I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2235
To suspend certain nonessential visas, in order to provide temporary workload 
relief critical to the successful reorganization of the immigration and 
naturalization functions of the Department of Homeland Security, to 
ensure that the screening and monitoring of arriving immigrants and 
nonimmigrants, and the deterrence of entry and settlement by illegal 
or unauthorized aliens, is sufficient to maintain the integrity of the 
sovereign borders of the United States, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 22, 2003
Mr. GRAVES introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To suspend certain nonessential visas, in order to provide 
temporary workload relief critical to the successful reor-
ganization of the immigration and naturalization func-
tions of the Department of Homeland Security, to ensure 
that the screening and monitoring of arriving immigrants 
and nonimmigrants, and the deterrence of entry and 
settlement by illegal or unauthorized aliens, is sufficient 
to maintain the integrity of the sovereign borders of 
the United States, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS; SEVER-
ABILITY; EFFECTIVE DATE. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Emergency Immigration Workload Reduction and Home-
land Security Enhancement Act of 2003’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents; severability; effective date. 
Sec. 2. Findings. 
Sec. 3. Temporary suspension of visa waiver program. 
Sec. 4. Temporary suspension of adjustment of status. 
Sec. 5. Temporary suspension of renewals of temporary protected status. 
Sec. 6. Temporary suspension of certain immigrant visa programs. 
Sec. 7. Restriction of nonimmigrant visas for nationals of countries denying or 
delaying acceptance of aliens. 
Sec. 8. Waivers of temporary suspensions. 
Sec. 9. Termination of temporary suspensions. 
Sec. 10. Suspension of nonimmigrant visas. 
Sec. 11. Temporary funding for detention and removal assistance provided by 
State and local law enforcement agencies.
(c) SEVERABILITY.—If any provision of this Act, or 
the application of such a provision to any person or cir-
cumstance, is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder 
of the Act, and the application of this Act to any other 
person or circumstance, shall not be affected by such hold-
ing. 
(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This Act shall take effect in 
each local time zone upon the commencement in such zone 
of the first Sunday that occurs two weeks after the date 
of the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds as follows: 
(1) The effective establishment and organiza-
tion of the Directorate of Border and Transpor-
tation Security of the Department of Homeland Se-
curity is imperative if the Directorate is to carry out 
the immigration enforcement responsibilities dele-
gated to it by the Congress in the manner expected 
by the American people. 
(2) The effective implementation of these duties 
will not be achieved without an unacceptable com-
promise to the security interests of the United 
States unless certain immigration programs are tem-
porarily suspended, and other material assistance is 
provided to law enforcement agencies and other enti-
ties that support the immigration enforcement func-
tions of the Directorate, until such time as the Sec-
retary of Homeland Security can make the certifi-
cations to Congress required in section 9. 
(3) Such certifications, taken together, will es-
tablish the effective operational transfer of immigra-
tion enforcement functions to the new Directorate.
SEC. 3. TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF VISA WAIVER PRO-
GRAM. 
The admission of aliens to the United States under 
section 217 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
U.S.C. 1187) is suspended. 
SEC. 4. TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF ADJUSTMENT OF STA-
TUS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The authority of the Secretary of 
Homeland Security to adjust the status of any alien to 
that of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence 
under section 240A of the Immigration and Nationality 
Act (8 U.S.C. 1229b) or section 245 of such Act (8 U.S.C. 
1187), is suspended. 
(b) EFFECT ON APPLICATIONS.—The suspension de-
scribed in subsection (a) shall include the suspension of 
acceptance for filing of applications for the adjustments 
of status described in such subsection. 
SEC. 5. TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF RENEWALS OF TEM-
PORARY PROTECTED STATUS. 
The authority of the Secretary of Homeland Security 
to extend any designation made under subparagraph (B) 
or (C) of section 244(b)(1) of the Immigration and Na-
tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254(b)(1)) is suspended.
SEC. 6. TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF CERTAIN IMMIGRANT 
VISA PROGRAMS. 
(a) BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF CITIZENS.—The al-
location of family-sponsored immigrant visas to alien 
brothers and sisters of citizens under section 203(a)(4) of 
the 
Immigration 
and 
Nationality 
Act 
(8 
U.S.C. 
1153(a)(4)), and the admission of such aliens to the 
United States as immigrants, is suspended. 
