Topic: Immigration — Immigration
Subject: Immigration
Date: 2007-03-22 00:00:00

Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy Act of 2007 or STRIVE Act of 2007- Prohibits the Secretary of Homeland Security from implementing the New Worker Program established in title IV or grant conditional nonimmigrant classification under title VI of this Act prior to certification to the President and to Congress that specified conditions have been met respecting: (1) border security; (2) document security; and (3) first phase implementation of the electronic employment verification system. Sets forth border security and enforcement provisions, including provisions respecting: (1) personnel and asset increases and enhancements; (2) a National Strategy for Border Security; (3) border security initiatives, including biometric data enhancements and a biometric entry-exit system, and document integrity, (4) international cooperation; (5) Central American gangs; and (6) National Guard use on the southern border. Authorizes a border relief grant program for a tribal, state, or local law enforcement agency in a county: (1) no more than 100 miles from a U.S. border with Canada or Mexico; or (2) more than 100 miles from any such border but which is a high impact area. Sets forth protections for asylum seekers and other immigrants who are subject to expedited removal and/or detention. Establishes within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) an Office of Detention Oversight. Provides for a secure (detention) alternatives program. Directs the Secretary to develop a plan to combat human smuggling. Sets forth interior enforcement provisions, including provisions respecting: (1) criminal aliens; (2) voluntary departure; (3) expedited removal; (4) background checks; (5) the state criminal alien assistance program; (6) tribal lands security; (7) state and local enforcement of immigration laws; (8) detention and alternatives; (9) passport and immigration fraud; (10) illegal entry and reentry; (11) detention and removal; (12) criminal penalties; (13) alien street gang members; and (14) alien smuggling. Makes it unlawful to knowingly hire, recruit, or refer for a fee an unauthorized alien. Sets forth verification provisions. Provides for implementation of an electronic employment verification system, which shall include required, voluntary, and excluded employer categories. Sets forth system provisions respecting: (1) procedures; (2) criminal and civil penalties; and (3) privacy and anti-discrimination safeguards. Provides for additional worksite and fraud detection personnel. Establishes a temporary guest worker program (H-2C visa) (New Worker Program) of 400,000 initial entrants. Provides for: (1) a three-year admission with one additional three-year extension; (2) issuance of H-4 nonimmigrant visas for accompanying or following spouses and children; (3) U.S. and guest worker protections; (4) implementation of an alien employment management system; (5) specified employer obligations; and (6) establishment of a Standing Commission on Immigration and Labor Markets. Provides for H-2C adjustment of status to permanent resident if the alien: (1) has been employed in H-2C status for a cumulative period of at least five years and establishes evidence of employment; (2) pays a $500 application fee; (3) is physically present in the United States; and (4) is pursuing English language and U.S. history education. Directs the Secretary of State to negotiate bilateral agreements with H-2C worker home countries. Sets forth backlog reduction provisions respecting: (1) family-sponsored and employment-based immigrant levels, including recapture of unused visas; (2) country limits; (3) immigrant visa allocations; (4) shortage occupations; (5) nurses and physical therapists; (6) Iraqi and Afghan translators; (7) aliens of extraordinary artistic ability; (8) Canadian powerline workers and boilermakers; (9) aliens in specialty occupations; (10) U.S. educated immigrants; (11) students; (12) L-visa (intracompany transfer) aliens; and (13) minor children and widows. Provides for status adjustment filing of qualifying employment based immigrants regardless of whether an immigrant visa is immediately available. Establishes a special immigrant category for certain children and women at risk of harm. Exempt sons and daughters of Filipino World War II veterans who were naturalized under the Immigration Act of 1990 from worldwide or numerical limitations on immigrant visas. Provides that determinations under the Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act of 1998 as to whether an individual is a child of a parent shall be made using the individual's age and status on October 21, 1998. Expands the S-visa (witness/informant) classification. Limits the L-visa (intracompany transfer) classification. Replaces the existing fashion model H-1B visa classification with an O-visa classification. Return of Talent Act - Directs the Secretary to establish the return of talent program to permit eligible aliens to temporarily return to their country of citizenship in order to make a material contribution if the country is engaged in post-conflict or natural disaster reconstruction activities. Major Disaster and Emergency Victims Immigration Benefits Preservation Act - Sets forth disaster- or emergency-related immigration benefit preservation provisions respecting: (1) special immigrant status; (2) filing or reentry deadline extensions; (3) surviving spouses and children, including surviving spouses and children of refugees and asylees; (4) waiver of public charge inadmissibility grounds; (5) age-out protection; (6) documents and address requirements; and (7) foreign students. Authorizes a six-year conditional nonimmigrant status for a qualifying alien (and spouse and children as conditional nonimmigrant dependents) who has been illegally and continually present and employed in the United States since before June 1, 2006 up to the present. Requires: (1) criminal and security background checks; (2) payment of a $500 fine and applicable application fees; and (3) payment of tax obligations. Prohibits such status for an alien who has: (1) participated in persecutions; or (2) been convicted of a felony or three or more misdemeanors. Permits permanent resident status adjustment. Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act of 2007 or DREAM Act of 2007 - Repeals the denial of an unlawful alien's eligibility for higher education benefits based on state residence unless a U.S. national is similarly eligible without regard to such state residence. Authorizes the Secretary to cancel the removal of, and adjust to conditional permanent resident status, an alien who: (1) entered the United States before his or her sixteenth birthday, and has been present in the United States for at least five years immediately preceding enactment of this Act; (2) is a person of good moral character; (3) is not inadmissible or deportable under specified grounds; (4) at the time of application, has been admitted to an institution of higher education, or has earned a high school or equivalent diploma; and (5) from the age of 16 and older, has never been under a final order of exclusion, deportation, or removal. Sets forth the conditions for conditional permanent resident status. Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits, and Security Act of 2007 or AgJOBS Act of 2007 - Directs the Secretary to confer "blue card status" upon an alien who: (1) has performed agricultural employment in the United States for at least 863 hours or 150 work days during the 24-month period ending on December 31, 2006; (2) applied for such status during the 18-month application period beginning on the first day of the seventh month that begins after the date of enactment of this Act; (3) is otherwise admissible to the United States; and (4) has not been convicted of any felony or a misdemeanor, an element of which involves bodily injury, threat of serious bodily injury, or harm to property in excess of $500. Directs the Secretary to adjust a blue card alien (and spouse and minor children) to permanent resident status if the alien has fulfilled specified periods of agricultural employment. Amends the Social Security Act to exempt blue card aliens from prosecution for social security-related identity or payment false statements if such conduct occurred prior to the granting of blue card status. Revises H-2A visa (agricultural labor or temporary or seasonal services) provisions. Replaces the existing labor certification requirement with a labor attestation requirement containing: (1) a description of the nature and location of the job; (2) the job's expected beginning and ending dates; (3) the number of jobs; and (4) specified labor assurances respecting job opportunities covered by collective bargaining agreements and non-covered job opportunities. Authorizes an initial entry, adjustment, and citizenship assistance grant program. Strengthening American Citizenship Act of 2007 - Directs the Chief of the Office of Citizenship of DHS to provide grants to assist legal U.S. residents who declare an intent to apply for citizenship in the United States to meet naturalization requirements. Provides that a legal U.S. resident who demonstrates English fluency will satisfy the residency requirement upon the completion of four years (currently, five years) of continuous U.S. legal residency. Directs the Secretary to establish an American citizenship grant program for qualified entities to provide civics, history, and English classes to promote the patriotic integration of prospective citizens. Authorizes the Secretary to establish the United States Citizenship Foundation to support the functions of the Office of Citizenship. Establishes a new citizens award program to recognize citizens who: (1) have made an outstanding contribution to the United States; and (2) were naturalized during the ten-year period ending on the date of such recognition. Authorizes the Secretary of State to award a grant to a U.S. land grant university to establish a national program for a broad, university-based Mexican rural poverty mitigation program. Provides for increases in DHS immigration attorneys and Department of Justice immigration attorneys and judges. Expresses the sense of Congress that an effective and fair immigration court system should be established. Sets forth citizenship assistance provisions for members of the Armed Forces. Provides permanent resident status adjustment or cancellation of removal and permanent resident status adjustment for a requesting alien who was on September 10, 2001, the wife, child, or dependent son or daughter of a lawful nonimmigrant alien who died as a result of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the United States. Authorizes an alien who is under removal or ordered to depart voluntarily from the United States to apply for such status adjustment. Excludes from such provisions an alien who is: (1) inadmissible or deportable under criminal or security grounds, including September 11, 2001, terrorist activity; or (2) a family member of such an alien. Establishes: (1) the Office of Internal Corruption Investigation; (2) the State Impact Assistance Account; and (3) the New Worker Program and Conditional Nonimmigrant Fee Account; and (4) the Immigrant Entrepeneur Regional Account Center. Provide permanent resident status adjustment for certain persecuted religious minorities. Establishes grants for state courts to implement programs to assist individuals with limited English proficiency to understand court proceedings. Provides for notice and hearing if DHS intends to remove an alien to a country other than the one designated at the removal hearing. Requires that Department of State and Department of Justice immigration documents comply with specified authentication, documentation, and machine readable standards.