Immigration Act of 1985

Immigration Act of 1985 - Title I: Preventing Unfair Competition and Displacement of Domestic Workers Resulting From Employment of Unauthorized Aliens - Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to make it an unfair immigration-related employment practice for a person or entity to: (1) knowingly hire, retain, or recruit or refer for consideration an alien unauthorized to work in the United States; or (2) discriminate against citizens or residents authorized to work (exempting employers of three or fewer employees).

Establishes an administrative enforcement system through a Special Counsel, administrative law judges, and an Immigration Board. Establishes a private right of action, and pattern or practice violation which may be brought by either the Special Counsel or the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). Provides for civil penalties and hiring of aggrieved workers or reasonable compensation for lost wages.

States that nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize a national identity card or system.

Makes it unlawful for an employer to require an employee to provide any type of financial guarantee or indemnity against any potential employment liability. Subjects violators, after notice and hearing opportunity, to civil penalties.

States that such employer provisions: (1) preempt State and local laws; and (2) shall take effect seven months after enactment of this Act.

Directs the Attorney General: (1) in cooperation with the Secretaries of Labor, Health and Human Services, Agriculture, the Treasury, and Commerce and the Administrator of the Small Business Administration, to disseminate program information for the first year after enactment of this Act; and (2) to issue implementing regulations within seven months.

Amends the Migrant and Seasonal Agriculture Worker Protection Act to subject farm labor contractors to the requirements of this Act, beginning seven months after enactment.

Directs the Secretary of Labor to: (1) develop a FY 1986 plan for coordinated enforcement of wage and hour standards and other labor laws to deter the employment and exploitation of unauthorized alien workers; and (2) report to the Congress within one year.

Directs the Secretary of the Treasury, in cooperation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, to report to the Congress within one year regarding the enforcement of requirements for withholding and payment of employment-related taxes for unauthorized alien workers.

Establishes a three-year transitional agricultural worker program, permitting employers to continue to use 100 percent, 67 percent, 33 percent, then zero percent, respectively, of their current illegal alien labor force. Directs the President to report to the appropriate congressional committees regarding such program.

Title II: Improvement of Enforcement and Services of the Immigration and Naturalization Service - Part A: Enhancement of INS Enforcement and Service Functions - Authorizes: (1) FY 1985 supplemental appropriations for INS improved service and enforcement activities, to remain available for expenditure through FY 1986; and (2) FY 1986 and 1987 appropriations. Directs the Attorney General to provide for: (1) improved services; (2) enhanced community outreach an in-service training of personnel; and (3) an increased recordkeeping and retrieval capability.

Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) U.S. immigration laws should be enforced vigorously and uniformly; and (2) the Attorney General, in so doing, shall safeguard the constitutional rights, personal safety, and human dignity of citizens and aliens.

Subjects a person to criminal penalties for unlawful transportation of aliens into the United States.

Directs the Attorney General to develop an INS immigration emergency contingency plan in consultation with the congressional judiciary committees and State and local governments. Authorizes appropriations for a Treasury immigration emergency fund.

Requires INS to have an owner's consent or a warrant before entering a farm or outdoor operations to interrogate a persons to determine if undocumented aliens are present.

Permits the owner or operator of an international bridge or toll road to request the Attorney General to inspect and approve measures taken to prevent aliens from illegally crossing into the United States. States that such approved measures shall be prima facie evidence of compliance with obligations under such Act to prevent illegal entries.

Requires the Attorney General to report to the appropriate congressional committees within one year regarding negotiations with Canada and Mexico to prevent and prosecute the smuggling of illegal aliens into the United States.

Part B: Establishment of United States Immigration Board and Administrative Law Judge System - Establishes within the Department of Justice a United States Immigration Board, Special Counsel, and administrative law judge system (to replace the existing special inquiry officers).

Part C: Administrative Naturalization - Establishes an alternative administrative naturalization procedure in addition to the existing judicial procedure.

Title III: Reform of Legal Immigration - Part A: Immigrants - Provides, beginning with FY 1986, for: (1) an increase in the colonial quota from 600 to 3000; and (2) additional immigrant visas for Canada and Mexico (20,000 each plus each other's unused visas from the previous fiscal year).

Includes within the definition of "special immigrant" unmarried sons and daughters and surviving spouses of employees of certain international organizations ("I" status).

Grants nonimmigrant status to: (1) parents of children receiving "I" status while they are minors; and (2) other children of such parents or a surviving "I" 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: extend the numerical limitation waiver to certain self-supporting retirees.

Part B: Nonimmigrant Tourists - Authorizes the Attorney General and the Secretary of State to establish a three-year pilot visa waiver program for up to eight countries providing a similar benefit to the United States.

Authorizes a visa waiver program for Guam.

Requires a program report to the Congress within two years.

Title IV: Legalization - Provides for the legalization (permanent or temporary resident status) of certain aliens who entered the United States before January 1, 1982, and who have continuously resided illegally in the country since entry.

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. Requires an alien to register under the Military Selective Service Act if so required by such Act.

Requires the Attorney General to work with designated voluntary agencies to: (1) disseminate program information; and (2) process such aliens.

Provides criminal penalties for false application statements.

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 provide an alien otherwise eligible but unregistered who is apprehended before the end of the application period, an opportunity to apply for the legalization program before deportation or exclusion proceedings are begun. States that such an alien shall be authorized to work in the United States pending disposition of his case.

Provides for a de novo hearing, upon timely request, for any alien whose application for adjustment of status has been denied.

Makes legalized aliens (other than Cuban/Haitian entrants) ineligible for Federal financial assistance, Medicaid, or food stamps for five years (permits medical assistance, aid to the aged, blind, or disabled, and public health assistance). States that programs authorized under the National School Lunch Act, the Child Nutrition Act of 1966, the Vocational Education Act of 1963, chapter 1 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act of 1981, the Headstart-Follow Through Act, the Job Training Partnership Act, and subparts 4 and 5 of part A of title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 shall not be construed as prohibited assistance. Continues assistance to aliens under the Refugee Education Assistance Act of 1980 without regard to adjustment of status.

Establishes procedures for the status adjustment to permanent resident of certain Cuban and Haitian entrants who arrived in the United States before January 1, 1982.

Updates the registry date for permanent entry admissions records from June 30, 1948, to January 1, 1978.

Authorizes appropriations for FY 1986 through 1989 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.

Requires the President to report to the Congress regarding such legalization program.

Title V: International Migration - Directs the President to appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, a Presidential Representative for International Migration, with the rank of Ambassador-at-Large.

States that such representative shall be responsible for: (1) development of overall U.S. policy related to international migration; (2) representation and negotiation (under the Secretary of State); and (3) convening of an international conference.

Authorizes the President to convene an international conference to examine regional mechanisms for ongoing collaboration on problems associated with illegal immigration into the United States.

Title VI: Reports to Congress - Requires the Comptroller General to report to the Congress regarding the implementation of title I provisions.

Requires the President to report to the Congress concerning: (1) the push-pull factors affecting illegal immigration into the United States; and (2) immigration admissions and its impact upon the United States.

Establishes a Commission to: (1) review the existing H-2 worker program as it applies to agricultural employment; and (2) report to the Congress within two years. Terminates such Commission 28 months after enactment of this Act.