WSR 21-17-098
EMERGENCY RULES
DEPARTMENT OF
SOCIAL AND HEALTH SERVICES
(Economic Services Administration)
[Filed August 13, 2021, 2:48 p.m., effective August 13, 2021, 2:48 p.m.]
Effective Date of Rule: Immediately upon filing.
Purpose: The department is amending WAC 388-424-0001 Citizenship and alien status—Definitions and 388-466-0005 Immigration status requirements for refugee assistance.
These amendments are necessary to allow special immigrants from Iraq and Afghanistan, who entered the United States as parolees (under Section 602 (B)(1) of Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2009 or Sec 1059(a) of National Defense Authorization Act), to be eligible for federally funded benefits. This change must be implemented immediately to allow access to benefits for these individuals, pursuant to federal law.
Citation of Rules Affected by this Order: Amending WAC 388-424-0001 and 388-466-0005.
Other Authority: Sec. 1059(a) of National Defense Authorization Act, Public Law 109-163-JAN. 6, 2006 (NDAA 2006), P.L. 111-118, the Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 2010, Division A, Title Viii, Section 8120, Section 602 (B)(1) of Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2009, P.L. 111-8, As Amended Through P.L. 116-283, Enacted January 1, 2021 (AAPA).
Under RCW
34.05.350 the agency for good cause finds that immediate adoption, amendment, or repeal of a rule is necessary for the preservation of the public health, safety, or general welfare, and that observing the time requirements of notice and opportunity to comment upon adoption of a permanent rule would be contrary to the public interest; and that state or federal law or federal rule or a federal deadline for state receipt of federal funds requires immediate adoption of a rule.
Reasons for this Finding: To allow special immigrants from Iraq and Afghanistan paroled into the United States (under section 602 (B)(1) AAPA or Sec. 1059(a) NDAA 2006) the same access to benefits as those special immigrants from Iraq and Afghanistan who entered the United States as Lawful Permanent Residents (under the P.L. 111-118 The Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 2010, Division A, Title Viii, Section 8120).
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 2, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted at the Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's own Initiative: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted using Negotiated Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Pilot Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Other Alternative Rule Making: New 0, Amended 2, Repealed 0.
Date Adopted: August 13, 2021.
Katherine I. Vasquez
Rules Coordinator
SHS-4885.1
AMENDATORY SECTION(Amending WSR 20-09-044, filed 4/8/20, effective 5/9/20)
WAC 388-424-0001Citizenship and alien status—Definitions.
For the purposes of determining an individual's citizenship and alien status for public assistance, the following definitions apply:
(1) "Lawfully present" are immigrants or noncitizens who have been inspected and admitted into the United States and not overstayed the period for which they were admitted, or have current permission from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigrant Services (CIS) to stay or live in the U.S.
(2) "Qualified aliens" are lawfully present immigrants defined in federal law as one of the following:
(a) Individuals lawfully admitted for permanent residence (LPRs).
(b) Individuals who are admitted to the U.S. as refugees under INA §207. The following individuals are treated the same as refugees in their eligibility for public assistance:
(i) Hmong or Highland Lao are members of a Hmong or Highland Laotian tribe which rendered military assistance to the U.S. during the Vietnam era (August 5, 1964 to May 7, 1975), and are "lawfully present" in the U.S. This category also includes the spouse (including unremarried widow or widower) or unmarried dependent child of such tribal members.
(ii) Victims of trafficking according to federal law are:
(A) Individuals who have been certified or approved as victims of trafficking by the federal office of refugee resettlement.
(B) Immediate family members of trafficking victims. Immediate family members are the spouse or child of a victim of any age and the parent or minor sibling if the victim is under twenty-one years old.
(iii) Special immigrants from Iraq and Afghanistan are individuals granted special immigrant status under INA §101 (a)(27), or paroled under section 602 (B)(1) AAPA/Sec 1059(a) NDAA 2006.
(c) Individuals who have been granted asylum under INA §208.
(d) Cuban/Haitian entrants. These are nationals of Cuba or Haiti who were paroled into the U.S. or given other special status.
(e) Abused spouses or children, parents of abused children, or children of abused spouses:
(i) When the alien no longer resides with the person who committed the abuse, and has one of the following:
(A) A pending or approved I-130 petition or application to immigrate as an immediate relative of a U.S. citizen or as the spouse or unmarried child under age twenty-one of a lawful permanent resident (LPR);
(B) A notice of "prima facie" approval of a pending self-petition under the violence against women act (VAWA); or
(C) Proof of a pending application for suspension of deportation or cancellation of removal under VAWA.
(ii) Children of an abused spouse do not need their own separate pending or approved petition, but are included in their parent's petition if it was filed before they turned twenty-one years old. Children of abused persons who meet the conditions above retain their "qualified alien" status even after they turn twenty-one years old.
