[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 33 (Wednesday, March 3, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2212-S2213]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. DURBIN:
  S. 520. A bill for the relief of Janina Altagracia Castillo-Rojas and 
her husband, Diogenes Patricio Rojas; to the Committee on the 
Judiciary.


                          private relief bill

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce a private bill 
for the relief of Janina Altagracia Castillo-Rojas and her husband, 
Diogenes Patricio Rojas. My bill would grant permanent resident status 
to Janina and Diogenes, who face deportation later this month to the 
Dominican Republic as a result of a technicality in current federal 
immigration law.
  Janina 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.
  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, Janina's mother 
received U.S. citizenship in January 1996.
  However, when Janina attempted to attain citizenship as a descendant 
of a direct beneficiary of this legislation, her application was 
denied. Despite the 1994 law, the Immigration and Naturalization 
Service required that Janina's mother meet transmission requirements: 
she must have been physically present in the U.S. for 10 years prior to 
Janina's birth, 5 of which over 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, this requirement is 
unreasonable.
  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. The private relief bill I 
introduce today will grant Janina and her husband Diogenes permanent 
resident status to continue

[[Page S2213]]

their lives in this country until this provision can be amended.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of this bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                 S. 520

       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 provision 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 
     Patricio 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)).
                                 ______