Designates Columbia under the Immigration and Nationality Act as a country undergoing an ongoing armed conflict in order to make qualifying Columbians living in the United States eligible aliens for temporary protected status.
[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2856 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
107th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 2856
To designate Colombia under section 244 of the Immigration and
Nationality Act in order to make nationals of Colombia eligible for
temporary protected status under such section.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
August 1, 2002
Mr. Torricelli (for himself and Mr. Chafee) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To designate Colombia under section 244 of the Immigration and
Nationality Act in order to make nationals of Colombia eligible for
temporary protected status under such section.
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 ``Colombian Temporary Protected Status
Act of 2002''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that--
(1) Colombia has been embroiled in a 38-year civil war,
resulting in the death of tens of thousands of civilians and
combatants;
(2) the two main armed anti-government rebel groups, the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas
Revolucionarias de Colombia, or FARC) and the National
Liberation Army (Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional, or ELN), have
engaged in military activities in 700 of 1,098 municipalities
in Colombia, and in recent years have controlled or influenced
local governments in as much as 40 percent to 50 percent of
Colombian territory;
(3) the FARC and ELN not only attack police and military
forces but also regularly attack civilian populations, commit
massacres and extrajudicial killings, collect war taxes, compel
citizens into their ranks, force farmers to grow illicit crops,
and regulate travel, commerce, and other activities;
(4) paramilitary groups such as the United Self-Defense
Groups of Colombia (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia or AUC),
originally established to protect rural landowners, have grown
dramatically in recent years to become a major national
military force in Colombia;
(5) paramilitary groups are responsible, according to human
rights groups, for the greatest number of extrajudicial
killings and forced disappearances in Colombia since 1995;
(6) the FARC, ELN, and AUC, all designated by the State
Department as foreign terrorist organizations, have a combined
force of 25,000 combatants;
(7) the Government of Colombia, particularly during the
administration of President Andres Pastrana, has afforded armed
rebel groups numerous opportunities to negotiate a peace
agreement, including the extraordinary step in November 1998 of
creating a safe haven for the FARC by withdrawing its security
forces from 5 municipalities covering some 16,000-17,000 square
miles;
(8) despite having been given the opportunity to seek
peace, the FARC instead used the safe haven to enhance its
military capability to further its violent campaign against the
government and people of Colombia;
(9) while President Pastrana and the Colombian government
negotiated in good faith, the FARC proceeded to kidnap
political officials, including presidential candidate former
Senator Ingrid Betancourt, as well as execute Members of
Congress who were engaged in negotiations with the FARC, such
as Senator Martha Catalina Daniels;
(10) in February of this year, the FARC's actions forced
President Pastrana to withdraw from the peace process and begin
the process of retaking the safe zone he had previously ceded
to the FARC and other rebel groups;
(11) after the election of Alvaro Uribe as Colombia's
President, the FARC began targeting mayors with letters
declaring that they had 24 hours to leave or would be
considered ``military targets'';
(12) although before the recent Presidential election the
violence had been mostly contained in rural areas, it has now
spread to the urban areas, with cities such as Medellin
experiencing an average of 13 killings a day;
(13) an average of 2.8 rebel bombs go off every day in
Colombia while bomb squads disarm another five;
(14) the middle and upper classes have been targeted for
kidnaping, with an average of 3,250 Colombians being kidnaped
each year since 1998;
(15) between 1,500,000 and 2,000,000 people have been
forced to leave their homes, representing the third largest
internal refugee crisis in the world; and
(16) between 1,500 and 2,500 Colombians were massacred in
contested rural areas in 2001.
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that, in view of the recent escalation
of the current civil war in Colombia, Colombia qualifies for
designation under section 244(b)(1)(A) of the Immigration and
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a(b)(1)(A)), pursuant to which Colombian
nationals would be eligible for temporary protected status in the
United States.
SEC. 4. DESIGNATION FOR PURPOSES OF GRANTING TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS
TO COLOMBIANS.
(a) Designation.--
(1) In general.--For purposes of section 244 of the
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a), Colombia
shall be treated as if it had been designated under subsection
(b) of such section, subject to the provisions of this section.
(2) Period of designation.--The initial period of such
designation shall begin on the date of the enactment of this
Act and shall remain in effect for 1 year.
(b) Aliens Eligible.--In applying section 244 of the Immigration
and Nationality Act pursuant to the designation under this Act, subject
to section 244(c)(3) of such Act, an alien who is a national of
Colombia meets the requirements of section 244(c)(1) of such Act only
if--
(1) the alien has been continuously physically present in
the United States since the date of enactment of this Act;
(2) the alien is admissible as an immigrant, except as
otherwise provided under section 244(c)(2)(A) of such Act, and
is not ineligible for temporary protected status under section
244(c)(2)(B) of such Act; and
(3) the alien registers for temporary protected status in a
manner that the Attorney General shall establish.
(c) Consent to Travel Abroad.--The Attorney General shall give the
prior consent to travel abroad described in section 244(f)(3) of the
Immigration and Nationality Act to an alien who is granted temporary
protected status pursuant to the designation under this Act, if the
alien establishes to the satisfaction of the Attorney General that
emergency and extenuating circumstances beyond the control of the alien
require the alien to depart for a brief, temporary trip abroad. An
alien returning to the United States in accordance with such an
authorization shall be treated the same as any other returning alien
provided temporary protected status under section 244 of such Act.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
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