I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1572

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide for legal permanent

resident status for certain undocumented or nonimmigrant aliens.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 24, 2001

Mr. OWENS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on the Judiciary

A BILL

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide

for legal permanent resident status for certain undocumented or nonimmigrant aliens.

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 ‘‘Worker Amnesty and

5 Opportunity Act of 2001’’.
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1 SEC. 2. ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS OF CERTAIN UNDOCU2 MENTED AND NONIMMIGRANT ALIENS.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Immigration and Nationality

4 Act is amended by inserting after section 210 the following

5 new section:

6 ‘‘ALIEN WORKER AMNESTY

7 ‘‘SEC. 210A. (a) LAWFUL PERMANENT RESI8 DENCE.—The Attorney General shall adjust the status of

9 an alien to that of an alien lawfully admitted for perma10 nent residence if the alien submits an application and the

11 Attorney General determines that the alien meets the fol12 lowing requirements:

13 ‘‘(1) PRESENCE IN UNITED STATES.—The alien

14 maintained a continuous physical presence in the

15 United States for a period of not less than 10 years

16 immediately prior to the date of the submission of

17 an application under this section. For the purposes

18 of this section an alien shall be considered to have

19 failed to maintain continuous physical presence in

20 the United States for the purposes of this section if

21 the alien has departed from the United States for

22 any period in excess of 90 days or for any periods

23 in the aggregate exceeding 365 days.

24 ‘‘(2) QUALIFICATION.—The alien fulfills at

25 least 1 of the following qualifications:
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1 ‘‘(A) ALIEN SPONSORED BY A LABOR OR2 GANIZATION AND EMPLOYED IN AN OCCUPA3 TION WITH A WORKER SHORTAGE.—The alien

4 is employed in the United States in an occupa5 tion which during the 2-year period prior to the

6 date of the submission of an application under

7 this section has experienced a shortage of work8 ers and the application of the alien under this

9 section is sponsored by a labor organization.

10 ‘‘(B) ALIEN ELIGIBLE FOR ADMISSION AS

11 STUDENT AT AN INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDU12 CATION.—The alien is eligible for admission as

13 a student at an accredited institution of higher

14 education in the United States.

15 ‘‘(C) AGE.—The alien has attained the age

16 of 65 years.

17 ‘‘(3) ADMISSIBLE AS IMMIGRANT.—The alien is

18 admissible to the United States as an immigrant, ex19 cept as otherwise provided under subsection (b)(2).

20 ‘‘(b) WAIVER OF NUMERICAL LIMITATIONS AND

21 CERTAIN GROUNDS FOR EXCLUSION.—

22 ‘‘(1) NUMERICAL LIMITATIONS.—The numerical

23 limitations of sections 201 and 202 shall not apply

24 to the adjustment of aliens to lawful permanent resi25 dent status under this section.
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1 ‘‘(2) GROUNDS FOR EXCLUSION.—With respect

2 to the determination of an alien’s admissibility under

3 subsection (a)(3):

4 ‘‘(A) NOT APPLICABLE.—The provisions of

5 paragraphs (6) and (7) of section 212(a) shall

6 not apply.

7 ‘‘(B) DISCRETIONARY.—

8 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except as pro9 vided in clause (ii), in the determination of

10 such an alien’s admissibility, the Attorney

11 General may waive any other provision of

12 section 212(a) in the case of individual

13 aliens for humanitarian purposes, to assure

14 family unity, or when it is otherwise in the

15 public interest.

16 ‘‘(ii) GROUNDS THAT MAY NOT BE

17 WAIVED.—The following provisions of sec18 tion 212(a) may not be waived by the At19 torney General under clause (i):

20 ‘‘(I) Paragraph (2)(A) and

21 (2)(B) (relating to criminals).

22 ‘‘(II) Paragraph (2)(C) (relating

23 to drug offenses), except for so much

24 of such paragraph as relates to a sin-
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1 gle offense of simple possession of 30

2 grams or less of marihuana.

3 ‘‘(III) Paragraph (3) (relating to

4 security and related grounds), other

5 than subparagraph (E) thereof.

6 ‘‘(c) TEMPORARY STAY OF EXCLUSION OR DEPORTA7 TION FOR CERTAIN APPLICANTS.—The Attorney General

8 shall provide that in the case of an alien who presents

9 a nonfrivolous application under subsection (a), and until

10 a final determination on the application has been made

11 in accordance with this section, the alien may not be ex12 cluded or deported.

13 ‘‘(d) TEMPORARY WORK AUTHORIZATION FOR CER14 TAIN APPLICANTS.—An applicant under this section is not

15 entitled to employment authorization, but such authoriza16 tion may be provided in the discretion of the Attorney

17 General.’’.

18 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents

19 of the Immigration and Nationality Act is amended by in20 serting after the item relating to section 210 the following

21 new item:

‘‘Sec. 210A. Alien worker amnesty.’’.

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