)(B), if the Secretary determines that 

21 the veteran— 

22 (A) was not ordered removed, or removed, 

23 from the United States due to a criminal con24 viction for— 

25 (i) a crime of violence; or 


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1 (ii) a crime that endangers the na2 tional security of the United States for 

3 which the noncitizen has served a term of 

4 imprisonment of at least 5 years; and 

5 (B) is not inadmissible to, or deportable 

6 from, the United States due to a criminal con7 viction described in subparagraph (A). 

8 (2) WAIVER.—The Secretary may waive the ap9 plication of paragraph (1)— 

10 (A) for humanitarian purposes; 

11 (B) to ensure family unity; 

12 (C) due to exceptional service in the 

13 United States Armed Forces; or 

14 (D) if such waiver otherwise is in the pub15 lic interest. 

16 SEC. 4. PROTECTING VETERANS AND SERVICE MEMBERS 

17 FROM REMOVAL. 

18 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, including 

19 section 237 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 

20 U.S.C. 1227), a noncitizen who is a veteran or service 

21 member may not be removed from the United States un22 less the noncitizen has a criminal conviction for a crime 

23 of violence. 


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1 SEC. 5. NATURALIZATION THROUGH SERVICE IN THE 

2 ARMED FORCES OF THE UNITED STATES. 

3 An alien who has obtained the status of an alien law4 fully admitted for permanent residence pursuant to section 

5 3(a) shall be eligible for naturalization through service in 

6 the Armed Forces of the United States under sections 328 

7 and 329 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

8 1439 and 1440), except that— 

9 (1) when determining whether the noncitizen is 

10 a person of good moral character, disregard the 

11 ground on which the noncitizen was— 

12 (A) ordered removed, or was removed, 

13 from the United States; or 

14 (B) rendered inadmissible to, or deportable 

15 from, the United States; and 

16 (2) any period of absence from the United 

17 States due to the noncitizen having been removed, or 

18 being inadmissible, shall be disregarded when deter19 mining if the noncitizen satisfies any requirement re20 lating to continuous residence or physical presence. 

21 SEC. 6. ACCESS TO MILITARY BENEFITS. 

22 An alien who has obtained the status of an alien law23 fully admitted for permanent residence pursuant to section 

24 3(a) shall be eligible for all military and veterans benefits 

25 for which the noncitizen would have been eligible if, from 

26 the United States, the noncitizen had never— 


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1 (a) been ordered removed; 

2 (b) been removed; or 

3 (c) voluntarily departed. 

4 SEC. 7. IMPLEMENTATION. 

5 (a) IDENTIFICATION.—The Secretary shall identify 

6 cases involving any service member or veteran at risk of 

7 removal from the United States by— 

8 (1) inquiring of every noncitizen processed prior 

9 to initiating a removal proceeding whether the non10 citizen is serving, or has served— 

11 (A) as a member of a regular or reserve 

12 component of the Armed Forces of the United 

13 States on active duty; or 

14 (B) as a member of a reserve component 

15 of the Armed Forces in an active status; 

16 (2) requiring U.S. Immigration and Customs 

17 Enforcement personnel to seek supervisory approval 

18 prior to initiating a removal proceeding against a 

19 service member or veteran; and 

20 (3) keeping records of any service member or 

21 veteran who has— 

22 (A) had removal proceedings initiated 

23 against them; 

24 (B) been detained; or 

25 (C) been removed. 


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1 (b) RECORD ANNOTATION.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—When the Secretary has 

3 identified a case under subsection (a), the Secretary 

4 shall annotate all immigration and naturalization 

5 records of the Department of Homeland Security re6 lating to the noncitizen involved to— 

7 (A) reflect that identification; and 

8 (B) afford an opportunity to track the out9 comes for the noncitizen. 

10 (2) ANNOTATIONS.—Each annotation under 

11 paragraph (1) shall include— 

12 (A) the branch of military service in which 

13 each noncitizen served; 

14 (B) whether or not the noncitizen is serv15 ing, or has served, during a period of military 

16 hostilities described in section 329 of the Immi17 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1440); 

18 (C) the immigration status of each noncit19 izen at the time of enlistment; 

20 (D) whether the noncitizen is serving hon21 orably or was separated under honorable condi22 tions; 

23 (E) the basis for which removal was 

24 sought; and 


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1 (F) the crime for which conviction was ob2 tained if the basis for removal was a criminal 

3 conviction. 

4 SEC. 8. REGULATIONS. 

5 Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact6 ment of this Act, the Secretary shall promulgate regula7 tions to implement this Act. 

Æ 


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