Save America Comprehensive Immigration Act of 2005

Bill: 109-hr-2092
Sponsor: Rep. Jackson-Lee, Sheila [D-TX-18]
Introduced: 2005-05-04 in the House
Policy area: Immigration
Subjects: Administrative fees
Administrative procedure
Administrative remedies
Admission of nonimmigrants
Adoption
Advertising
Africa (Sub-Saharan)
Agriculture and Food
Aid to dependent children
Airports
Alien labor
Aliens
Americans in foreign countries
Arrest
Automobile theft
Block grants
Border patrols
Boundaries
Bribery
Caribbean area
Cash welfare block grants
Child abuse
Child labor
Child sexual abuse
Citizenship
Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues
Confidential communications
Congress
Congressional reporting requirements
Conspiracy
Counterfeiting
Courthouses
Crime and Law Enforcement
Criminal investigation
Criminal justice information
Custody of children
Data banks
Department of Homeland Security
Department of Justice
Department of State
Deportation
Detention of persons
Discrimination in employment
Drug abuse
Drug traffic
Economics and Public Finance
Education
Elementary and secondary education
Elementary education
Employee rights
English language
Ethics
Evidence (Law)
Ex-offenders
Executive reorganization
Families
Family violence
Fathers
Federal aid to law enforcement
Federal-local relations
Federal-state relations
Finance and Financial Sector
Fines (Penalties)
Fingerprints
Food stamps
Forced labor
Forgery
Fraud
Gambling
Government Operations and Politics
Government paperwork
Government publicity
Governmental investigations
Grandparents
Haiti
Haitians
Health
Higher education
Hours of labor
Housing and Community Development
Immigrants
Imprisonment
Informers
Injunctions
International Affairs
Jurisdiction
Labor and Employment
Larceny
Latin America
Law
Legal aid
Legal education
Legal services
Liability (Law)
Liberia
Local laws
Marriage
Married people
Medicaid
Minorities
Minority employment
Naturalization
Obstruction of justice
Occupational health and safety
Occupational retraining
Organized crime
Orphans
Parents
Passports
Perjury
Police training
Prosecution
Prostitution
Public prosecutors
Rape
Reading
Recruiting of employees
Refugees
Residence requirements
Right of asylum
Science, Technology, Communications
Secondary education
Sentences (Criminal procedure)
Sex discrimination
Siblings
Single-parent families
Slavery
Smuggling
Social Welfare
State laws
Sunset legislation
Supplemental security income program
Surety and fidelity
Transportation and Public Works
Unemployment
Victims of crimes
Violence
Visas
Wages
Welfare eligibility
Widowers
Widows
Wife abuse
Witnesses
Women
Women's shelters

Summary:
action_date: 2005-05-04
text: 
Save America Comprehensive Immigration Act of 2005 - Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to provide increased protections and eligibility for family-sponsored immigrants.
 
Authorizes the Secretary of Homeland Security (Secretary) to adjust the status of aliens who would otherwise be inadmissible (due to unlawful presence, document fraud, or other specified grounds of inadmissibility) if such aliens have been in the United States for at least five years and meet other requirements. 
 
Establishes the Task Force on Fraudulent Immigration Documents.
 
 Authorizes S (witness or informant) nonimmigrant status for aliens in possession of critical reliable information concerning commercial alien smuggling or trafficking in immigration documents. 
 
 Requires petitioners for nonimmigrant labor to describe their efforts to recruit lawful permanent residents (LPRs) or U.S. citizens. 
 
 Makes permanent an INA provision allowing adjustment of status of certain aliens for whom family-sponsored or employment-based applications or petitions were filed by a specified date.
 
 Lessens immigration consequences for minor criminal offenses. Eliminates retroactive changes in grounds of inadmissibility and removal.
 
 Increases the worldwide level of diversity immigrants. 
 
 Authorizes adjustment of status for certain nationals or citizens of Haiti and Liberia.
 
 Eliminates mandatory detention in expedited removal proceedings.
 
 Amends the Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act of 1998 to: (1) waive document fraud as a ground of inadmissibility; and (2) address determinations with respect to children.
 
 Eliminates the one-year filing requirement for asylum applicants. Includes gender persecution within the particular social group category of persecution.
 
 Amends the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 to eliminate a provision prohibiting restrictions on the communication of immigration status information by a government entity. 
 
Amends the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (Welfare Reform Act) to eliminate a provision requiring an alien's verification of eligibility for public benefits. Eliminates state authority under INA to carry out immigration functions.
 
Amends the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 to clarify eligibility for relief.
 
Amends the Violence Against Women Act of 2000 (VAWA) to apply that Act's deportation protections for transitional relief to all VAWA petitioners. 
 
Provides a range of immigration protections for abused aliens. Amends the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1998, to provide access to legal services for such aliens. Amends the Welfare Reform Act to make such aliens eligible for certain public benefits.
 
Authorizes the Attorney General to award trafficking-related law enforcement training grants to eligible entities.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2006-01-20
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity.
action_date: 2005-07-19
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR H6081)
action_date: 2005-06-21
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR H4866-4867)
action_date: 2005-06-06
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Claims.
action_date: 2005-05-25
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR H4000)
action_date: 2005-05-23
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Chairman.
action_date: 2005-05-19
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Economic Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Cybersecurity.
action_date: 2005-05-18
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Department Operations, Oversight, Nutrition and Forestry.
action_date: 2005-05-18
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR H3501)
action_date: 2005-05-17
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Human Resources.
action_date: 2005-05-17
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR H3366, H3373)
action_date: 2005-05-04
text: Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, Agriculture, Homeland Security, and Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2005-05-04
text: Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, Agriculture, Homeland Security, and Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2005-05-04
text: Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, Agriculture, Homeland Security, and Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2005-05-04
text: Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, Agriculture, Homeland Security, and Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2005-05-04
text: Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, Agriculture, Homeland Security, and Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2005-05-04
text: Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, Agriculture, Homeland Security, and Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2005-05-04
text: Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, Agriculture, Homeland Security, and Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2005-05-04
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2005-05-04
text: Introduced in House