I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1788

To deny Federal public benefits to individuals who participated in Nazi

persecution.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 13, 1999

Mr. FRANKS of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN, and Mr. LANTOS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Government Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each

case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of

the committee concerned

A BILL

To deny Federal public benefits to individuals who

participated in Nazi persecution.

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 ‘‘Nazi Benefits Termi5 nation Act of 1999’’.
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1 SEC. 2. DENIAL OF FEDERAL PUBLIC BENEFITS TO NAZI

2 PERSECUTORS.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi4 sion of law, an individual who is determined under this

5 Act to have been a participant in Nazi persecution is not

6 eligible for any Federal public benefit.

7 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act:

8 (1) FEDERAL PUBLIC BENEFIT.—The term

9 ‘‘Federal public benefit’’ shall have the meaning

10 given such term by section 401(c)(1) of the Personal

11 Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation

12 Act of 1996, but shall not include any benefit de13 scribed in section 401(b)(1) of such Act (and, for

14 purposes of applying such section 401(b)(1), the

15 term ‘‘alien’’ shall be considered to mean ‘‘indi16 vidual’’).

17 (2) PARTICIPANT IN NAZI PERSECUTION.—The

18 term ‘‘participant in Nazi persecution’’ means an in19 dividual who—

20 (A) if an alien, is shown by a preponder21 ance of the evidence to fall within the class of

22 persons who (if present within the United

23 States) would be deportable under section

24 237(a)(4)(D) of the Immigration and Nation25 ality Act; or
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1 (B) if a citizen, is shown by a preponder2 ance of the evidence—

3 (i) to have procured citizenship ille4 gally or by concealment of a material fact

5 or willful misrepresentation within the

6 meaning of section 340(a) of the Immigra7 tion and Nationality Act; and

8 (ii) to have participated in Nazi perse9 cution within the meaning of section

10 212(a)(3)(E) of the Immigration and Na11 tionality Act.

12 SEC. 3. DETERMINATIONS.

13 (a) HEARING BY IMMIGRATION JUDGE.—If the At14 torney General has reason to believe that an individual

15 who has applied for or is receiving a Federal public benefit

16 may have been a participant in Nazi persecution (within

17 the meaning of section 2 of this Act), the Attorney General

18 may provide an opportunity for a hearing on the record

19 with respect to the matter. The Attorney General may del20 egate the conduct of the hearing to an immigration judge

21 appointed by the Attorney General under section

22 101(b)(4) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

23 (b) PROCEDURE.—

24 (1) RIGHT OF RESPONDENTS TO APPEAR.—
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1 (A) CITIZENS, PERMANENT RESIDENT

2 ALIENS, AND PERSONS PRESENT IN THE

3 UNITED STATES.—At a hearing under this sec4 tion, each respondent may appear in person if

5 the respondent is a United States citizen, a per6 manent resident alien, or present within the

7 United States when the proceeding under this

8 section is initiated.

9 (B) OTHERS.—A respondent who is not a

10 citizen, a permanent resident alien, or present

11 within the United States when the proceeding

12 under this section is initiated may appear by

13 video conference.

14 (C) RULE OF INTERPRETATION.—This Act

15 shall not be construed to permit the return to

16 the United States of an individual who is inad17 missible under section 212(a)(3)(E) of the Im18 migration and Nationality Act.

19 (2) OTHER RIGHTS OF RESPONDENTS.—At a

20 hearing under this section, each respondent may be

21 represented by counsel at no expense to the Federal

22 Government, present evidence, cross-examine wit23 nesses, and obtain the issuance of subpoenas for the

24 attendance of witnesses and presentation of evi25 dence.
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1 (3) RULES OF EVIDENCE.—Unless otherwise

2 provided in this Act, rules regarding the presen3 tation of evidence in the hearing shall apply in the

4 same manner in which such rules would apply in a

5 removal proceeding before a United States immigra6 tion judge under section 240 of the Immigration and

7 Nationality Act.

8 (c) HEARINGS, FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS, AND

9 ORDER.—

10 (1) FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS.—Within 60

11 days after the end of a hearing conducted under this

12 section, the immigration judge shall make findings

13 of fact and conclusions of law with respect to wheth14 er the respondent has been a participant in Nazi

15 persecution (within the meaning of section 2 of this

16 Act).

17 (2) ORDER.—

18 (A) FINDING THAT RESPONDENT HAS

19 BEEN A PARTICIPANT IN NAZI PERSECUTION.—

20 If the immigration judge finds, by a preponder21 ance of the evidence, that the respondent has

22 been a participant in Nazi persecution (within

23 the meaning of section 2 of this Act), the immi24 gration judge shall promptly issue an order de25 claring the respondent to be ineligible for any
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1 Federal public benefit, and prohibiting any per2 son from providing such a benefit, directly or

3 indirectly, to the respondent, and shall transmit

4 a copy of the order to any governmental entity

5 or person known to be so providing such a ben6 efit.

7 (B) FINDING THAT RESPONDENT HAS NOT

8 BEEN A PARTICIPANT IN NAZI PERSECUTION.—

9 If the immigration judge finds that there is in10 sufficient evidence for a finding under subpara11 graph (A) that a respondent has been a partici12 pant in Nazi persecution (within the meaning of

13 section 2 of this Act), the immigration judge

14 shall issue an order dismissing the proceeding.

15 (C) EFFECTIVE DATE; LIMITATION OF LI16 ABILITY.—

17 (i) EFFECTIVE DATE.—An order

18 issued pursuant to subparagraph (A) shall

19 be effective on the date of issuance.

20 (ii) LIMITATION OF LIABILITY.—Not21 withstanding clause (i), a person or entity

22 shall not be found to have provided a ben23 efit to an individual in violation of this Act

24 until the person or entity has received ac25 tual notice of the issuance of an order
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1 under subparagraph (A) with respect to

2 the individual and has had a reasonable

3 opportunity to comply with the order.

4 (d) REVIEW BY ATTORNEY GENERAL; SERVICE OF

5 FINAL ORDER.—

6 (1) REVIEW BY ATTORNEY GENERAL.—The At7 torney General may, in her discretion, review any

8 finding or conclusion made, or order issued, under

9 subsection (c), and shall complete the review not

10 later than 30 days after the finding or conclusion is

11 so made, or order is so issued. Otherwise, the find12 ing, conclusion, or order shall be final.

13 (2) SERVICE OF FINAL ORDER.—The Attorney

14 General shall cause the findings of fact and conclu15 sions of law made with respect to any final order

16 issued under this section, together with a copy of the

17 order, to be served on the respondent involved.

18 (e) JUDICIAL REVIEW.—Any party aggrieved by a

19 final order issued under this section may obtain a review

20 of the order by the United States Court of Appeals for

21 the Federal Circuit, by filing a petition for such review

22 not later than 30 days after the final order is issued.

23 (f) ISSUE AND CLAIM PRECLUSION.—In any adminis24 trative or judicial proceeding under this Act, the ordinary

25 rules of issue preclusion and claim preclusion shall apply.
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1 SEC. 4. JURISDICTION OF UNITED STATES COURT OF AP2 PEALS FOR THE FEDERAL CIRCUIT OVER AP3 PEALS UNDER THIS ACT.

4 Section 1295(a) of title 28, United States Code, is

5 amended—

6 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph

7 (13);

8 (2) by striking the period at the end of para9 graph (14) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

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

11 ‘‘(15) of an appeal from a final order issued

12 under the Nazi Benefits Termination Act of 1999.’’.

Æ