I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1926

To provide for the granting of refugee status in the United States to nationals

of certain foreign countries in which American Vietnam War POW/

MIAs or American Korean War POW/MIAs may be present, if those

nationals assist in the return to the United States of those POW/

MIAs alive.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 25, 1999

Mr. HEFLEY (for himself, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York,

Mr. SHOWS, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. DIAZ-BALART, Mr. MCHUGH, Mr. ORTIZ,

Mr. SCHAFFER, Mr. FOSSELLA, Mr. ENGLISH, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr.

WHITFIELD, Ms. GRANGER, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mrs. KELLY, Mr.

GUTIERREZ, Mr. DAVIS of Virginia, Mr. FLETCHER, Mr. FORBES, Mr.

CUNNINGHAM, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. FILNER, Mr. MCCOLLUM, Mr. HILLEARY,

Mr. LUCAS of Kentucky, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. KING, Mr. LEWIS of Kentucky, Mr. HUNTER, and Mr. HOSTETTLER) introduced the following bill;

which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition

to the Committee on International Relations, 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 provide for the granting of refugee status in the United

States to nationals of certain foreign countries in which

American Vietnam War POW/MIAs or American Korean

War POW/MIAs may be present, if those nationals assist

in the return to the United States of those POW/MIAs

alive.
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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 ‘‘Bring Them Home

5 Alive Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. AMERICAN VIETNAM WAR POW/MIA ASYLUM PRO7 GRAM.

8 (a) ASYLUM FOR ELIGIBLE ALIENS.—Notwith9 standing any other provision of law, the Attorney General

10 shall grant refugee status in the United States to any alien

11 described in subsection (b), upon the application of that

12 alien.

13 (b) ELIGIBILITY.—Refugee status shall be granted

14 under subsection (a) to—

15 (1) any alien who—

16 (A) is a national of Vietnam, Cambodia,

17 Laos, China, or any of the independent states

18 of the former Soviet Union; and

19 (B) personally delivers into the custody of

20 the United States Government a living Amer21 ican Vietnam War POW/MIA; and

22 (2) any parent, spouse, or child of an alien de23 scribed in paragraph (1).

24 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:

25 (1) AMERICAN VIETNAM WAR POW/MIA.—
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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in

2 subparagraph (B), the term ‘‘American Viet3 nam War POW/MIA’’ means an individual—

4 (i) who is a member of a uniformed

5 service (within the meaning of section

6 101(3) of title 37, United States Code) in

7 a missing status (as defined in section

8 551(2) of such title and this subsection) as

9 a result of the Vietnam War; or

10 (ii) who is an employee (as defined in

11 section 5561(2) of title 5, United States

12 Code) in a missing status (as defined in

13 section 5561(5) of such title) as a result of

14 the Vietnam War.

15 (B) EXCLUSION.—Such term does not in16 clude an individual with respect to whom it is

17 officially determined under section 552(c) of

18 title 37, United States Code, that such indi19 vidual is officially absent from such individual’s

20 post of duty without authority.

21 (2) MISSING STATUS.—The term ‘‘missing sta22 tus’’, with respect to the Vietnam War, means the

23 status of an individual as a result of the Vietnam

24 War if immediately before that status began the

25 individual—
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1 (A) was performing service in Vietnam; or

2 (B) was performing service in Southeast

3 Asia in direct support of military operations in

4 Vietnam.

5 (3) VIETNAM WAR.—The term ‘‘Vietnam War’’

6 means the conflict in Southeast Asia during the pe7 riod that began on February 28, 1961, and ended on

8 May 7, 1975.

9 SEC. 3. AMERICAN KOREAN WAR POW/MIA ASYLUM PRO10 GRAM.

11 (a) ASYLUM FOR ELIGIBLE ALIENS.—Notwith12 standing any other provision of law, the Attorney General

13 shall grant refugee status in the United States to any alien

14 described in subsection (b), upon the application of that

15 alien.

