Regulacje i polityka gospodarcza · 11.12.1997

Guidance on Standards and Methods for Determining Whether a Substantial Connection Exists Between Battery or Extreme Cruelty and Need for Specific Public Benefits

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (``PRWORA''), as amended by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, provides that certain categories of aliens who have been subjected to battery or extreme cruelty in the United States are ``qualified aliens'' eligible for certain federal, state, and local public benefits. To be qualified under this provision, an alien must demonstrate, among other things, that there is a substantial connection between the battery or extreme cruelty and the need for the public benefit sought. As initially enacted, the PRWORA vested in the Attorney General the authority to determine whether a substantial connection exists between the battery or extreme cruelty suffered by the alien or alien's child and the specific benefits sought by the alien. The Attorney General exercised that authority in Attorney General Order No. 2097-97. Subsequent to the issuance of that Order, Congress passed the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, which amended the PRWOR to vest the authority for making substantial connection determinations in benefit providers, rather than the Attorney General. The Balanced Budget Act al