DETERMINATION OF TREATMENT OF BATTERED ALIENS AS QUALIFIED ALIENS; INCLUSION OF ALIEN CHILD OF BATTERED PARENT AS QUALIFIED ALIEN.

SEC. 5571. DETERMINATION OF TREATMENT OF BATTERED ALIENS AS QUALIFIED ALIENS; INCLUSION OF ALIEN CHILD OF BATTERED PARENT AS QUALIFIED ALIEN. (a) Determination of Status by Agency Providing Benefits.—Section 431 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1641) is amended in subsections (c)(1)(A) and (c)(2)(A) by striking “Attorney General, which opinion is not subject to review by any court)” each place it appears and inserting “agency providing such benefits)”. (b) Guidance Issued by Attorney General.—Section 431(c) of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1641(c)) is amended by adding at the end the following new undesignated paragraph: “After consultation with the Secretaries of Health and Human Services, Agriculture, and Housing and Urban Development, the Commissioner of Social Security, and with the heads of such Federal agencies administering benefits as the Attorney General considers appropriate, the Attorney General shall issue guidance (in the Attorney General’s sole and unreviewable discretion) for purposes of this subsection and section 421(f), concerning the meaning of the terms ‘battery’ and ‘extreme cruelty’, and the standards and methods to be used for determining whether a substantial connection exists between battery or cruelty suffered and an individual’s need for benefits under a specific Federal, State, or local program.”. (c) Inclusion of Alien Child of Battered Parent as Qualified Alien.—Section 431(c) of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1641(c)) is amend— (1) at the end of paragraph (1)(B)(iv) by striking “or”; (2) at the end of paragraph (2)(B) by striking the period and inserting “; or”; and (3) by inserting after paragraph (2)(B) and before the last sentence of such subsection the following new paragraph: “(3) an alien child who— “(A) resides in the same household as a parent who has been battered or subjected to extreme cruelty in the United States by that parent’s spouse or by a member of the spouse’s family residing in the same household as the parent and the spouse consented or acquiesced to such battery or cruelty, but only if (in the opinion of the agency providing such benefits) there is a substantial connection 111 STAT. 641between such battery or cruelty and the need for the benefits to be provided; and “(B) who meets the requirement of subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1).”. (d) Inclusion of Alien Child of Battered Parent Under Special Rule for Attribution Of Income.—Section 421(f)(1)(A) of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1631(f)(1)(A)) is amended— (1) at the end of clause (i) by striking “or”; and (2) by striking “and the battery or cruelty described in clause (i) or (ii)” and inserting “or (iii) the alien is a child whose parent (who resides in the same household as the alien child) has been battered or subjected to extreme cruelty in the United States by that parent’s spouse, or by a member of the spouse’s family residing in the same household as the parent and the spouse consented to, or acquiesced in, such battery or cruelty, and the battery or cruelty described in clause (i), (ii), or (iii)”.