Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1982

(Reported to House from the Committee on Education and Labor with amendment, H. Rept. 97-890 (Part II))

Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1982 - Title I: Control of Illegal Immigration - Part A: Employment - Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to make it unlawful for a person to knowingly hire, maintain in his or her employment, or refer or recruit for a fee any alien not authorized to work. Makes it unlawful for an employer of four or more persons to hire anyone without complying with the verification procedure set forth in this Act. Makes following such procedure an affirmative defense for an employer so charged.

Requires an employee to attest to his or her citizenship or legal work status. Requires an employer to: (1) attest, under penalty of perjury, that he or she has examined an employee's identification papers; (2) list (on or appended to the verification form) the names and addresses of all persons who applied in writing for a position within 90 days of such position's being filled; (3) keep such records for three years or one year after an employee leaves, whichever is longer; and (4) make these records available to the Department of Justice, the Civil Rights Commission, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Requires the President to implement a secure verification system within three years. Prohibits the use of this system or any required identification document for other law enforcement purposes.

Sets forth graduated civil and criminal penalties for hiring violations.

Authorizes the Attorney General to bring a civil action to enjoin persons systematically violating such hiring or verification provisions. Subjects employers to graduated civil penalties for verification and recordkeeping violations. Requires the Attorney General to provide notice and hearing opportunity before assessing any civil penalties. Permits the Attorney General to sue in U.S. district court to collect outstanding penalties.

Entitles persons claiming to have been improperly denied employment to an administrative hearing. Authorizes appeals to: (1) the United States Immigration Board; and (2) within 60 days of a Board decision, to the U.S. court of appeals. Authorizes a party to seek enforcement of an administrative judge's order in U.S. district court. Sets forth judgment limits.

States that the provisions of this Part preempt State and local sanctions regarding employment of unauthorized aliens.

Authorizes FY 1983 appropriations for verification system implementation and monitoring. Requires the President to report to Congress every six months.

Directs the Civil Rights Commission, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Labor, and the Chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to monitor such program and investigate allegations of abuse. Directs the Commission to report to the appropriate congressional committees within 18 months.

Directs the Attorney General, in cooperation with the Secretaries of Commerce, Labor, and Agriculture, and the Administrator of the Small Business Administration, to inform employers, employment agencies, unions, and the public about these requirements. Authorizes FY 1983 appropriations for such purposes.

States that no penalties shall be imposed for the first six months after enactment of this Act.

Amends the Farm Labor Contractor Registration Act to subject (beginning seven months after enactment) farm labor contractors to the requirements of this Act.

Makes it illegal to fraudulently misuse or manufacture entry or work documents (up to $5,000 fine or two years' imprisonment or both).

Part B: Enforcement and Fees - Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) enforcement activities should be increased; and (2) such increase shall be provided for, and monitored through, the annual authorization of appropriations process.

Eliminates the provisions preventing employment from being considered as harboring an alien.

Makes it unlawful to knowingly, or in reckless disregard of the fact that an alien is not authorized to enter the United States, bring such person into the country (up to $5,000 fine or one year's imprisonment with additional penalties for a subsequent offense).

Requires the Attorney General to impose maintenance fees for an alien's use of border or other INS facilities.

Part C: Adjudication Procedures and Asylum - Directs immigration officers to exclude without hearing or further inquiry aliens without proper documents or without any reasonable basis for legal entry or asylum. Requires that such aliens be informed of their right to an expedited redetermination proceeding. Directs the Attorney General after consulting with the congressional judiciary committees to establish procedures to assure that aliens are not excluded without an inquiry into their reasons for seeking U.S. entry.

States that if an alien claims asylum the exclusion hearing shall be limited to the asylum issue.

Establishes in the Department of Justice a United States Immigration Board to hear appeals from final decisions of immigration judges. States that the Board's determination shall be binding on all immigration judges, immigration officers, and consular officers unless modified by a court. Requires deportation or exclusion appeals to the Board to be filed within 20 days.

Sets forth administrative and operating provisions.

Replaces the existing special inquiry officer system with a system of immigration judges. Provides for the appointment of up to 70 judges. Grants such judges responsibility for exclusion, deportation, asylum, and status rescission cases, as well as penalty assessments.

