I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1470 

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to limit the grounds of 

deportability for certain alien members of the United States Armed 

Forces, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 9, 2017 

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

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to limit 

the grounds of deportability for certain alien members 

of the United States Armed Forces, 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 ‘‘Restoring Respect for 

5 Immigrant Service in Uniform Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. READMISSION OF DEPORTED VETERANS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—It is the sense of Congress that 

8 the Secretary of Homeland Security should exercise the 


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1 Secretary’s discretion, including under subsections 

2 (a)(9)(A)(iii), (a)(9)(B)(v), (d)(3)(A), and (d)(5)(A) of 

3 section 212 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 

4 U.S.C. 1182) in order to admit to the United States an 

5 alien who is inadmissible under such section 212, was pre6 viously subject to an order of removal or has been re7 moved, is outside of the United States, and is seeking ad8 mission to the United States, if the alien— 

9 (1) has been a member of the United States 

10 Armed Forces for a period of not less 180 days, and 

11 has not received a discharge other than an honorable 

12 discharge; 

13 (2) has not been convicted of— 

14 (A) a felony; 

15 (B) a significant misdemeanor; or 

16 (C) 3 or more misdemeanors that are not 

17 significant misdemeanors, each of which oc18 curred on a different date, and arose out of sep19 arate conduct; and 

20 (3) is not otherwise a threat to national secu21 rity or public safety. 

22 (b) SIGNIFICANT MISDEMEANOR DEFINED.—In this 

23 section, the term ‘‘significant misdemeanor’’ means a mis24 demeanor— 


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1 (1) which is a crime of domestic violence (as 

2 such term is defined in section 237(a)(2)(E)(i) of 

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

4 1227(a)(2)(E)(i))); 

5 (2) which is a sexual assault (as such term is 

6 defined in section 40002(a) of the Violent Crime 

7 Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (42 

8 U.S.C. 13925(a))); 

9 (3) which involved the unlawful possession of a 

10 firearm (as such term is defined in section 921 of 

11 title 18, United States Code); or 

12 (4) for which the alien was sentenced to a term 

13 of imprisonment of longer than 90 days. 

14 SEC. 3. LIMITING GROUNDS OF DEPORTABILITY FOR 

15 SERVICEMEMBERS AND VETERANS. 

16 Section 237 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

17 (8 U.S.C. 1227) is amended by adding at the end the fol18 lowing: 

19 ‘‘(e) ALIEN MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES

20 ARMED FORCES.—The provisions of this section shall not 

21 apply to an alien who has been a member of the United 

22 States Armed Forces for a period of not less than 180 

23 days, and who has not received a discharge other than an 

24 honorable discharge, except in the case of an alien who— 

25 ‘‘(1) has been convicted of— 


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1 ‘‘(A) a felony; 

2 ‘‘(B) a significant misdemeanor (as such 

3 term is defined in section 2 of the Restoring 

4 Respect for Immigrant Service in Uniform Act); 

5 or 

6 ‘‘(C) 3 or more misdemeanors that are not 

7 significant misdemeanors, each of which oc8 curred on a different date, and arose out of sep9 arate conduct; and 

10 ‘‘(2) is otherwise a threat to national security 

11 or public safety.’’. 

Æ 


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