[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 148 (Wednesday, October 27, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S13259-S13260]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. FEINSTEIN:
  S. 1799. A bill for the relief of Sergio Lozano; to the Committee on 
the Judiciary.

[[Page S13260]]

                          private relief bill

 Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise today to offer 
legislation that provides permanent resident status to Sergio Lozano 
who, with his younger sister and brother, were granted immigrant visas 
to come to the United States with their mother in 1997. Unfortunately, 
they lost the opportunity to be come immigrants when they tragically 
lost their mother in that same year.
  Sergio Lozano lived with his siblings and their mother, Ana Ruth 
Lozano, until her death in February of this year due to complications 
from typhoid fever. Since their mother's death, the three siblings have 
been living with their closest relative, their U.S. citizen grandmother 
who lives in Los Angeles and has since adopted the two younger 
children.
  Without his mother, Sergio does not have the legal right to remain in 
the United States. When he first arrived in the U.S. at 17, he was 
unable to obtain lawful permanent residence because immigration law 
prohibits permanent legal residency to minor children without their 
parents. However, as a child of 17, he was also outside the age limit 
for adoption by his grandmother. As a result, Sergio, through no fault 
of his own, has been left in limbo in the United States.
  Without legal status, this young man can be deported by the INS 
despite the fact that he has no immediate family in El Salvador except 
their estranged father who was alleged to have been abusive to the 
mother and the children.
  Without the legislation, Sergio will most likely be separated from 
his brother and sister and sent back to El Salvador. Here in the U.S., 
he can remain with his brother and sister, further his education and 
continue to thrive in the loving environment provided by his U.S. 
citizen grandmother and uncles.
  I have previously sought administrative relief for all three Lozano 
children by asking the INS district office in Los Angeles and 
Commissioner Meissner if any humanitarian exemptions could be made in 
their case. INS told my staff that there was nothing further they could 
do administratively and a private relief bill may be then only way to 
protect the children from deportation. Since then, the two younger 
Lozano children have been adopted by their grandmother and have 
received approval of their lawful permanent resident petitions. Like 
his siblings, Sergio has too suffered a sense of loss and bewilderment 
after losing a parent. However. unlike his sister and brother, he 
stands to be deprived of the security of his American family and 
deported back to a land he no longer knows, if only as a consequence of 
being born two years too soon.
  Last year, the Senate passed by unanimous consent the private bill I 
introduced on behalf of Sergio Lozano and his siblings. However, the 
105th Congress came to a close before the House was able to act.
  This year, I hope you will support the bill on behalf of Sergio 
Lozano so that we can help him begin to rebuild his life with his 
loving family in the United States.
                                 ______