I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2453 

To amend section 212(d)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act to 

reform immigration parole, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 30, 2023 

Mr. TIFFANY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend section 212(d)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act to reform immigration parole, and for other 

purposes. 

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 ‘‘Immigration Parole 

5 Reform Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. IMMIGRATION PAROLE REFORM. 

7 Section 212(d)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality 

8 Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(d)(5)) is amended to read as follows: 

9 ‘‘(5)(A) Except as provided in subparagraphs 

10 (B) and (C) and section 214(f), the Secretary of 


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1 Homeland Security, in the discretion of the Sec2 retary, may temporarily parole into the United 

3 States any alien applying for admission to the 

4 United States who is not present in the United 

5 States, under such conditions as the Secretary may 

6 prescribe, on a case-by-case basis, and not according 

7 to eligibility criteria describing an entire class of po8 tential parole recipients, for urgent humanitarian 

9 reasons or significant public benefit. Parole granted 

10 under this subparagraph may not be regarded as an 

11 admission of the alien. When the purposes of such 

12 parole have been served in the opinion of the Sec13 retary, the alien shall immediately return or be re14 turned to the custody from which the alien was pa15 roled. After such return, the case of the alien shall 

16 be dealt with in the same manner as the case of any 

17 other applicant for admission to the United States. 

18 ‘‘(B) The Secretary of Homeland Security may 

19 grant parole to any alien who— 

20 ‘‘(i) is present in the United States without 

21 lawful immigration status; 

22 ‘‘(ii) is the beneficiary of an approved peti23 tion under section 203(a); 

24 ‘‘(iii) is not otherwise inadmissible or re25 movable; and 


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1 ‘‘(iv) is the spouse or child of a member of 

2 the Armed Forces serving on active duty. 

3 ‘‘(C) The Secretary of Homeland Security may 

4 grant parole to any alien— 

5 ‘‘(i) who is a national of the Republic of 

6 Cuba and is living in the Republic of Cuba; 

7 ‘‘(ii) who is the beneficiary of an approved 

8 petition under section 203(a); 

9 ‘‘(iii) for whom an immigrant visa is not 

10 immediately available; 

11 ‘‘(iv) who meets all eligibility requirements 

12 for an immigrant visa; 

13 ‘‘(v) who is not otherwise inadmissible; and 

14 ‘‘(vi) who is receiving a grant of parole in 

15 furtherance of the commitment of the United 

16 States to the minimum level of annual legal mi17 gration of Cuban nationals to the United States 

18 specified in the U.S.-Cuba Joint Communique ́

19 on Migration, done at New York September 9, 

20 1994, and reaffirmed in the Cuba-United 

21 States: Joint Statement on Normalization of 

22 Migration, Building on the Agreement of Sep23 tember 9, 1994, done at New York May 2, 

24 1995. 


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1 ‘‘(D) The Secretary of Homeland Security may 

2 grant parole to an alien who is returned to a contig3 uous country under section 235(b)(2)(C) to allow 

4 the alien to attend the alien’s immigration hearing. 

5 The grant of parole shall not exceed the time re6 quired for the alien to be escorted to, and attend, 

7 the alien’s immigration hearing scheduled on the 

8 same calendar day as the grant, and to immediately 

9 thereafter be escorted back to the contiguous coun10 try. A grant of parole under this subparagraph shall 

11 not be considered for purposes of determining 

12 whether the alien is inadmissible under this Act. 

13 ‘‘(E) For purposes of determining an alien’s eli14 gibility for parole under subparagraph (A), an ur15 gent humanitarian reason shall be limited to cir16 cumstances in which the alien establishes that— 

17 ‘‘(i)(I) the alien has a medical emergency; 

18 and 

19 ‘‘(II)(aa) the alien cannot obtain necessary 

20 treatment in the foreign state in which the alien 

21 is residing; or 

22 ‘‘(bb) the medical emergency is life-threat23 ening and there is insufficient time for the alien 

24 to be admitted through the normal visa process; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) the alien is the parent or legal guard2 ian of an alien described in clause (i) and the 

3 alien described in clause (i) is a minor; 

4 ‘‘(iii) the alien is needed in the United 

5 States in order to donate an organ or other tis6 sue for transplant and there is insufficient time 

7 for the alien to be admitted through the normal 

8 visa process; 

9 ‘‘(iv) the alien has a close family member 

10 in the United States whose death is imminent 

11 and the alien could not arrive in the United 

12 States in time to see such family member alive 

13 if the alien were to be admitted through the 

14 normal visa process; 

15 ‘‘(v) the alien is seeking to attend the fu16 neral of a close family member and the alien 

17 could not arrive in the United States in time to 

18 attend such funeral if the alien were to be ad19 mitted through the normal visa process; 

20 ‘‘(vi) the alien is an adopted child with an 

21 urgent medical condition who is in the legal 

22 custody of the petitioner for a final adoption-re23 lated visa and whose medical treatment is re24 quired before the expected award of a final 

25 adoption-related visa; or 


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1 ‘‘(vii) the alien is a lawful applicant for ad2 justment of status under section 245 and is re3 turning to the United States after temporary 

4 travel abroad. 

