Private Law 105-1
105th Congress
An Act
July 29, 1997
[S. 768]
For the relief of Michel Christopher Meili, Giuseppina Meili, Mirjam Naomi Meili, and Davide Meili.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The actions of Swiss banks and their relations with Nazi Germany before and during World War II and the banks' actions after the war concerning former Nazi loot and heirless assets placed in the banks before the war have been the subject of an extensive and ongoing inquiry by the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate and a study by a United States interagency group.
(2) On January 8, 1997, Michel Christopher Meili, while performing his duties as a security guard at the Union Bank of Switzerland in Zurich, Switzerland, discovered that bank employees were shredding important Holocaust-era documents.
(3) Mr. Meili was able to save some of the documents from destruction and then turned them over to the Jewish community in Zurich and to the Swiss police.
(4) Following Mr. Meili's disclosure of the destruction of the Holocaust-era documents, Mr. Meili was suspended and then terminated from his job. He was also interrogated by the local Swiss authorities who tried to intimidate him by threatening prosecution for his heroic actions.
(5) Since this disclosure, Mr. Meili and his family have been threatened and harassed, and have received many death threats. Mr. Meili also received a hand-delivered note threatening the kidnapping of his children in return for the "Jewish money" he would receive for his actions, and urging him to emigrate to the United States or be killed.
(6) Because of his courageous actions, Mr. Meili and his family have suffered economic hardship, mental anguish, and have been forced to live in fear for their lives.
SEC. 2. PERMANENT RESIDENCE.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, for purposes of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.), Michel Christopher Meili, Giuseppina Meili, Mirjam Naomi Meili, and Davide Meili shall be held and considerea to have been lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence as of the date of the enactment of this Act upon payment of the required visa fees.
