[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 120 (Thursday, September 11, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S9218]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. MOSLEY-BRAUN:
  S. 1171. A bill for the relief of Janina Altagracia Castillo-Rojas 
and her husband, Diogenes Patricio Rojas; to the Committee on the 
Judiciary.


                       private relief legislation

  Ms. MOSELEY-BRAUN. Mr. President, I am introducing this bill today to 
provide relief to Janina Altagracia Castillo-Rojas and her husband, 
Diogenes Patricio Rojas. These two individuals, who currently reside in 
Chicago, IL, face deportation later this month to the Dominican 
Republic as a result of an absurd technicality in current Federal 
immigration law.
  Ms. Rojas has been denied citizenship because her mother was the 
child of a U.S. citizen female and foreign male. Previous law allowed 
only children of U.S. citizen males and foreign females to claim U.S. 
citizenship.
  Simply put, Mrs. Rojas has been denied U.S. citizenship because she 
had the ``misfortune'' of having a U.S. citizen grandmother instead of 
a U.S. citizen grandfather.
  In 1994, Senator Paul Simon passed the Immigration and Nationality 
and Technical Corrections Act, which allowed individuals born overseas 
before 1934 to U.S. citizen mothers, and their descendants, to claim 
U.S. citizenship. As a result of that 1994 law, the mother of Janina 
Rojas applied for U.S. citizenship, which she received in January 1996.
  When Janina Rojas attempted to derive citizenship as a descendant of 
a direct beneficiary of the 1994 law, however, her application was 
denied. Despite the 1994 law, the Immigration and Naturalization 
Service requires that the mother of Janina Rojas meet transmission 
requirements: the mother must have been physically present in the U.S. 
for 10 years prior to Janina's birth, 5 of which were after the age of 
16 years, in order for Janina to derive citizenship. Since her mother 
was prohibited from becoming a U.S. citizen until 1996, however, it is 
unreasonable to require that she was in the U.S. for 10 years.
  Clearly, while 60 years of discriminatory law was corrected in 1994, 
the citizenship qualifications of the line of descendants of those U.S. 
citizen females remain adversely impacted.
  On May 1 of this year, I introduced a bill, S. 677, the Equity In 
Transmission of Citizenship Act of 1997, that will waive the parental 
transmission requirement for the grandchildren of U.S. citizen females. 
That bill has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. While I 
am hopeful S. 677 will be promptly approved, it may not be approved 
before September 27, the deportation date of Mr. and Mrs. Rojas. The 
private relief bill I introduce today will provide an extension for Mr. 
and Mrs. Rojas so that S. 677 can be taken up and passed.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of this bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 1171

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

     SECTION 1. PERMANENT RESIDENCE.

       Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, for purposes 
     of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et 
     seq.), Janina Altagracia Castillo-Rojas and her husband, 
     Diogenes Patrico Rojas, 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. 2. REDUCTION OF NUMBER OF AVAILABLE VISAS.

       Upon the granting of permanent residence to Janina 
     Altagracia Castillo-Rojas and her husband, Diogenes Patricio 
     Rojas, 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)).

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