[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1470 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1470

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 9, 2017

 Mr. Gallego introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to limit the grounds of 
  deportability for certain alien members of the United States Armed 
                    Forces, 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 ``Restoring Respect for Immigrant 
Service in Uniform Act''.

SEC. 2. READMISSION OF DEPORTED VETERANS.

    (a) In General.--It is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of 
Homeland Security should exercise the Secretary's discretion, including 
under subsections (a)(9)(A)(iii), (a)(9)(B)(v), (d)(3)(A), and 
(d)(5)(A) of section 212 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
U.S.C. 1182) in order to admit to the United States an alien who is 
inadmissible under such section 212, was previously subject to an order 
of removal or has been removed, is outside of the United States, and is 
seeking admission to the United States, if the alien--
            (1) has been a member of the United States Armed Forces for 
        a period of not less 180 days, and has not received a discharge 
        other than an honorable discharge;
            (2) has not been convicted of--
                    (A) a felony;
                    (B) a significant misdemeanor; or
                    (C) 3 or more misdemeanors that are not significant 
                misdemeanors, each of which occurred on a different 
                date, and arose out of separate conduct; and
            (3) is not otherwise a threat to national security or 
        public safety.
    (b) Significant Misdemeanor Defined.--In this section, the term 
``significant misdemeanor'' means a misdemeanor--
            (1) 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)));
            (2) 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)));
            (3) which involved the unlawful possession of a firearm (as 
        such term is defined in section 921 of title 18, United States 
        Code); or
            (4) for which the alien was sentenced to a term of 
        imprisonment of longer than 90 days.

SEC. 3. LIMITING GROUNDS OF DEPORTABILITY FOR SERVICEMEMBERS 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 Members of the United States Armed Forces.--The 
provisions of this section shall not apply to an alien who has been a 
member of the United States Armed Forces for a period of not less than 
180 days, and who has not received a discharge other than an honorable 
discharge, except in the case of an alien who--
            ``(1) has been convicted of--
                    ``(A) a felony;
                    ``(B) a significant misdemeanor (as such term is 
                defined in section 2 of the Restoring Respect for 
                Immigrant Service in Uniform Act); or
                    ``(C) 3 or more misdemeanors that are not 
                significant misdemeanors, each of which occurred on a 
                different date, and arose out of separate conduct; and
            ``(2) is otherwise a threat to national security or public 
        safety.''.
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