(b) SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF CITIZENS.—The allo-
cation of family-sponsored immigrant visas to alien sons 
and daughters of citizens under paragraph (1) or (3) of 
section 203(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
U.S.C. 1153(a)), and the admission of such aliens to the 
United States as immigrants, is suspended. 
(c) UNMARRIED SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF PERMA-
NENT RESIDENT ALIENS.—
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The allocation of family-
sponsored immigrant visas to aliens who are the un-
married sons and daughters (but are not the chil-
dren) of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent 
residence under section 203(a)(2)(B) of the Immi-
gration 
and 
Nationality 
Act 
(8 
U.S.C. 
1153(a)(2)(B)), and the admission of such aliens to 
the United States as immigrants, is suspended. 
(2) CHILDREN.—The allocation of family-spon-
sored immigrant visas to aliens who are the children
of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent resi-
dence under section 203(a)(2)(A) of the Immigra-
tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(a)(2)(A)), 
and the admission of such aliens to the United 
States as immigrants, is suspended, except that this 
paragraph shall not apply to dependent children who 
are under 18 years of age at the time an immigrant 
visa becomes available to the child. 
(d) DIVERSITY IMMIGRANTS.—The allocation of im-
migrant visas to aliens under section 203(c) of the Immi-
gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(c)), and the 
admission of such aliens to the United States as immi-
grants, is suspended. 
(e) EFFECT ON CLASSIFICATION PETITIONS.—The 
suspensions of immigrant visa allocations described in this 
section shall include the suspension of acceptance for filing 
of petitions for classification under section 204 of the Im-
migration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1154) with re-
spect to the affected immigrant visa categories. 
SEC. 7. RESTRICTION OF NONIMMIGRANT VISAS FOR NA-
TIONALS OF COUNTRIES DENYING OR DELAY-
ING ACCEPTANCE OF ALIENS. 
(a) PUBLIC LISTING OF ALIENS WITH NO SIGNIFI-
CANT LIKELIHOOD OF REMOVAL.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Homeland 
Security shall establish and maintain a public listing 
of every alien who is subject to a final order of re-
moval and with respect to whom the Secretary or 
any Federal court has determined that there is no 
significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably 
foreseeable future due to the refusal, or unreason-
able delay, of all countries designated by the alien or 
under this section to receive the alien. 
(2) DISCONTINUATION OF VISAS.—In the case 
of any foreign state for which 24 or more of the citi-
zens, subjects, or nationals of such state appear on 
the public listing described in paragraph (1), such 
foreign state shall be deemed to have denied or un-
reasonably delayed the acceptance of such aliens, 
and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall make 
the notification to the Secretary of State prescribed 
in section 243(d) of the Immigration and Nation-
ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1253(d)). Consular officers in 
such foreign state shall accordingly discontinue the 
issuance of nonimmigrant visas to citizens, subjects, 
or nationals of the state. 
(b) SUNSET.—Subsection (a) shall sunset in accord-
ance with section 9.
SEC. 8. WAIVERS OF TEMPORARY SUSPENSIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Homeland Secu-
rity may, in the Secretary’s discretion—
(1) waive on an individual case-by-case basis 
sections 4, 6, and 7; or 
(2) waive, with the concurrence for the Sec-
retary of State, section 3 for designated classes of 
applicants, if such applicants are not inadmissible 
under section 212(a) of the Immigration and Na-
tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)) or deportable under 
section 237(a) of such Act (8 U.S.C 1227). 
(b) DELEGATION.—The Secretary of Homeland Se-
curity may, in the discretion of the Secretary, delegate to 
the Secretary of State, for designated classes of appli-
cants, the waiver authority of subsection (a)(1) with re-
spect to sections 6 and 7. 
SEC. 9. TERMINATION OF TEMPORARY SUSPENSIONS. 
Sections 3 through 8 shall cease to be effective one 
week after the certification by the Secretary of Homeland 
Security to the Congress that the following conditions are 
satisfied: 
(1) The integrated entry and exit data system 
required by the Immigration and Naturalization 
Service Data Management Improvement Act of 2000 
(Public Law 106–215), including the requirements 
added by section 302(a) of the Enhanced Border Se-
curity and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002 (Public 
Law 107–173), is fully operational at all ports of 
entry. 
(2) The system of machine-readable tamper-re-
sistant visas and other travel and entry documents 
required by section 302(b) of the Enhanced Border 
Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002 (Pub-
lic Law 107–173), as well as the technology stand-
ard for visa waiver program participants required by 
section 302(c) of such Act, are fully operational at 
all ports of entry and, where applicable, at consular 
posts abroad. 
