I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1563

To assist aliens who were transplanted to the United States as children

in continuing their education and otherwise integrating into American society.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 24, 2001

Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas (for herself and Mr. SERRANO) introduced the

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Judiciary

A BILL

To assist aliens who were transplanted to the United States

as children in continuing their education and otherwise

integrating into American society.

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 ‘‘Preserving Educational

5 Opportunities for Immigrant Children Act of 2001’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find8 ings:
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1 (1) Many children are brought to the United

2 States at a very young age by parents or other

3 adults to accompany them during the adults’ stay in

4 the United States.

5 (2) In many such instances, parents or other

6 adults traveling to the United States enter and or

7 remain in this country without benefit of inspection

8 or authorization to be present in the United States.

9 (3) Many children brought to the United States

10 by parents or other adults arrive in this country

11 without the ability to make independent decisions

12 about where they wish to live. Once in the United

13 States, many such children also are incapable of

14 independent living.

15 (4) Because of the early age at which many

16 children arrive in the United States, as they become

17 older, they become fully integrated into American

18 life, learning English and either losing or never ac19 quiring the language of their native country. At the

20 same time, many lose all ties to relatives in their

21 country of origin or previous country of habitual res22 idence.

23 (5) Many such children attend public elemen24 tary and secondary schools in the United States.

25 Often, they excel in academics and contribute to
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1 both their communities and the families with whom

2 they live.

3 (6) Current United States immigration laws do

4 not provide the Attorney General with adequate

5 flexibility to take into account the special humani6 tarian circumstances in which such transplanted

7 alien children live. Consequently, such children are

8 in danger of being removed to a country they do not

9 know, an eventuality that would cause enormous dis10 ruptions in their lives and in the lives of their loved

11 ones.

12 (7) Current immigration laws effectively pre13 clude States and units of local government from pro14 viding such children access to State systems of high15 er education. Consequently, many such children can16 not continue their education upon graduating from

17 high school.

18 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—

19 (1) to provide for aliens who, through no fault

20 of their own, were brought to the United States as

21 children, opportunities to regularize their status in

22 the United States, attend college, and become con23 tributing members of their communities in this coun24 try; and
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1 (2) to repeal certain legislative barriers that im2 pede the ability of such aliens to become fully inte3 grated into United States society.

4 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

5 (a) TRANSPLANTED CHILD.—As used in this Act, the

6 term, ‘‘transplanted child’’ means an alien who is de7 scribed in section 101(a)(51) of the Immigration and Na8 tionality Act (as amended by subsection (b) of this Act).

9 (b) AMENDMENT TO THE IMMIGRATION AND NA10 TIONALITY ACT.—Section 101(a) of the Immigration and

11 Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)) is amended by adding

12 at the end the following new paragraph:

13 ‘‘(51) The term ‘transplanted child’ means an

14 alien who has been granted cancellation of removal

15 under section 240A(b)(3) or who has pending before

16 the Attorney General an application for cancellation

17 of removal under such section.’’.

18 SEC. 4. RESTORATION OF STATE FLEXIBILITY IN PRO19 VIDING IN-STATE TUITION FOR COLLEGE-AGE

20 ALIEN CHILDREN.

21 (a) RESTORATION.—The Illegal Immigration Reform

22 and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (division C of

23 Public Law 104–208; 8 U.S.C. 1623) is amended by strik24 ing section 505.
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1 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by sub2 section (a) shall apply to postsecondary education benefits

3 provided on or after July 1, 1998.

4 SEC. 5. ELIGIBILITY OF TRANSPLANTED CHILDREN FOR

5 PUBLIC BENEFITS.

6 Section 431(b) of the Personal Responsibility and

7 Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C.

8 1641(b)) is amended—

9 (1) at the end of paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘;

10 or’’ and inserting a semicolon;

11 (2) at the end of paragraph (7), by striking the

12 period and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and

13 (3) by adding after paragraph (7) the following

14 new paragraph:

15 ‘‘(8) an alien who is a transplanted child, as de16 fined in section 101(a)(51) of the Immigration and

17 Nationality Act.’’.

18 SEC. 6. AUTHORITY OF ATTORNEY GENERAL TO ADJUST

19 STATUS OF CERTAIN CHILDREN.

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 240A(b) of the Immigra21 tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1229b(b)) is amended

22 by—

23 (1) redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph

24 (4); and
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1 (2) inserting after paragraph (2) the following

2 new paragraph:

3 ‘‘(3) SPECIAL RULE FOR ALIENS BROUGHT TO

4 THE UNITED STATES AS CHILDREN.—

5 ‘‘(A) AUTHORITY.—Subject to subpara6 graph (B), the Attorney General may cancel the

7 removal of, and adjust to the status of an alien

8 lawfully admitted for permanent residence, an

9 alien who is inadmissible or deportable from the

10 United States, if the Attorney General deter11 mines that—

12 ‘‘(i)(I) in the case of an alien who has

13 not attained the age of 18, the alien has

14 been physically present in the United

15 States for a continuous period of not less

16 than 3 years immediately preceding the

17 date of such application and during such

18 period the alien has been a person of good

19 moral character; or

20 ‘‘(II) in the case of an alien who is 18

21 years of age or older, the alien has been

22 physically present in the United States for

23 a continuous period of not less than 5

24 years immediately preceding the date of

25 such application, including at least 3 years
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1 of continuous residence before reaching 18

2 years of age and during such 5 year period

3 the alien has been a person of good moral

4 character; and

5 ‘‘(ii) the removal would result in ex6 treme hardship to the alien, the alien’s

7 child, or the alien’s parent.

8 ‘‘(B) RESTRICTIONS ON AUTHORITY.—The

9 authority of the Attorney General under sub10 paragraph (A) shall not apply to—

11 ‘‘(i) an alien who is inadmissible

12 under section 212(a)(2)(A)(i)(I) or deport13 able under section 237(a)(2)(A)(i) (relat14 ing to crimes of moral turpitude) unless

15 the Attorney General determines that the

16 alien’s removal would result in extreme

17 hardship to the alien, the alien’s child, or

18 (in the case of an alien who is a child) to

19 the alien’s parent; or

20 ‘‘(ii) an alien who is inadmissible

21 under section 212(a)(3), or deportable

22 under section 237(a)(2)(D)(i) or

23 237(a)(2)(D)(ii) (relating to security and

24 related grounds).’’.
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1 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 240A(b) of

2 the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1229b(b)),

3 is amended in paragraph (4) (as so redesignated by the

4 amendment made by subsection (a)) by striking ‘‘para5 graph (1) or (2)’’ each place it appears and inserting

6 ‘‘paragraph (1), (2), or (3).’’.

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