[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2853 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2853

    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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 24, 2003

 Mr. McGovern introduced the following bill; which was 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 2003''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) Colombia has been embroiled in a 38-year internal 
        conflict, resulting in the death of tens of thousands civilians 
        and combatants;
            (2) the 2 main armed antigovernment 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) 
        control, operate in, or influence 40 to 50 percent of 
        Colombia's territory;
            (3) the FARC and ELN regularly attack civilian populations, 
        commit extrajudicial killings and massacres, collect war taxes, 
        compel civilians into their ranks, and engage in other coercive 
        practices against the civilian population, including the 
        growing of illicit crops;
            (4) the main paramilitary groups, such as the United Self-
        Defense Groups of Colombia (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia, or 
        AUC), have grown dramatically in recent years to become a major 
        national force, operating in nearly every department of the 
        country;
            (5) the AUC and related paramilitary groups are 
        responsible, according to human rights groups, for over 70 
        percent of extradjudicial killings and forced disappearances in 
        Colombia since 1995, and regularly attack civilian populations 
        and engage in other coercive practices against the civilian 
        population, including the growing of illicit crops;
            (6) the FARC, ELN, and AUC, all designated by the 
        Department of State as foreign terrorist organizations, have an 
        estimated combined force of 35,000 combatants;
            (7) according to Colombian and international refugee 
        organizations, the number of people newly displaced by 
        political violence increased by 30 percent from 317,340 in 2000 
        to 412,000 in 2002, making Colombia's internally displaced 
        population of approximately 3 million people the second largest 
        population of internally displaced people in the world;
            (8) Afro-Colombian communities, especially the largely 
        Afro-Colombian province of Choco, registered the highest 
        percentage of population displaced in 2002;
            (9) according to Colombian and international human rights 
        organizations, the number of people killed or disappeared per 
        day increased from 14 in 2000 to 20 in 2002;
            (10) according to the United Nations High Commissioner for 
        Human Rights 2003 Annual Report, direct violations by the 
        Colombian military increased in 2002;
            (11) according to Colombian and international human rights 
        organizations and the State Department's own country reports, 
        significant collaboration between the AUC and related 
        paramilitary forces and the Colombian Armed Forces remain 
        persistent and pervasive, especially at the local, 
        departmental, and regional level;
            (12) kidnappings, perpetrated mainly by the FARC, ELN and 
        criminal organizations, target mainly middle and upper classes 
        and political and business leaders, while declining from 3,706 
        in 2000 to 2,986 in 2002, remain unacceptably high and affect 
        the daily security of the target populations;
            (13) President Uribe has reduced by more than 50 percent 
        the budgets for the Colombian Human Rights Ombudsman Office (La 
        Procuraduria) and for local, regional and federal-level 
        attorneys and officers of the Colombian Human Rights Defenders 
        Office (Defensoria del Pueblo);
            (14) investigations and prosecutions of human rights crimes 
        have stalled or been dismissed during the 2002-2003 tenure of 
        Colombian Attorney General Luis Camilo Osorio;
            (15) there is little likelihood of a resumption of peace 
        negotiations between the Colombian government and the largest 
        rebel force, the FARC, following the collapse of talks in 2002; 
        and
            (16) the violence of the war, which had been mostly 
        contained in rural areas prior to 2002, has now spread to urban 
        areas, with cities such as Medellin experiencing an average of 
        13 killings a day, is daily escalating with no foreseeable 
        relief in either rural or urban regions.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of the 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 that section, subject to the provisions of this section.
            (2) Period of designation.--The initial period of such 
        designation shall begin on the date of enactment of this Act 
        and shall remain in effect for 2 years.
    (b) Aliens Eligible.--In applying section 244 of the Immigration 
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a) pursuant to the designation made 
under this section, subject to section 244(c)(3) of the Immigration and 
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a(c)(3)), an alien who is a national of 
Colombia meets the requirements of section 244(c)(1) of that Act (8 
U.S.C. 1254a(c)(1)) 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 the 
        Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a(c)(2)(A)), and 
        is not ineligible for temporary protected status under section 
        244(c)(2)(B) of that Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a(c)(2)(B)); and
            (3) the alien registers for temporary protected status in a 
        manner that the Secretary of Homeland Security shall establish.
    (c) Consent to Travel Abroad.--The Secretary of Homeland Security 
shall give the prior consent to travel abroad described in section 
244(f)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a(f)(3)) 
to an alien who is granted temporary protected status pursuant to the 
designation made under this section, if the alien establishes to the 
satisfaction of the Secretary of Homeland Security 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 the Immigration and Nationality 
Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a).
                                 <all>