(3) The Department of Homeland Security has 
the operational capability to take into custody and 
remove from the United States any alien described 
in section 237(a) of the Immigration and Nationality 
Act (8 U.S.C. 1227(a)) who has been brought to the 
attention of the Service by a State or local law en-
forcement agency. 
(4) Adequate Federal funds have been appro-
priated and are available to reimburse all verified 
claims described in section 11. 
(5) The data system for the registration of 
aliens under chapter 7 of title II of the Immigration
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 261 et seq.) is fully 
operational and—
(A) is fully compliant with the data system 
integration and interoperability standards en-
acted in section 202(a) of the Enhanced Border 
Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002 
(Public Law 107–173); 
(B) ensures the entry of all registrations 
made in accordance with section 221(b) of the 
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
1201(b)) into the registration system at the 
time at the time of the relevant visa application; 
(C) ensures that all other registrations 
made under procedures required by section 264 
of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1304) are entered into 
the data system within 72 hours of submission 
by the alien of an approved form of registra-
tion; and 
(D) ensures that all notices of change of 
address required by section 265 of such Act (8 
U.S.C. 1305) are entered in the data system 
within 5 working days of submission by the 
alien of an approved change of address form. 
(6) A program for the random audit of the 
backlog of applications for changes in immigration
status by aliens present in the United States exist-
ing on the effective date of this Act has been fully 
implemented by the Department of Homeland Secu-
rity. 
(7) The program described in paragraph (6) re-
liably indicates that the incidence of fraud or false 
statements is no more than 3 percent of all approved 
applications. 
(8) The foreign student monitoring system de-
scribed in section 641 of the Illegal Immigration Re-
form and Immigrant Responsibility Act (8 U.S.C. 
1372), as amended and expanded by sections 501 
and 502 of the Enhanced Border Security and Visa 
Entry Reform Act of 2002 (Public Law 107–173), 
is fully operational, and no educational institution 
certified to receive nonimmigrant students under 
subparagraph (F), (M), or (J) of section 101(a)(15) 
of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
1101(a)(15)) registers or admits aliens present in 
the United States in violation of law. 
(9) The number of aliens removed from the 
United States, during each of 4 months preceding 
the month in which the certification under this sec-
tion is executed, was at least 25 percent higher than 
in the comparable months of the previous year.
(10) All reports and plans, and all operational 
transfers of functions, required under title IV of the 
Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 201 et 
seq.) have been successfully performed and imple-
mented to the extent required by law as of the cer-
tification date. 
(11) The elimination of the backlog of immigra-
tion benefit applications required by section 458 of 
the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Public Law 
107–296; 116 Stat. 2201) has been completed. 
(12) The annual report required by section 
205(b) of the American Competitiveness in the 
Twenty-first Century Act of 2000 (8 U.S.C. 
1574(b)), for the fiscal year preceding the date of 
the certification, has been submitted to the Con-
gress. 
(13) Process changes described in section 
205(b)(2)(C)(vi) of the American Competitiveness in 
the Twenty-first Century Act of 2000 (8 U.S.C. 
1574(b)(2)(C)(vi)) have been implemented and are 
substantially operational. 
SEC. 10. SUSPENSION OF NONIMMIGRANT VISAS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The authority of the Secretary of 
State to issue nonimmigrant visas is suspended. The au-
thority of the Secretary of Homeland Security to admit 
nonimmigrant aliens into the United States is suspended. 
(b) EFFECT
ON APPLICATIONS.—The suspensions 
described in subsection (a) shall include the suspension of 
acceptance for filing of applications for nonimmigrant 
visas and applications for admission as a nonimmigrant. 
(c) WAIVERS
AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary of 
Homeland Security may, in the Secretary’s discretion, 
waive the application of subsection (a) in the case of any 
alien or class of aliens if the following conditions are satis-
fied: 
(1) Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Na-
tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(c), and any other provi-
sion of law authorizing the issuance of diversity im-
migrant visas, is repealed. 
(2) Personal interviews are mandatory for ad-
mission of aliens to the United States under section 
217 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
U.S.C. 1187). 
(3) The Secretary, with the Secretary of State, 
verifies that each alien admitted on the basis of a 
nonimmigrant visa has had a personal interview with 
a consular officer prior to the issuance of the visa. 
(d) CONSTRUCTION.—During any period in which a 
waiver granted under subsection (c) applies to aliens