I
107TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3828
To provide additional protections for battered immigrant families.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 28, 2002
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY (for herself, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. FRANK, Ms.
LOFGREN, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. PLATTS, Mrs. MINK of Hawaii, Ms.
MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Mr. KUCINICH, Ms. WOOLSEY, Ms. KAPTUR,
Mr. PAYNE, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. OWENS, Ms. NORTON, Mr.
FROST, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr.
UNDERWOOD, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Mr. MCDERMOTT,
Mr. BLAGOJEVICH, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. SERRANO,
Mr. FARR of California, Mr. GUTIERREZ, and Mr. TIERNEY) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary,
and in addition to the Committees on Education and the Workforce,
Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Agriculture, for a period
to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned
A BILL
To provide additional protections for battered immigrant
families.
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
‘‘Battered Immigrant Family Relief 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. Eligibility for certain public benefits of aliens suffering from domestic
abuse.
Sec. 3. Ensuring that battered immigrants have access to food stamps and SSI.
Sec. 4. Effect on other goals.
Sec. 5. Reducing an abuser’s control over a battered immigrant’s immigration
case.
Sec. 6. Access to legal services with non-LSC funds for any abuse victim and
access to LSC funds for VAWA cases.
Sec. 7. Access to VAWA relief for battered immigrants brought into the United
States on fiance´e visas.
Sec. 8. Exemption for battered immigrant women who entered the United
States on fiance´e visas from conditional residency status re-
quirement.
Sec. 9. Self-petitioning parents.
Sec. 10. Self-petitioning son or daughter.
Sec. 11. General discretionary waivers for inadmissibility and removal grounds.
Sec. 12. Exceptional circumstances.
Sec. 13. Access to VAWA for visa waiver applicants.
Sec. 14. Collection of information concerning violence against women funding.
Sec. 15. Adjustment of status for certain battered spouses and children of
asylees.
Sec. 16. Effective dates.
SEC. 2. ELIGIBILITY FOR CERTAIN PUBLIC BENEFITS OF
ALIENS SUFFERING FROM DOMESTIC ABUSE.
(a) EXEMPTION FROM SSI AND FOOD STAMPS
BAN.—Section 402(a)(2) of the Personal Responsibility
and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8
U.S.C. 1612(a)(2)) is amended by adding at the end the
following:
‘‘(L) BATTERED ALIENS.—With respect to
eligibility for benefits for a specified Federal
program (as defined in paragraph (3)), para-
graph (1) shall not apply to an alien who—
‘‘(i) is described in section 431(c),
‘‘(ii) is described in section 431(b)
and also is described in section 431(c),
other than paragraphs (1)(B), (2)(B), and
(3)(B), or
‘‘(iii) 
is 
described 
in 
section
431(b)(8).’’.
(b) EXEMPTION
FROM
TANF, MEDICAID, AND
SSBG BAN.—Section 402(b)(2) of the Personal Responsi-
bility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996
(8 U.S.C. 1612(b)(2)) is amended by adding after sub-
paragraph (F) the following new subparagraph:
‘‘(G) BATTERED ALIENS.—An alien who—
‘‘(i) is described in section 431(c),
‘‘(ii) is described in section 431(b)
and also is described in section 431(c),
other than paragraphs (1)(B), (2)(B), and
(3)(B), or
‘‘(iii) 
is 
described 
in 
section
431(b)(8).’’.
(c) EXEMPTION FROM 5-YEAR BAN FOR FEDERAL
MEANS-TESTED PUBLIC BENEFITS.—Section 403(b) of
the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Rec-
onciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1613(b)) is amended
by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(3) BATTERED ALIENS.—An alien who—
‘‘(i) is described in section 431(c),
‘‘(ii) is described in section 431(b) and also
is described in section 431(c), other than para-
graphs (1)(B), (2)(B), and (3)(B), and
‘‘(iii) 
is 
described 
in 
section
431(b)(8).’’.