Provides for judicial review of exclusion cases and those asylum cases encompassed within deportation or exclusion orders. States that such final orders shall be reviewed in U.S. appeal courts. Reduces the period for filing such appeals from six months to 30 days.

Restricts judicial review of asylum determinations to questions of: (1) jurisdiction; (2) compliance with laws and regulations; (3) constitutionality; and (4) arbitrary decisionmaking.

Prohibits judicial review decisions from reopening: (1) exclusion, deportation, or asylum determinations; (2) denials of stays of exclusion or deportation; or (3) expedited exclusions.

States that such restrictions and prohibitions should not be construed as limiting habeas corpus.

Revises asylum provisions to: (1) require an alien under an exclusion or deportation order to apply for asylum within 14 days and to complete such application within 30 days after notice of such order unless changed circumstances in the alien's country cause a change in asylum eligibility; (2) prohibit an alien from reapplying for asylum after having been denied such status unless such changes have occurred; (3) require asylum applications to be heard before administrative law judges having special training in international law; (4) permit legal counsel at asylum hearings; (5) require an alien to be an admissible refugee in order to be granted asylum; (6) place the burden of proof on the applicant; (7) prohibit the reopening of an application proceeding unless changed circumstances in the alien's country cause a change in asylum eligibility; (8) require application determinations to be made within 30 days after the hearing (which shall be held within 45 days of the application's filing); and (9) make asylum hearings open to the public unless the alien requests otherwise.

Requires the President to nominate Board members within 45 days. Sets forth other administrative and operating provisions for the transfer of asylum proceedings from the existing special inquiry system to the administrative law judge system. Authorizes appropriations for such purposes for FY 1983.

Part D: Adjustment of Status - Prohibits adjustment of status to permanent resident for violators of (nonimmigrant) visa terms.

Title II: Reform of Legal Immigration - Part A: Immigrants - Revises labor certification provisions to: (1) require the Secretary of Labor to consider national, rather than local, employment and wage data; (2) include a finding that sufficient American workers could not be trained within a reasonable time period; and (3) prohibit courts from overturning certifications without compelling evidence that the decision was arbitrary. Makes such changes effective October 1, 1983.

Includes within the definition of "special immigrant": (1) unmarried sons and daughters and surviving spouses of employees of certain international organizations ("J" status); and (2) unmarried Amerasian children (under 21 years old) of U.S. servicemen ("I" status).

Requires the Attorney General to report to Congress by December 31, 1984, regarding Amerasian admissions.

Grants nonimmigrant status to: (1) parents of children receiving "J" status while they are minors; and (2) other children of such parents or a surviving "J" status spouse.

Includes the relationship between an illegitimate child and its natural father within the definition of "child" for purposes of status, benefit, or privilege under such Act.

Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1981 to: (1) extend the numerical limitation waiver to certain self-supporting retirees; and (2) permit certain aliens already in the United States with labor certificates and priority dates up to October 1, 1984, to work at their jobs until their visas are available.

Part B: Nonimmigrants - Separates temporary agricultural labor from other temporary labor for purposes of nonimmigrant worker (H-2 visa) provisions. Restricts the definition of agricultural labor or services to specified definitions in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 and the Internal Revenue Code.

Limits H-2 workers to an eight-month stay in any calendar year. Authorizes agricultural workers to remain longer if before enactment of this Act the Secretary of Labor has recognized an extension as necessary.

Prohibits entry to workers who have violated entry conditions within the past five years.

Prohibits entry to agricultural workers unless specified conditions have been met respecting housing, injury benefits, meals and transportation and wages including piece rates, and recordkeeping.

Requires an employer submitting an H-2 visa petition to certify that: (1) there are not enough qualified U.S. workers for the job; and (2) similarly employed U.S. workers' wages will not be adversely affected. Makes such certification a prerequisite for the admission of H-2 workers.

Prohibits the Attorney General from approving more H-2 petitions in any fiscal year than were approved in FY 1982 unless the Secretary of Labor has certified to the Attorney General and to Congress that sufficient enforcement funds are available.

Permits the Secretary to charge application fees.

Requires employers of H-2 agricultural workers to pay them an additional amount equal to the amount of FICA and unemployment taxes that would have been paid to U.S. workers.

Prohibits the Secretary from approving a petition if: (1) a job is open because of a strike or other labor dispute; or (2) the employer violated certification terms, including failure to pay penalties.

