Summary

Creates new protections and processes for noncitizen service members, veterans, and certain family members. It orders a one-year retrospective study of noncitizen veterans who were removed, requires DHS to identify potential veterans before starting removal proceedings, and bars removal of identified cases until an advisory committee reviews them. The bill also sets up a Military Family Immigration Advisory Committee, streamlines naturalization and USCIS interaction for service members, requires USCIS presence or trained staff at Military Entrance Processing Stations, and authorizes the Secretary of Homeland Security to adjust status or admit certain veterans with final removal orders as lawful permanent residents under public-interest waivers.

Key Points

• Requires a joint DoD–DHS–VA study of noncitizen veterans removed since 1990, with detailed service and removal data.
• Directs DHS to build a department-wide system to identify noncitizen veterans and to check it before starting removal proceedings.
• Creates a nine-member Military Family Immigration Advisory Committee to review cases and recommend prosecutorial discretion; removal is paused until the Committee issues a recommendation.
• Establishes a joint DHS–DoD program to streamline military naturalization, allows filing on first day of service, and requires USCIS certification within 30 days of request.
• Requires USCIS staffing or trained DoD staff at every MEPS to inform recruits about naturalization through service.
• Authorizes DHS to adjust status or admit certain veterans with final removal orders as lawful permanent residents using public-interest waivers of many inadmissibility grounds.
• Allows some immediate relatives of qualifying U.S. citizen service members/veterans with approved I-130s to be treated as inspected and admitted for adjustment of status and exempts certain inadmissibility grounds.
• Excludes individuals inadmissible for an aggravated felony conviction from Committee review and preserves certain aggravated-felony and serious-crime inadmissibility limits.
• Requires reporting to Congress and interagency data-sharing and briefings, including DoD briefings to the Advisory Committee and quarterly DHS reports on actions taken in response to recommendations.
• Changes a naturalization service-time rule from six months to one year for the relevant INA pathway and expands eligibility tied to contingency operations.

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