5 ‘‘(F) For purposes of determining an alien’s eli6 gibility for parole under subparagraph (A), a signifi7 cant public benefit may be determined to result from 

8 the parole of an alien only if— 

9 ‘‘(i) the alien has assisted (or will assist, 

10 whether knowingly or not) the United States 

11 Government in a law enforcement matter; 

12 ‘‘(ii) the alien’s presence is required by the 

13 Government in furtherance of such law enforce14 ment matter; and 

15 ‘‘(iii) the alien is inadmissible, does not 

16 satisfy the eligibility requirements for admission 

17 as a nonimmigrant, or there is insufficient time 

18 for the alien to be admitted through the normal 

19 visa process. 

20 ‘‘(G) For purposes of determining an alien’s eli21 gibility for parole under subparagraph (A), the term 

22 ‘case-by-case basis’ means that the facts in each in23 dividual case are considered and parole is not grant24 ed based on membership in a defined class of aliens 

25 to be granted parole. The fact that aliens are considVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Apr 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2453.IH H2453

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1 ered for or granted parole one-by-one and not as a 

2 group is not sufficient to establish that the parole 

3 decision is made on a ‘case-by-case basis’. 

4 ‘‘(H) The Secretary of Homeland Security may 

5 not use the parole authority under this paragraph to 

6 parole an alien into the United States for any reason 

7 or purpose other than those described in subpara8 graphs (B), (C), (D), (E), and (F). 

9 ‘‘(I) An alien granted parole may not accept 

10 employment, except that an alien granted parole 

11 pursuant to subparagraph (B) or (C) is authorized 

12 to accept employment for the duration of the parole, 

13 as evidenced by an employment authorization docu14 ment issued by the Secretary of Homeland Security. 

15 ‘‘(J) Parole granted after a departure from the 

16 United States shall not be regarded as an admission 

17 of the alien. An alien granted parole, whether as an 

18 initial grant of parole or parole upon reentry into 

19 the United States, is not eligible to adjust status to 

20 lawful permanent residence or for any other immi21 gration benefit if the immigration status the alien 

22 had at the time of departure did not authorize the 

23 alien to adjust status or to be eligible for such ben24 efit. 


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1 ‘‘(K)(i) Except as provided in clauses (ii) and 

2 (iii), parole shall be granted to an alien under this 

3 paragraph for the shorter of— 

4 ‘‘(I) a period of sufficient length to accom5 plish the activity described in subparagraph 

6 (D), (E), or (F) for which the alien was grant7 ed parole; or 

8 ‘‘(II) 1 year. 

9 ‘‘(ii) Grants of parole pursuant to subparagraph 

10 (A) may be extended once, in the discretion of the 

11 Secretary, for an additional period that is the short12 er of— 

13 ‘‘(I) the period that is necessary to accom14 plish the activity described in subparagraph (E) 

15 or (F) for which the alien was granted parole; 

16 or 

17 ‘‘(II) 1 year. 

18 ‘‘(iii) Aliens who have a pending application to 

19 adjust status to permanent residence under section 

20 245 may request extensions of parole under this 

21 paragraph, in 1-year increments, until the applica22 tion for adjustment has been adjudicated. Such pa23 role shall terminate immediately upon the denial of 

24 such adjustment application. 


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1 ‘‘(L) Not later than 90 days after the last day 

2 of each fiscal year, the Secretary of Homeland Secu3 rity shall submit to the Committee on the Judiciary 

4 of the Senate and the Committee on the Judiciary 

5 of the House of Representatives and make available 

6 to the public, a report— 

7 ‘‘(i) identifying the total number of aliens 

8 paroled into the United States under this para9 graph during the previous fiscal year; and 

10 ‘‘(ii) containing information and data re11 garding all aliens paroled during such fiscal 

12 year, including— 

13 ‘‘(I) the duration of parole; 

14 ‘‘(II) the type of parole; and 

15 ‘‘(III) the current status of the aliens 

16 so paroled.’’. 

17 SEC. 3. IMPLEMENTATION. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 

19 (b), this Act and the amendments made by this Act shall 

20 take effect on the date that is 30 days after the date of 

21 the enactment of this Act. 

22 (b) EXCEPTIONS.—Notwithstanding subsection (a), 

23 each of the following exceptions apply: 

24 (1) Any application for parole or advance parole 

25 filed by an alien before the date of the enactment of 


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1 this Act shall be adjudicated under the law that was 

2 in effect on the date on which the application was 

3 properly filed and any approved advance parole shall 

4 remain valid under the law that was in effect on the 

5 date on which the advance parole was approved. 

6 (2) Section 212(d)(5)(J) of the Immigration 

7 and Nationality Act, as added by section 2, shall 

8 take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act. 

9 (3) Aliens who were paroled into the United 

10 States pursuant to section 212(d)(5)(A) of the Im11 migration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

12 1182(d)(5)(A)) before January 1, 2023, shall con13 tinue to be subject to the terms of parole that were 

14 in effect on the date on which their respective parole 

15 was approved. 

16 SEC. 4. CAUSE OF ACTION. 

17 Any person, State, or local government that experi18 ences financial harm in excess of $1,000 due to a failure 

19 of the Federal Government to lawfully apply the provisions 

20 of this Act or the amendments made by this Act shall have 

21 standing to bring a civil action against the Federal Gov22 ernment in an appropriate district court of the United 

23 States for appropriate relief. 


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1 SEC. 5. SEVERABILITY. 

2 If any provision of this Act or any amendment by 

3 this Act, or the application of such provision or amend4 ment to any person or circumstance, is held to be uncon5 stitutional, the remainder of this Act and the application 

6 of such provision or amendment to any other person or 

7 circumstance shall not be affected. 

Æ 


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