SPECIAL IMMIGRANT STATUS FOR CERTAIN ALIENS DECLARED DEPENDENT ON A JUVENILE COURT (J SPECIAL IMMIGRANTS).

SEC. 153. SPECIAL IMMIGRANT STATUS FOR CERTAIN ALIENS DECLARED DEPENDENT ON A JUVENILE COURT (J SPECIAL IMMIGRANTS). (a) In General.— Section 101(a)(27) (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(27)) is amended— (1) by striking “or” at the end of subparagraph (H), (2) by striking the period at the end of subparagraph (I) and inserting “; or”, and (3) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph: “(J) an immigrant (i) who has been declared dependent on a juvenile court located in the United States and has been deemed eligible by that court for long-term foster care, and (ii) for whom104 STAT. 5006 it has been determined in administrative or judicial proceedings that it would not be in the alien’s best interest to be returned to the alien’s or parent’s previous country of nationality or country of last habitual residence; except that no natural parent or prior adoptive parent of any alien provided special immigrant status under this subparagraph shall thereafter, by virtue of such parentage, be accorded any right, privilege, or status under this Act.”. (b) Waiver of Grounds for Deportation.— (1) In general.— Section 241 (8 U.S.C. 1251) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: “(h) Paragraphs (1), (2), (5), (9), or (12) of subsection 241(a) (other than so much of paragraph (1) as relates to a ground of exclusion described in paragraph (9), (10), (23), (27), (29), or (33) of section 212(a)) shall not apply to a special immigrant described in section 101(a)(27)(J) based upon circumstances that exist before the date the alien was provided such special immigrant status.”. (2) Use of new grounds for deportation.— Effective on the date that the amendments made by section 602 of this Act become effective, the subsection added by paragraph (1) is amended to read as follows: “(h) Paragraphs (1)(A), (1)(B), (1)(C), (1)(D), or (3)(A), of subsection 241(a) (other than so much of paragraph (1) as relates to a ground of exclusion described in paragraph (2) or (3) of section 212(a)) shall not apply to a special immigrant described in section 101(a)(27)(J) based upon circumstances that exist before the date the alien was provided such special immigrant status.”.