(d) EXPANSION
OF
DEFINITION
OF
BATTERED
ALIENS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 431(c) of the Per-
sonal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Rec-
onciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1641(c)) is
amended—
(A) in paragraphs (1)(A), (2)(A), and
(3)(A) by inserting ‘‘or the benefits to be pro-
vided would alleviate the harm from such bat-
tery or cruelty or would enable the alien to
avoid such battery or cruelty in the future’’ be-
fore the semicolon; and
(B) in the matter following paragraph (3),
by inserting ‘‘and for determining whether the
benefits to be provided under a specific Federal,
State, or local program would alleviate the
harm from such battery or extreme cruelty or
would enable the alien to avoid such battery or
extreme cruelty in the future’’ before the pe-
riod.
(2) CONFORMING
AMENDMENT
REGARDING
SPONSOR DEEMING.—Section 408(f)(6) of the Social
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 608(f)(6)) is amended—
(A) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘or’’
at the end;
(B) in subparagraph (C), by striking the
period at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and
(C) by adding at the end the following new
subparagraph:
‘‘(D) described in subsection (b)(8) or (c)
of section 431 of the Personal Responsibility
and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of
1996 (8 U.S.C. 1641).’’.
(e) STATUS
AS
QUALIFIED
ALIEN
FOR
NON-
IMMIGRANT ‘‘U’’ VISA HOLDERS.—Section 431(b) of the
Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconcili-
ation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1641(b)) is amended—
(A) by striking ‘or’’ at the end of para-
graph (6);
(B) by striking the period at the end of
paragraph (7) and inserting ‘‘, or’’; and
(C) by adding at the end the following new
paragraph:
‘‘(8) an alien who is a nonimmigrant under sec-
tion 101(a)(15)(U) of the Immigration and Nation-
ality Act.’’.
(f) CONFORMING DEFINITION OF ‘‘FAMILY’’ USED IN
LAWS GRANTING FEDERAL PUBLIC BENEFIT ACCESS
FOR BATTERED ALIENS TO STATE FAMILY LAW.—Sec-
tion 431(c) of the Personal Responsibility and Work Op-
portunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1641(c))
is amended—
(1) in paragraph (1)(A), by striking ‘‘by a
spouse or a parent, or by a member of the spouse
or parent’s family residing in the same household as
the alien and the spouse or parent consented to, or
acquiesced in, such battery or cruelty,’’ and insert-
ing ‘‘by a spouse, parent, son, or daughter, or by
any individual having a relationship with the alien
covered by the civil or criminal domestic violence
statutes of the State or Indian country where the
alien resides, or the State or Indian country in
which the alien, the alien’s child, or the alien child’s
parents received a protection order, or by any indi-
vidual against whom the alien could obtain a protec-
tion order,’’; and
(2) in paragraph (2)(A), by striking ‘‘by a
spouse or parent of the alien (without the active par-
ticipation of the alien in the battery or cruelty), or
by a member of the spouse or parent’s family resid-
ing in the same household as the alien and the
spouse or parent consented or acquiesced to such
battery or cruelty,’’ and inserting ‘‘by a spouse, par-
ent, son, or daughter of the alien (without the active
participation of alien in the battery or cruelty) or by
any individual having a relationship with the alien
covered by the civil or criminal domestic violence
statutes of the State or Indian county where the
alien resides, or the State or Indian country in
which the alien, the alien’s child, or the alien child’s
parent received a protection order, or by any indi-
vidual against whom the alien could obtain a protec-
tion order,’’.
(g) TREATMENT OF FAMILY-SPONSORED BATTERED
ALIENS UNDER THE PUBLIC CHARGE PROVISIONS OF
SECTION 212 OF THE INA.—Section 212(a)(4)(A) of the
Immigration 
and 
Nationality 
Act 
(8 
U.S.C.
1182(a)(4)(A)) is amended—
(1) by inserting ‘‘(i)’’ before ‘‘Any alien’’;
(2) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(ii) The provisions of this paragraph
shall not apply to an alien who is—