Public Description:
S. 656, the Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act, would grant amnesty to Liberian national aliens (including those present in the United States who have been ordered excluded, deported, removed, or ordered to depart voluntarily – without any motion to reopen, reconsider, or vacate that order required) granted, or eligible to be granted, Temporary Protected Status (a means by which DHS may grant limited refugee status to aliens who would otherwise be prohibited from staying in the United States, and give them “safe haven” until crises [e.g., armed conflict, natural disaster, or “extraordinary and temporary conditions” that prevent safe return] in their native countries pass) on or after March 27, 1991, provided: (1) application for amnesty occurs before one year after the bill’s enactment; (2) they are otherwise admissible for permanent residence (with some bars to inadmissibility inapplicable); also would grant amnesty to aliens who are: (1) the spouses, children, or unmarried sons or daughters of aliens granted this amnesty; and (2) otherwise admissible (with some bars to inadmissibility not applicable), physically present in the United States on the date the application for amnesty is filed, and in the case of unmarried sons or daughters, have been physically present in the United States for at least one year (aggregated absences up to 180 days allowable); would establish procedures by which a stay of a final order of deportation, removal, or exclusion is granted pursuant to an application for amnesty, which include an allowance for the alien to engage in employment during the pendency of the application; and would prohibit judicial review of any determination made by DHS as to the granting of amnesty under this bill. The House companion bill is H.R. 1293.