Provides with regard to H-2 agricultural workers that: (1) employers must submit petitions at least 80 days in advance of need; (2) the Secretary must respond promptly in writing regarding a disapproved petition, and within 20 days of need regarding an approved petition; (3) there must be a 60-day recruitment period before an employer may file a petition; (4) the Secretary shall establish expedited procedures for review of denied petitions or de novo administrative hearings; and (5) producer associations may file such petitions (individual members or users are still liable for any violations).

Authorizes appropriations beginning with FY 1983 for recruitment of domestic workers, work program monitoring, and certification expenses.

Provides a private right of action in U.S. district court for any person aggrieved by a violation of the H-2 provisions.

Directs the Secretary, in consultation with the Attorney General, to: (1) promulgate implementing regulations; and (2) report to Congress within 18 months regarding improvements in the temporary worker program.

Expresses the sense of Congress that the President should establish an advisory commission to consult with Mexico and advise the Attorney General regarding such temporary worker program.

Requires foreign students to return to their home country for two years before being eligible to apply for U.S. permanent residence. Permits waiver of such requirement where a student: (1) is an immediate relative of a U.S. citizen; or (2) has an American degree and a college teaching or research job offer. Ends such waiver program as of September 30, 1989.

Permits foreign students with degrees in specified fields to change their nonimmigrant classification to "trainee."

States that time spent in student or trainee status shall not count for purposes of eligibility for suspension of deportation.

Authorizes the Attorney General and the Secretary of State to establish a three-year pilot visa waiver program for up to five countries providing a similar benefit to the United States. Sets forth program provisions.

Authorizes a visa waiver program for Guam.

Title III: Legalization - Provides for the status adjustment of certain aliens who entered the United States before January 1, 1980.

Authorizes the Attorney General to adjust to permanent resident status those aliens who: (1) entered the United States illegally before January 1, 1977; (2) have since resided continuously in the country; (3) are otherwise admissible; and (4) apply for such adjustment in 1983. Authorizes similar status adjustment for specified aliens who entered legally as nonimmigrants but whose period of authorized stay ended before January 1, 1977. (Stipulates that in the case of exchange visitors the two-year foreign residence requirement must have been met or waived.)

Authorizes the Attorney General to adjust to temporary resident status Cuban/Haitian entrants and specified undocumented aliens who have resided in the United States since January 1, 1980. Requires such applications to be filed in 1983. Permits such temporary resident aliens to: (1) work in the United States; (2) apply for permanent resident status after three years; and (3) travel abroad.

Prohibits the legalization of persons: (1) convicted of a felony or three or more misdemeanors in the United States; or (2) who have taken part in political, religious, or racial persecution.

Authorizes the Attorney General to terminate temporary resident status if an alien has not filed for adjustment to permanent status within three and one- half years.

Directs the Attorney General, in cooperation with designated voluntary agencies, to disseminate information about such status legalization program.

Waives numerical limitations, labor certification, and other specified entry violations for such aliens. Permits the Attorney General to waive other grounds for exclusion (except criminal, most drug-related, and security grounds) to assure family unity or when otherwise in the national interest.

Requires the Attorney General to: (1) issue implementing regulations by December 31, 1982; and (2) provide an alien otherwise eligible but unregistered who is apprehended before January 1, 1983, an opportunity to apply for the legalization program before deportation or exclusion proceedings are begun.

Makes temporary residents (other than Cuban/Haitian entrants) and (for their first three years) permanent residents, ineligible for Federal public assistance (other than medical care, aid to the aged, blind, or disabled, and public health).

Authorizes appropriations for such programs for FY 1983.

Requires the President to report to Congress within 18 months on the impact of such program.

Repeals Public Law 89-732 regarding status adjustment for certain Cubans who entered the United States before April 21, 1980.

Updates the registry date for permanent entry admissions records from June 30, 1948 to January 1, 1973.

Authorizes appropriations for FY 1983 through 1986 for State legalization assistance. Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services, subject to available appropriations, to provide full reimbursement to States for costs incurred in providing specified services to aliens during the period they were ineligible for Federal assistance.

Requires the Secretary of Education, subject to available appropriations, to assist States in meeting such aliens' added educational costs. Includes such legalized aliens under the coverage of titles I through IV of the Refugee Education Assistance Act of 1980.