[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 768 Referred in House (RFH)]

  1st Session
                                 S. 768


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 30, 1997

               Referred to the Committee on the Judicary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
 For the relief of Michel Christopher Meili, Giuseppina Meili, Mirjam 
                     Naomi Meili, and Davide Meili.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The actions of Swiss banks and their relations with 
        Nazi Germany before and during World War II and the banks' 
        actions after the war concerning former Nazi loot and heirless 
        assets placed in the banks before the war have been the subject 
        of an extensive and ongoing inquiry by the Committee on 
        Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate and a study 
        by a United States interagency group.
            (2) On January 8, 1997, Michel Christopher Meili, while 
        performing his duties as a security guard at the Union Bank of 
        Switzerland in Zurich, Switzerland, discovered that bank 
        employees were shredding important Holocaust-era documents.
            (3) Mr. Meili was able to save some of the documents from 
        destruction and then turned them over to the Jewish community 
        in Zurich and to the Swiss police.
            (4) Following Mr. Meili's disclosure of the destruction of 
        the Holocaust-era documents, Mr. Meili was suspended and then 
        terminated from his job. He was also interrogated by the local 
        Swiss authorities who tried to intimidate him by threatening 
        prosecution for his heroic actions.
            (5) Since this disclosure, Mr. Meili and his family have 
        been threatened and harassed, and have received many death 
        threats. Mr. Meili also received a hand-delivered note 
        threatening the kidnapping of his children in return for the 
        ``Jewish money'' he would receive for his actions, and urging 
        him to emigrate to the United States or be killed.
            (6) Because of his courageous actions, Mr. Meili and his 
        family have suffered economic hardship, mental anguish, and 
        have been forced to live in fear for their lives.

SEC. 2. PERMANENT RESIDENCE.

    Notwithstanding any other provision of law, for purposes of the 
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.), Michel 
Christopher Meili, Giuseppina Meili, Mirjam Naomi Meili, and Davide 
Meili shall be held and considered to have been lawfully admitted to 
the United States for permanent residence as of the date of the 
enactment of this Act upon payment of the required visa fees.

SEC. 3. REDUCTION OF NUMBER OF AVAILABLE VISAS.

    Upon the granting of permanent residence to Michel Christopher 
Meili, Giuseppina Meili, Mirjam Naomi Meili, and Davide Meili as 
provided in this Act, the Secretary of State shall instruct the proper 
officer to reduce by the appropriate number during the current fiscal 
year the total number of immigrant visas available to natives of the 
country of the aliens' birth under section 203(a) of the Immigration 
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(a)).

            Passed the Senate May 23, 1997.

            Attest:

                                                    GARY SISCO,

                                                             Secretary.