(f) Individuals who have been granted parole into the U.S. for at least a period of one year (or indefinitely) under INA §212 (d)(5), including "public interest" parolees.
(g) Individuals granted withholding of deportation or removal under INA §243(h) or §241 (b)(3).
(h) Individuals who were admitted to the U.S. as conditional entrants under INA §203 (a)(7) prior to April 1, 1980.
(i) Amerasians who were born to U.S. citizen armed services members in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War.
(3) "Nonqualified aliens" are noncitizens who are lawfully present in the U.S. and who are not included in the definition of qualified aliens in subsection (1) of this section. Nonqualified aliens include but are not limited to:
(a) Citizens of Marshall Islands, Micronesia or Palau;
(b) Immigrants paroled into the U.S. for less than one year;
(c) Immigrants granted temporary protected status; or
(d) Nonimmigrants who are allowed entry into the U.S. for a specific purpose usually for a limited time are also nonqualified. Examples include:
(i) Business visitors;
(ii) Students; and
(iii) Tourists.
(4) "Undocumented aliens" are noncitizens without a lawful immigration status as defined in subsections (2) or (3) of this section, and who:
(a) Entered the U.S. illegally; or
(b) Were lawfully admitted but whose status expired or was revoked per United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
(5) "U.S. citizens" are one of the following:
(a) Individuals born in the United States or its territories (Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands; also residents of the Northern Mariana Islands who elected to become U.S. citizens).
(b) American Indians born outside the U.S. without regard to immigration status or date of entry if:
(i) They were born in Canada and are fifty percent American Indian blood (but need not belong to a federally recognized tribe); or
(ii) They are members of a federally recognized Indian tribe or Alaskan Native village or corporation.
(c) Individuals who have become naturalized U.S. citizens.
(d) Individuals born abroad to at least one U.S. citizen parent depending on conditions at the time of their birth, per title 8, subchapter III, section 1401 of the United States Code.
(e) Individuals who turn eighteen years of age on or after February 27, 2001, automatically become U.S. citizens if the following conditions are met while the individual is under age eighteen per INA 320.
(i) The individual is granted lawful permanent resident (LPR) status;
(ii) At least one of the individual's parents is a U.S. citizen by birth or naturalization; and
(iii) The individual:
(A) Resides in the U.S. in the legal and physical custody of the citizen parent; or
(B) Was adopted according to the requirements of INA 101 and resides in the U.S. in the legal and physical custody of the citizen parent.
(f) Individuals who turned eighteen before February 27, 2001, would have automatically become a citizen if, while the individual was still under eighteen, he or she became a lawful permanent resident and both his or her parents naturalized. Such individuals also may have derived citizenship when only one parent naturalized, if the other parent was dead or a U.S. citizen by birth, or the individual's parents were separated and the naturalized parent had custody.
(6) "U.S. nationals" are persons who owe permanent allegiance to the U.S. and may enter and work in the U.S. without restriction. The following are the only persons classified as U.S. nationals:
(a) Persons born in American Samoa or Swain's Island after December 24, 1952; and
(b) Residents of the Northern Mariana Islands who did not elect to become U.S. citizens.
AMENDATORY SECTION(Amending WSR 12-19-037, filed 9/12/12, effective 10/13/12)
WAC 388-466-0005Immigration status requirements for refugee cash assistance.
(1) You may be eligible for refugee cash assistance (RCA) if you can provide documentation issued by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), that you are:
(a) Admitted as a refugee under section 207 of the Immigration and Nationalities Act (INA);
(b) Paroled into the U.S. as a refugee or asylee under section 212 (d)(5) of the INA;
(c) Granted conditional entry under section 203 (a)(7) of the INA;
(d) Granted asylum under section 208 of the INA;
(e) Admitted as an Amerasian Immigrant from Vietnam through the orderly departure program, under section 584 of the Foreign Operations Appropriations Act, incorporated in the FY88 Continuing Resolution P.L. 100-212;
(f) A Cuban-Haitian entrant who was admitted as a public interest parolee under section 212 (d)(5) of the INA;
(g) Certified as a victim of human trafficking by the federal office of refugee resettlement (ORR);
(h) An eligible family member of a victim of human trafficking certified by ORR who has a T-2, T-3, T-4, or T-5 Visa;
(i) Admitted as Special Immigrant from Iraq or Afghanistan under section 101 (a)(27) of the INA, or paroled under section 602 (B)(1) AAPA/Sec 1059(a) NDAA 2006.
(2) A permanent resident alien meets the immigration status requirements for RCA if the individual was previously in one of the statuses described in subsections (1)(a) through (g) of this section.