[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 986 Introduced in Senate (IS)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 986

    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

                              May 5, 2003

    Mr. Reid 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 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 of 
        civilians and combatants;
            (2) the 2 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 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 an 
        estimated 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 to 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;
            (10) in February 2002, 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 5;
            (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 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 1 year.
    (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>