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107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1582

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to adjust the status of

certain long-staying alien children, to lower high school drop out rates

for certain immigrant children, and to restore the right of State and

local governments to decide whom they will admit to their State and

local colleges and universities.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 25, 2001

Mr. GUTIERREZ introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Education

and the Workforce, 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 amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to adjust

the status of certain long-staying alien children, to lower

high school drop out rates for certain immigrant children, and to restore the right of State and local governments to decide whom they will admit to their State

and local colleges and universities.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Immigrant Children’s

3 Educational Advancement and Dropout Prevention Act of

4 2001’’.

5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

6 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find7 ings:

8 (1) Undocumented children come to the United

9 States for a variety of reasons. Most are brought to

10 the United States by adults and have no ability to

11 make an independent decision about whether or not

12 to migrate to the United States. Some come with

13 their parents. Others are brought by smugglers and

14 traffickers intent on exploiting them.

15 (2) It is the policy of the United States Govern16 ment, supported both by acts of Congress and Su17 preme Court precedent, to permit undocumented

18 children to attend public schools in the United

19 States. This policy is rooted in recognition of the

20 fact that such children often are not in a position to

21 make an independent decision about where they will

22 live, of the vulnerability of children, and by the de23 sire to ensure that such children have an oppor24 tunity to become educated while in the United

25 States.
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1 (3) Each year, 50,000 to 75,000 such undocu2 mented children graduate from United States public

3 schools after having resided in the United States for

4 5 or more years.

5 (4) Young children who have resided in the

6 United States for a substantial period of their lives

7 often are acculturated as Americans, including

8 learning to speak English. Often, they consider

9 themselves Americans and have little or no knowl10 edge or ties to the country in which they were born.

11 (5) Current law provides little avenue for long12 staying alien children to regularize their immigration

13 status. This, in turn, prevents them from continuing

14 their education past high school, making it less like15 ly that they will succeed in life and encouraging

16 many to drop out of high school before graduating.

17 (6) While current law requires State and local

18 governments to provide elementary and secondary

19 education to undocumented alien children, the law

20 effectively precludes State and local governments

21 from providing in-State tuition to these same alien

22 children once they have graduated from high school.

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

24 (1) to provide an opportunity to certain alien

25 children who were brought to the United States at
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1 a young age and have since been acculturated in the

2 United States to adjust their status to lawful perma3 nent residency and become contributing members of

4 United States society;

5 (2) to restore to each State the flexibility to

6 provide in-State tuition to all children residing in the

7 State, including to undocumented alien children; and

8 (3) to permit and encourage alien children who

9 were brought to the United States at a young age

10 and have been educated in United States elementary

11 and secondary schools to continue their education

12 through high school graduation and into college.

13 SEC. 3. ATTORNEY GENERAL AUTHORITY TO ADJUST STA14 TUS OF CERTAIN CHILDREN.

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 240A(b) of the Immigra16 tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1229b(b)) is

17 amended—

18 (1) in paragraph (3)—

19 (A) by striking ‘‘paragraph (1) or (2)’’ and

20 inserting ‘‘paragraph (1), (2), or (3)’’ each

21 place it appears;

22 (B) by redesignating such paragraph as

23 paragraph (5); and

24 (C) by moving such paragraph to follow

25 paragraph (4); and
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1 (2) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol2 lowing new paragraph:

3 ‘‘(3) RULE FOR ALIEN RESIDENTS BROUGHT TO

4 THE UNITED STATES AS CHILDREN.—

5 ‘‘(A) AUTHORITY.—Subject to the restric6 tions in subparagraph (D), the Attorney Gen7 eral shall cancel removal of, and adjust to the

8 status of an alien lawfully admitted for perma9 nent residence, an alien who is inadmissible or

10 deportable from the United States if the alien

11 demonstrates that—

12 ‘‘(i) in the case of an alien who—

13 ‘‘(I) has not attained the age of

14 21 at the time of application, the alien

15 has been physically present in the

16 United States for a continuous period

17 of not less than five years immediately

18 preceding the date of such application,

19 or

20 ‘‘(II) has attained the age of 21

21 but had not attained the age of 25 at

22 the time of application, such alien has

23 been physically present in the United

24 States for a continuous period of not

25 less than five years immediately pre-
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1 ceding the date of such application,

2 including the five years immediately

3 preceding the attainment of the age of

4 21;

5 ‘‘(ii) the alien has been a person of

6 good moral character during the five-year

7 period preceding the application and ad8 mission; and

9 ‘‘(iii) the alien is either a secondary

10 school student in the United States, is at11 tending an accredited two-year or four-year

12 post secondary educational institution in

13 the United States, or has submitted an ap14 plication for admission to an accredited

15 two-year or four-year post-secondary edu16 cational institution in the United States.

17 ‘‘(B) TREATMENT OF MINOR CHILDREN.—

18 The status of an alien shall be adjusted by the

19 Attorney General to that of an alien lawfully

20 admitted for permanent residence if the alien is

21 the child of an alien described in subparagraph

22 (A).

23 ‘‘(C) APPLICATION FOR RELIEF.—The At24 torney General shall provide a procedure by

25 regulation allowing eligible individuals to apply
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1 affirmatively for the relief available under this

2 paragraph without being placed in removal pro3 ceedings.

4 ‘‘(D) RESTRICTIONS ON AUTHORITY.—The

5 provisions of this paragraph shall not apply to

6 any of the following aliens:

7 ‘‘(i) An alien who is inadmissible

8 under section 212(a)(2)(A)(i)(I) or is de9 portable under section 237(a)(2)(A)(i) (re10 lating to crimes of moral turpitude) unless

11 the Attorney General determines that the

12 alien’s removal would result in extreme

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

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

15 the alien’s parent.

16 ‘‘(ii) An alien who is inadmissible

17 under section 212(a)(3) or is deportable

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

19 237(a)(2)(D)(ii) (relating to security and

20 related grounds).’’.

21 (b) EXEMPTION FROM NUMERICAL LIMITATIONS.—

22 Section 240A(e)(3) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1229b(e)) is

23 amended by adding at the end the following new subpara24 graph:
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1 ‘‘(C) Aliens described in subsection

2 (b)(3).’’.

3 SEC. 4. ELIGIBILITY OF CANCELLATION APPLICANTS FOR

4 FEDERAL AND STATE HIGHER EDUCATION

5 ASSISTANCE.

6 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a child

7 who has applied for relief under section 240A(b)(3) of the

8 Immigration and Nationality Act (as added by the section

9 3(a)) but whose application has not been finally adju10 dicated, shall be deemed to be a ‘‘qualified alien’’ under

11 section 431(b) of the Personal Responsibility and Work

12 Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C.

13 1641(b)) for the purpose of receiving any post-secondary

14 education benefit, including any grants, loans, or scholar15 ships.

16 SEC. 5. STATE CONTROL OVER HIGHER EDUCATION ADMIS17 SIONS IN STATE SYSTEMS.

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 505 of the Illegal Immi19 gration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996

20 (division C of Public Law 104–208; 110 Stat 3009–672;

21 8 U.S.C. 1623) is hereby repealed.

22 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The repeal made by sub23 section (a) shall take effect as if included in the enactment
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1 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Respon2 sibility Act of 1996.

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