114 STAT. 1534 PUBLIC LAW 106-386—OCT. 28, 2000 law enforcement officials to better serve immigrant crime victims and to prosecute crimes committed against aliens. (B) Creating a new nonimmigrant visa classification will facilitate the reporting of crimes to law enforcement officials by trafficked, exploited, victimized, and abused aliens who are not in lawful immigration status. It also gives law enforcement officials a means to regularize the status of cooperating individuals during investigations or prosecutions. Providing temporary legal status to aliens who have been severely victimized by criminal activity also comports with the humanitarian interests of the United States. (C) Finally, this section gives the Attorney General discretion to convert the status of such nonimmigrants to that of permanent residents when doing so is justified on humanitarian grounds, for family unity, or is otherwise in the public interest. (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF HUMANITARIAN/MATERIAL WITNESS NON- IMMIGRANT CLASSIFICATION.— Section 101(a)(15) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)) (as amended by section 107 of this Act) is amended— (1) by striking "or" at the end of subparagraph (S); (2) by striking the period at the end of subparagraph (T) and inserting "; or"; and (3) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph: "(U)(i) subject to section 214(o), an alien who files a petition for status under this subparagraph, if the Attorney General determines that— "(I) the alien has suffered substantial physical or mental abuse as a result of having been a victim of criminal activity described in clause (iii); "(II) the alien (or in the case of an alien child under the age of 16, the parent, guardian, or next friend of the alien) possesses information concerning criminal activity described in clause (iii); "(III) the alien (or in the case of an alien child under the age of 16, the parent, guardian, or next friend of the alien) has been helpful, is being helpful, or is likely to be helpful to a Federal, State, or local law enforcement official, to a Federal, State, or local prosecutor, to a Federal or State judge, to the Service, or to other Federal, State, or local authorities investigating or prosecuting criminal activity described in clause (iii); and "(IV) the criminal activity described in clause (iii) violated the laws of the United States or occurred in the United States (including in Indian country and military installations) or the territories and possessions of the United States; "(ii) if the Attorney General considers it necessary to avoid extreme hardship to the spouse, the child, or, in the case of an alien child, the parent of the alien described in clause (i), the Attorney General may also grant status under this paragraph based upon certification of a government official listed in clause (i)(III) that an investigation or prosecution would be harmed without the
�
