Protect Our Liberian Community Act of 2019

Protect Our Liberian Community Act of 2019

This bill establishes that a national of Liberia shall be deemed to have registered for temporary protected status as of April 1, 2019, for three years, if the national registered for such status at any time and was present in the United States on March 30, 2019, under deferred enforced departure.

Temporary protected status is available to nationals of certain designated countries, and such aliens shall have work authorization not be removed from the United States while the status is in effect. Liberia's designation was terminated as of May 21, 2017. The President has granted deferred enforced departure status to Liberian nationals, which prevents their removal from the country and provides work authorization, until March 30, 2020.

Individuals with temporary protected status under this bill shall have employment authorization for the three-year period, and any lapse of authorization between April 1, 2019, and the enactment date of this bill shall not affect the validity of such an individual's employment authorization document.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1926 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1926

To provide temporary protected status for certain nationals of Liberia, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 27, 2019

Mr. Phillips (for himself and Mr. Fitzpatrick) introduced the following 
       bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide temporary protected status for certain nationals of Liberia, 
                        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 ``Protect Our Liberian Community Act 
of 2019''.

SEC. 2. TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS FOR CERTAIN NATIONALS OF LIBERIA.

    (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a 
national of Liberia shall be deemed to be registered for temporary 
protected status in the United States under section 244(c) of the 
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a(c)) as of April 1, 
2019, for a period of 3 years if such national of Liberia was--
            (1) registered for temporary protected status at any time; 
        and
            (2) present in the United States under deferred enforced 
        departure, in accordance with the Presidential Memorandum 
        issued on March 27, 2018, on March 30, 2019.
    (b) Automatic Extension of Employment Authorization.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary of Homeland Security 
        (referred to in this section as the ``Secretary'') shall 
        automatically extend the employment authorization of nationals 
        of Liberia described in subsection (a) for the 3-year period 
        beginning on April 1, 2019, and the employment authorization 
        documents of such nationals of Liberia shall be valid for that 
        period.
            (2) Publication.--Not later than 14 days after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall publish in the 
        Federal Register notification of the extension under paragraph 
        (1).
            (3) Lapse in authorization.--Any lapse in employment 
        authorization of a national of Liberia described in subsection 
        (a) between April 1, 2019, and the date of the enactment of 
        this Act shall not affect the extension under paragraph (1) or 
        the validity of the employment authorization document of such 
        national of Liberia for the period described in that paragraph.
            (4) Documentation.--Not later than 30 days after the date 
        on which a national of Liberia described in subsection (a) 
        submits a request for documentation of the extension under 
        paragraph (1), the Secretary shall provide such documentation 
        to the national of Liberia.
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