[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2165 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2165

  To provide Nicaraguan political prisoners who arrived in the United 
  States on February 9, 2023, and their immediate family members with 
                certain benefits available to refugees.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 22, 2023

Mr. Cassidy (for himself and Mr. Kaine) introduced the following bill; 
  which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To provide Nicaraguan political prisoners who arrived in the United 
  States on February 9, 2023, and their immediate family members with 
                certain benefits available to refugees.

    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 ``Nicaragua Political Prisoner Support 
Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINED TERM.

    In this section, the term ``eligible Nicaraguan national'' means an 
alien--
            (1)(A)(i) who is a citizen or national of Nicaragua; or
            (ii) in the case of an alien having no nationality, whose 
        former or last habitual residence was in Nicaragua; and
            (B) who arrived in the United States on February 9, 2023, 
        as part of a political prisoner release, and was granted a 2-
        year humanitarian parole by the United States Government; or
            (2) who is the parent, spouse, or child of an individual 
        described in paragraph (1).

SEC. 3. ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS.

    Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an eligible Nicaraguan 
national is eligible for the benefits described in section 4 if--
            (1) such individual has completed security and law 
        enforcement background checks to the satisfaction of the 
        Secretary of Homeland Security; and
            (2) such individual's parole--
                    (A) has not been terminated by the Secretary of 
                Homeland Security; or
                    (B) was terminated while a renewal application was 
                pending for such parole and the sole reason for such 
                termination was that the renewal application had not 
                yet been processed.

SEC. 4. BENEFITS.

    An individual described in section 3 is eligible for--
            (1) resettlement assistance, entitlement programs, and 
        other benefits that are available to refugees admitted under 
        section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
        1157) to the same extent as such refugees;
            (2) child welfare services described in section 412(d)(2) 
        of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1522(d)(2)); and
            (3) a driver's license or identification card under section 
        202 of the REAL ID Act of 2005 (division B of Public Law 109-
        13; 49 U.S.C. 30301 note), notwithstanding subsection (c)(2)(B) 
        of such Act.

SEC. 5. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.

    Nothing in this Act may be construed--
            (1) to preclude an eligible Nicaraguan national from 
        applying for or receiving any immigration benefits to which 
        such individual is otherwise eligible; or
            (2) to entitle an eligible Nicaraguan national to lawful 
        permanent resident status.

SEC. 6. EXEMPTION FROM THE PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT.

    The requirements under chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code 
(commonly referred to as the ``Paperwork Reduction Act'') shall not 
apply to any action taken to implement this section involving the 
translation of an approved collection of information into a new 
language.
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