I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 87
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to restore certain provisions
relating to the definition of aggravated felony and other provisions as
they were before the enactment of the Illegal Immigration Reform and
Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 3, 2001
Mr. FILNER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to restore
certain provisions relating to the definition of aggravated
felony and other provisions as they were before the enact-
ment of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant
Responsibility Act of 1996.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the
‘‘Keeping Families Together Act of 2001’’.
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of
this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Restoration of definition of aggravated felony (repeal of section 321 of
IIRIRA).
Sec. 3. Restoration of detention policy.
Sec. 4. Repeal of time stop provisions.
Sec. 5. Repeal of section 101(a)(48).
Sec. 6. Restoration of section 212(c).
Sec. 7. Restoration of judicial review provisions.
Sec. 8. Post-proceeding relief for affected aliens.
SEC. 2. RESTORATION OF DEFINITION OF AGGRAVATED
FELONY (REPEAL OF SECTION 321 OF IIRIRA).
(a) IN GENERAL.—Effective as if included in the en-
actment of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant
Responsibility Act of 1996 (division C of Public Law 104–
208), section 321 of such Act is repealed and the provi-
sions of law amended by such section are restored as if
such section had not been enacted.
(b) RESTORATION
OF RIGHTS.—Any alien whose
legal permanent resident status, application for permanent
residence, or application for cancellation of removal, was
affected by the changes in the definition of ‘‘aggravated
felony’’ made by such section 321 may apply to the Attor-
ney General to be considered for adjustment of status or
cancellation of removal in conformance with the provisions
of section 101(a)(43) of the Immigration and Nationality
Act, as restored by subsection (a).
SEC. 3. RESTORATION OF DETENTION POLICY.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 236(c) of the Immigration
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1226(c)) is amended to
read as follows:
‘‘(c) DETENTION OF CRIMINAL ALIENS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall
take into custody any alien convicted of an aggra-
vated felony upon release of the alien (regardless of
whether or not such release is on parole, supervised
release, or probation, and regardless of the possi-
bility of rearrest or further confinement in respect of
the same offense). Notwithstanding subsection (a) or
section 241(a) but subject to paragraph (2), the At-
torney General shall not release such felon from cus-
tody.
‘‘(2) NON-RELEASE.—The Attorney General
may not release from custody any who has been con-
victed of an aggravated felony, either before or after
a determination of removability, unless—
‘‘(A)(i) the alien was lawfully admitted, or
‘‘(ii) the alien was not lawfully admitted
but the alien cannot be removed because the
designated country of removal will not accept
the alien; and
‘‘(B) the alien satisfies the Attorney Gen-
eral that the alien will not pose a danger to the
safety of other persons or of property and is
likely to appear for any scheduled proceeding.’’.
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by
subsection (a) shall be effective as if included in the Illegal
Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of
1996.
SEC. 4. REPEAL OF TIME STOP PROVISIONS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 240A(d) of the Immigra-
tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1229b(d)) is repealed.
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The repeal made by sub-
section (a) shall be effective as if included in the enact-
ment of subtitle A of title III of the Illegal Immigration
Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996.
SEC. 5. REPEAL OF SECTION 101(A)(48).
(a) IN
GENERAL.—Paragraph (48) of section
101(a)(48) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8
U.S.C. 1101(a)) is repealed.
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The repeal made by sub-
section (a) shall take effect as if included in the enactment
of section 322(a) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and
Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996.
SEC. 6. RESTORATION OF SECTION 212(C).
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 212 of the Immigration
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182) is amended by insert-
ing after subsection (b) the following new subsection:
‘‘(c) Aliens lawfully admitted for permanent residence
who temporarily proceeded abroad voluntarily and not
under an order of deportation or removal, and who are
returning to a lawful unrelinquished domicile of seven con-
secutive years, may be admitted in the discretion of the
Attorney General without regard to the provisions of sub-
section (a) (other than paragraphs (3) and (10)(C)).
Nothing contained in this subsection shall limit the au-
thority of the Attorney General to exercise the discretion
vested in him under section 211(b). The first sentence of
this subsection shall not apply to an alien who has been
convicted of one or more aggravated felonies and has
served for such felony or felonies a term of imprisonment
of at least 5 years.’’.
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by
subsection (a) applies as of April 24, 1996, as if section
440(d) of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty
Act of 1996 (Public Law 104–132) and section 304(b) of
Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility
Act of 1996 (division C of Public Law 104–208) had not
been enacted.
SEC. 7. RESTORATION OF JUDICIAL REVIEW PROVISIONS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 242 of the Immigration
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1252) is amended to read
as follows:
‘‘JUDICIAL REVIEW OF ORDERS OF REMOVAL
‘‘SEC. 242. (a) The procedure prescribed by, and all
the provisions of chapter 158 of title 28, United States
Code, shall apply to, and shall be the sole and exclusive
procedure for, the judicial review of all final orders of re-
moval heretofore or hereafter made against aliens within
the United States pursuant to administrative proceedings
under section 240 of this Act or comparable provisions of
any prior Act, except that—
‘‘(1) a petition for review may be filed not later
than 90 days after the date of the issuance of the
final removal order, or, in the case of an alien con-
victed of an aggravated felony not later than 30
days after the issuance of such order;
‘‘(2) the venue of any petition for review under
this section shall be in the judicial circuit in which
the administrative proceedings before an immigra-
tion judge were conducted in whole or in part, or in
the judicial circuit wherein is the residence, as de-
fined in this Act, of the petitioner, but not in more
than one circuit;
‘‘(3) the action shall be brought against the Im-
migration and Naturalization Service, as respondent.
Service of the petition to review shall be made upon
the Attorney General of the United States and upon
the official of the Immigration and Naturalization
Service in charge of the Service district in which the
office of the clerk of the court is located. The service
district where the petitioner has his residence for
hearing de novo of the nationality claim and deter-
mination as if such proceedings were originally initi-
ated in the district court under the provisions of sec-
tion 2201 of title 28, United States Code. Any such
petitioner shall not be entitled to have such issue de-
termined under section 360(a) of this Act or other-
wise;
‘‘(6) whenever a petitioner seeks review of an
order under this section, any review sought with re-
spect to a motion to reopen or reconsider such an
order shall be consolidated with the review of the
order;
‘‘(7) if the validity of a removal order has not
been judicially determined, its validity may be chal-
lenged in a criminal proceeding against the alien for
violation of subsection (a) or (b) of section 243 of
this Act only by separate motion for judicial review
before trial. Such motion shall be determined by the
court without a jury and before the trial of the gen-
eral issue. Whenever a claim to United States na-
tionality is made in such motion, and in the opinion
of the court, a genuine issue of material fact as to
the alien’s nationality is presented, the court shall
accord him a hearing de novo on the nationality