16 (b) ELIGIBILITY.—Refugee status shall be granted

17 under subsection (a) to—

18 (1) any alien—

19 (A) who is a national of North Korea,

20 China, or any of the independent states of the

21 former Soviet Union; and

22 (B) who personally delivers into the cus23 tody of the United States Government a living

24 American Korean War POW/MIA; and
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1 (2) any parent, spouse, or child of an alien de2 scribed in paragraph (1).

3 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:

4 (1) AMERICAN KOREAN WAR POW/MIA.—

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

6 subparagraph (B), the term ‘‘American Korean

7 War POW/MIA’’ means an individual—

8 (i) who is a member of a uniformed

9 service (within the meaning of section

10 101(3) of title 37, United States Code) in

11 a missing status (as defined in section

12 551(2) of such title and this subsection) as

13 a result of the Korean War; or

14 (ii) who is an employee (as defined in

15 section 5561(2) of title 5, United States

16 Code) in a missing status (as defined in

17 section 5561(5) of such title) as a result of

18 the Korean War.

19 (B) EXCLUSION.—Such term does not in20 clude an individual with respect to whom it is

21 officially determined under section 552(c) of

22 title 37, United States Code, that such indi23 vidual is officially absent from such individual’s

24 post of duty without authority.
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1 (2) KOREAN WAR.—The term ‘‘Korean War’’

2 means the conflict on the Korean peninsula during

3 the period that began on June 27, 1950, and ended

4 January 31, 1955.

5 (3) MISSING STATUS.—The term ‘‘missing sta6 tus’’, with respect to the Korean War, means the

7 status of an individual as a result of the Korean

8 War if immediately before that status began the

9 individual—

10 (A) was performing service in the Korean

11 peninsula; or

12 (B) was performing service in Asia in di13 rect support of military operations in the Ko14 rean peninsula.

15 SEC. 4. BROADCASTING INFORMATION ON THE ‘‘BRING

16 THEM HOME ALIVE’’ PROGRAM.

17 (a) REQUIREMENT.—

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—The International Broad19 casting Bureau shall broadcast, through

20 WORLDNET Television and Film Service and

21 Radio or otherwise, information that promotes the

22 ‘‘Bring Them Home Alive’’ refugee program under

23 this Act to foreign countries covered by paragraph

24 (2).
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1 (2) COVERED COUNTRIES.—The foreign coun2 tries covered by paragraph (1) are—

3 (A) Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, China, and

4 North Korea; and

5 (B) Russia and the other independent

6 states of the former Soviet Union.

7 (b) LEVEL OF PROGRAMMING.—The International

8 Broadcasting Bureau shall broadcast—

9 (1) at least 20 hours of the programming de10 scribed in subsection (a)(1) during the 10-day period

11 that begins on the date of enactment of this Act;

12 and

13 (2) at least 10 hours of the programming de14 scribed in subsection (a)(1) in each calendar quarter

15 during the period beginning with the first calendar

16 quarter that begins after the date of enactment of

17 this Act and ending five years after the date of en18 actment of this Act.

19 (c) AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION ON THE INTER20 NET.—International Broadcasting Bureau shall ensure

21 that information regarding the ‘‘Bring Them Home Alive’’

22 refugee program under this Act is readily available on the

23 World Wide Web sites of the Bureau.

24 (d) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con25 gress that RFE/RL, Incorporated, Radio Free Asia, and
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1 any other recipient of Federal grants that engages in

2 international broadcasting to the countries covered by sub3 section (a)(2) should broadcast information similar to the

4 information required to be broadcast by subsection (a)(1).

5 (e) DEFINITION.—The term ‘‘International Broad6 casting Bureau’’ means the International Broadcasting

7 Bureau of the United States Information Agency or, on

8 and after the effective date of title XIII of the Foreign

9 Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998 (as con10 tained in division G of Public Law 105–277), the Inter11 national Broadcasting Bureau of the Broadcasting Board

12 of Governors.

13 SEC. 5. INDEPENDENT STATES OF THE FORMER SOVIET

14 UNION DEFINED.

15 In this Act, the term ‘‘independent states of the

16 former Soviet Union’’ has the meaning given the term in

17 section 3 of the FREEDOM Support Act (22 U.S.C.

18 5801).

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