BILL NUMBER: AJR 41	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Nation

                        FEBRUARY 2, 2006

   Relative to immigrant children.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AJR 41, as introduced, Nation  Immigrant children.
   This measure would urge the Congress and the President of the
United States to protect unlawful immigrant children by amending the
federal immigration law to permit unlawful immigrant children to have
an immigration specialist assigned to them prior to their
emancipation.
   This measure would also urge Congress and the President of the
United States to amend the federal Immigration and Nationality Act to
allow a child who is adopted while he or she is a dependent of a
juvenile court located in the United States to become a United States
citizen without being fully admitted for permanent residence.
   Fiscal committee: no.




   WHEREAS, In the past few years, the number of unaccompanied
children taken into custody by immigration officials has increased by
nearly 30 percent, and is expected to reach an all time high this
year; and
   WHEREAS, Congress has the power to regulate immigration and
naturalization (Art. I, Sec. 8, U.S. Const.); and
   WHEREAS, Federal authority over immigration matters is very broad;
and
   WHEREAS, Federal immigration law specifically provides that a
juvenile who is also an unlawful immigrant my be accorded the status
of special immigrant if (a) he or she has been declared a dependent
in a juvenile court, or is a person whom the court has legally
committed to, or placed under the custody of, an agency or department
of a state and he or she has been deemed eligible by that court for
long-term care due to abuse, neglect, or abandonment, (b) he or she
is a person for whom it has been determined in administrative or
judicial proceedings that it would not be in his or her best interest
to be returned to the juvenile's or his or her parent's previous
country of nationality or country of last habitual residence, and (c)
he or she is a person in whose case the Attorney General expressly
consents to the dependency order serving as a precondition to the
grant of special immigrant juvenile status (8 U.S.C. Sec. 1101 (a)
(27)(J)); and
   WHEREAS, In California if an undocumented child has become a
dependent of a juvenile court because of abuse or neglect and parent
rights are terminated, than that child is eligible for Special
Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS); and
   WHEREAS, The child can only obtain legal status while the child is
a dependent of the court; and
   WHEREAS, If the child is not assigned an immigration specialist to
obtain SIJS prior to emancipation, his or her ability of gaining
legal status becomes practically null; and
   WHEREAS, The Transitional Independent Living Plan (TILP) was
created to help prepare undocumented children to live on their own;
and
   WHEREAS, The TILP is not mandatory and is only a document of
suggested guidelines; and
   WHEREAS, Unless the Child Welfare and Juvenile Court Systems
ensure that eligible undocumented children obtain lawful Special
Immigrant Juveniles Status prior to their emancipation, these
children are destined for lives of instability and fear as outsiders
in the only country many have ever known; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature of the State of California
urges the President and the Congress of the United States to protect
these children; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Legislature of the State of California urges
the Congress of the United States to amend the federal immigration
law to permit these children to have an immigration specialist
assigned to them prior to their emancipation; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Legislature of the State of California urges
the Congress of the United States to amend Section 320 of the
Immigration and Nationality Act to state that if a child has been
adopted while a dependent of a juvenile court located in the United
States, he or she need not be fully admitted for permanent residence,
as required by subsection (a)(3) in order to become a United States
citizen pursuant to this section; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the President of the United States, to the United
States Secretary for Homeland Security, and to each Senator and
Representative from California in the Congress of the United States.