I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4272 
To designate The Bahamas under section 244 of the Immigration and Nation-
ality Act to permit nationals of The Bahamas to be eligible for temporary 
protected status, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 10, 2019 
Ms. CLARKE of New York (for herself, Ms. PLASKETT, and Ms. LEE of Cali-
fornia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To designate The Bahamas under section 244 of the Immi-
gration and Nationality Act to permit nationals of The 
Bahamas to be eligible for temporary protected status, 
and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘TPS for Victims of 
Hurricane Dorian Act of 2019’’. 
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SEC. 2. DESIGNATION FOR PURPOSES OF GRANTING TEM-
PORARY PROTECTED STATUS TO NATIONALS 
OF THE BAHAMAS. 
(a) DESIGNATION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of section 244 
of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
1254a), The Bahamas shall be treated as if it had 
been designated under subsection (b) of that section, 
subject to the provisions of this section. 
(2) PERIOD OF DESIGNATION.—The initial pe-
riod of the designation referred to in paragraph (1) 
shall be for the 18-month period beginning on the 
date of the enactment of this Act. 
(b) ALIENS ELIGIBLE.—As a result of the designa-
tion made under subsection (a), an alien who is a national 
of The Bahamas is deemed to satisfy the requirements 
under paragraph (1) of section 244(c) of the Immigration 
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a(c)), subject to para-
graph (3) of such section, if the alien— 
(1) has been continuously physically present in 
the United States since the date of the enactment of 
this Act; 
(2) is admissible as an immigrant, except as 
otherwise provided in paragraph (2)(A) of such sec-
tion, and is not ineligible for temporary protected 
status under paragraph (2)(B) of such section; and 
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(3) registers for temporary protected status in 
a manner established by the Secretary of Homeland 
Security. 
(c) CONSENT TO TRAVEL ABROAD.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Homeland 
Security shall give prior consent to travel abroad, in 
accordance with section 244(f)(3) of the Immigra-
tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a(f)(3)), to 
an alien who is granted temporary protected status 
pursuant to the designation made under subsection 
(a) if the alien establishes to the satisfaction of the 
Secretary of Homeland Security that emergency and 
extenuating circumstances beyond the control of the 
alien require the alien to depart for a brief, tem-
porary trip abroad. 
(2) TREATMENT UPON RETURN.—An alien re-
turning to the United States in accordance with an 
authorization described in paragraph (1) shall be 
treated as any other returning alien provided tem-
porary protected status under section 244 of the Im-
migration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a). 
Æ 
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