Protecting Immigrant Gold Star and Military Families Act
Bill: S.4526 | Sponsor: Sen. Booker, Cory A. (D-NJ)
Policy area: Immigration

Summary:
Protecting Immigrant Gold Star and Military Families Act
This bill limits the deportability of certain relatives of current and former members of the Armed Forces.
Certain grounds of deportability shall not apply to a qualifying non-U.S. national (alien under federal law) who is (1) the spouse, widow or widower, parent, child, or sibling of a member of the Armed Forces or a veteran; or (2) eligible for a Gold Star lapel button (for certain immediate relatives of a member of the Armed Forces who died while serving). A qualifying non-U.S. national is one who (1) has not have been convicted of a felony, significant misdemeanor, or three misdemeanors; and (2) is not a threat to national security or public safety.

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to limit the grounds of 
deportability for certain relatives of members of the Armed Forces and 
                   veterans, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Protecting Immigrant Gold Star and 
Military Families Act''.

SEC. 2. LIMITING GROUNDS OF DEPORTABILITY FOR RELATIVES OF MEMBERS OF 
              THE ARMED FORCES AND VETERANS.

    Section 237 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1227) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(e) Alien Relatives of Members of the Armed Forces and 
Veterans.--
            ``(1) In general.--The provisions of this section shall not 
        apply to an alien who--
                    ``(A) is--
                            ``(i) the spouse, widow or widower, parent, 
                        son or daughter, or sibling of--
                                    ``(I) a member of the Armed Forces 
                                of the United States; or
                                    ``(II) a veteran (as that term is 
                                defined in section 101 of title 38, 
                                United States Code); or
                            ``(ii) eligible for the Gold Star lapel 
                        button under section 1126 of title 10, United 
                        States Code; and
                    ``(B) has not been convicted of--
                            ``(i) a felony;
                            ``(ii) a significant misdemeanor; or
                            ``(iii) three or more misdemeanors that are 
                        not significant misdemeanors, each of which 
                        occurred on a different date, and arose out of 
                        separate conduct; and
                    ``(C) is not otherwise a threat to national 
                security or public safety.
            ``(2) Significant misdemeanor defined.--In this subsection, 
        the term `significant misdemeanor' means a misdemeanor--
                    ``(A) which is a crime of domestic violence (as 
                such term is defined in section 237(a)(2)(E)(i) of the 
                Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
                1227(a)(2)(E)(i)));
                    ``(B) which is a sexual assault (as such term is 
                defined in section 40002(a) of the Violent Crime 
                Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 
                13925(a)));
                    ``(C) which involved the unlawful possession of a 
                firearm (as such term is defined in section 921 of 
                title 18, United States Code); or
                    ``(D) for which the alien was sentenced to a term 
                of imprisonment of longer than 90 days.''.
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