I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 168 

To authorize the Secretary of Homeland Security to provide lawful permanent 

resident status to previously removed alien parents and spouses of citizens of the United States, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 3, 2019 

Mr. GREEN of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of Homeland Security to provide 

lawful permanent resident status to previously removed 

alien parents and spouses of citizens of the United 

States, 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 ‘‘Reentry and Reunifica5 tion Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. LAWFUL PERMANENT RESIDENT STATUS FOR PRE2 VIOUSLY REMOVED SPOUSES AND PARENTS 

3 OF CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

4 (a) ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

6 provision of law, the Secretary of Homeland Security 

7 shall admit to the United States as an alien admit8 ted for lawful permanent residence an alien who is 

9 inadmissible to or deportable from the United States 

10 if the alien demonstrates that— 

11 (A) the alien is the spouse, parent, or 

12 guardian of a citizen of the United States; 

13 (B)(i) prior to the date of the enactment 

14 of this Act, the alien departed the United 

15 States pursuant to an order of removal; or 

16 (ii) as of the date of the enactment of this 

17 Act, is subject to an order of removal, or is in 

18 removal proceedings; 

19 (C) the alien has been a person of good 

20 moral character (as defined in section 101(f) of 

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

22 1101(f))) since the date the alien initially en23 tered the United States; 

24 (D) subject to paragraph (2), the alien— 

25 (i) is not inadmissible under para26 graph (1), (2), (3), (4), (6)(E), (8), 


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1 (10)(A), (10)(C), or (10)(D) of section 

2 212(a) of the Immigration and Nationality 

3 Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)); 

4 (ii) is not deportable under paragraph 

5 (1)(E), (1)(G), (2), (4), (5), or (6) of sec6 tion 237(a) of the Immigration and Na7 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1227(a)); 

8 (iii) has not ordered, incited, assisted, 

9 or otherwise participated in the persecution 

10 of any person on account of race, religion, 

11 nationality, membership in a particular so12 cial group, or political opinion; and 

13 (iv) other than an offense under State 

14 or local law for which an essential element 

15 was the alien’s immigration status, a 

16 minor traffic offense, or a violation of the 

17 immigration laws, has not been convicted 

18 of— 

19 (I) any offense under Federal or 

20 State law punishable by a maximum 

21 term of imprisonment of more than 1 

22 year; or 

23 (II) any combination of offenses 

24 under Federal or State law, for which 

25 the alien was imprisoned for a total of 


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1 more than 1 year in the aggregate; 

2 and 

3 (E) in the case of an alien described in 

4 subparagraph (B)(ii), the alien has been con5 tinuously physically present in the United 

6 States since the date that is 4 years before the 

7 date of the enactment of this Act. 

8 (2) WAIVER.—With respect to any benefit 

9 under this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security 

10 may waive subclauses (I) and (II) of paragraph 

11 (1)(D)(iv), the ground of inadmissibility under para12 graph (1),(4), or (6)(E) of section 212(a) of the Im13 migration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)), 

14 and the ground of deportability under paragraph (1) 

15 of section 237(a) of that Act (8 U.S.C. 1227(a)), for 

16 humanitarian purposes or family unity or when it is 

17 otherwise in the public interest. 

18 (b) APPLICATION PERIOD.—An alien seeking status 

19 under this Act may file an application during the period 

20 beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act and 

21 ending on the date that is 3 years after such date. 

22 (c) DETERMINATION OF CONTINUOUS PRESENCE.— 

23 (1) TERMINATION OF CONTINUOUS PERIOD.— 

24 Any period of continuous physical presence in the 

25 United States of an alien described in subsection 


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1 (a)(1)(B)(ii) who applies for status under this sec2 tion shall not terminate when the alien is served a 

3 notice to appear under section 239(a) of the Immi4 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1229(a)). 

5 (2) TREATMENT OF CERTAIN BREAKS IN PRES6 ENCE.— 

7 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

8 subparagraphs (B) and (C), an alien shall be 

9 considered to have failed to maintain contin10 uous physical presence in the United States 

11 under subsection (a)(1)(E) if the alien has de12 parted from the United States for any period 

13 exceeding 90 days or for any periods, in the ag14 gregate, exceeding 180 days. 

15 (B) EXTENSIONS FOR EXTENUATING CIR16 CUMSTANCES.—The Secretary may extend the 

17 time periods described in subparagraph (A) for 

18 an alien who demonstrates that the failure to 

19 timely return to the United States was due to 

20 extenuating circumstances beyond the alien’s 

21 control, including the serious illness of the 

22 alien, or death or serious illness of a parent, 

23 grandparent, sibling, or child of the alien. 

24 (C) TRAVEL AUTHORIZED BY THE SEC25 RETARY.—Any period of travel outside of the 


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1 United States by an alien that was authorized 

2 by the Secretary may not be counted toward 

3 any period of departure from the United States 

4 under subparagraph (A). 

5 (d) NUMERICAL LIMITATIONS.—An alien admitted to 

6 the United States under this section shall not be subject 

7 to any numerical limitation under the immigration laws. 

8 (e) DEFINITIONS.—Except as specifically provided, 

9 the terms in this Act have the meanings given those terms 

10 in the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 

11 et seq.). 

Æ 


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