Hong Kong Safe Harbor Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 295 To designate residents of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region as Priority 2 refugees of special humanitarian concern, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 8, 2021 Mr. RUBIO (for himself, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. YOUNG, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. CORNYN, Ms. WARREN, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. LANKFORD, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, and Mr. COONS) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To designate residents of the Hong Kong Special Administra- tive Region as Priority 2 refugees of special humani- tarian concern, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Hong Kong Safe Har- 4 bor Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:31 Feb 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S295.IS S295 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 295 IS SEC. 2. DESIGNATION OF CERTAIN RESIDENTS OF HONG 1 KONG AS PRIORITY 2 REFUGEES. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State, in con- 3 sultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall 4 designate, as Priority 2 refugees of special humanitarian 5 concern, the following categories of aliens: 6 (1) Individuals who are residents of the Hong 7 Kong Special Administrative Region who suffered 8 persecution, or have a well-founded fear of persecu- 9 tion, on account of their peaceful expression of polit- 10 ical opinions or peaceful participation in political ac- 11 tivities or associations. 12 (2) Individuals who have been formally charged, 13 detained, or convicted on account of their peaceful 14 actions as described in section 206(b)(2) of the 15 United States-Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992 (22 16 U.S.C. 5726). 17 (3) The spouses, children, and parents (as such 18 terms are defined in subsections (a) and (b) of sec- 19 tion 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 20 U.S.C. 1101)) of individuals described in paragraph 21 (1) or (2), except such parents who are citizens of 22 a country other than the People’s Republic of China. 23 (b) PROCESSING OF HONG KONG REFUGEES.—The 24 processing of individuals described in subsection (a) for 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:31 Feb 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S295.IS S295 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 295 IS classification as refugees may occur in Hong Kong or in 1 a third country. 2 (c) ELIGIBILITY FOR ADMISSION AS REFUGEES.—An 3 alien may not be denied the opportunity to apply for ad- 4 mission as a refugee under this section primarily because 5 such alien— 6 (1) qualifies as an immediate relative of a cit- 7 izen of the United States; or 8 (2) is eligible for admission to the United 9 States under any other immigrant classification. 10 (d) FACILITATION OF ADMISSIONS.—An applicant 11 for admission to the United States from the Hong Kong 12 Special Administrative Region may not be denied pri- 13 marily on the basis of a politically motivated arrest, deten- 14 tion, or other adverse government action taken against 15 such applicant as a result of the participation by such ap- 16 plicant in protest activities. 17 (e) EXCLUSION FROM NUMERICAL LIMITATIONS.— 18 Aliens provided refugee status under this section shall not 19 be counted against any numerical limitation under section 20 201, 202, 203, or 207 of the Immigration and Nationality 21 Act (8 U.S.C. 1151, 1152, 1153, and 1157). 22 (f) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 24 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:31 Feb 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S295.IS S295 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 295 IS every 90 days thereafter, the Secretary of State and 1 the Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit a 2 report regarding the matters described in paragraph 3 (2) to— 4 (A) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 5 Senate; 6 (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations of 7 the Senate; 8 (C) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 9 House of Representatives; and 10 (D) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 11 the House of Representatives. 12 (2) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—Each report 13 required under paragraph (1) shall include— 14 (A) the total number of applications that 15 are pending at the end of the reporting period; 16 (B) the average wait-times for all appli- 17 cants who are currently pending— 18 (i) employment verification; 19 (ii) a prescreening interview with a re- 20 settlement support center; 21 (iii) an interview with U.S. Citizen- 22 ship and Immigration Services; or 23 (iv) the completion of security checks; 24 and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:31 Feb 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S295.IS S295 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 295 IS (C) the number of denials of applications 1 for refugee status, disaggregated by the reason 2 for each such denial. 3 (3) FORM.—Each report required under para- 4 graph (1) shall be submitted in unclassified form, 5 but may include a classified annex. 6 (4) PUBLIC REPORTS.—The Secretary of State 7 shall make each report submitted under this sub- 8 section available to the public on the internet website 9 of the Department of State. 10 (g) SATISFACTION OF OTHER REQUIREMENTS.— 11 Aliens granted status under this section as Priority 2 refu- 12 gees of special humanitarian concern under the refugee 13 resettlement priority system shall be considered to satisfy 14 the requirements under section 207 of the Immigration 15 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1157) for admission to the 16 United States. 17 SEC. 3. WAIVER OF IMMIGRANT STATUS PRESUMPTION. 18 (a) IN GENERAL.—The presumption under the first 19 sentence of section 214(b) of the Immigration and Nation- 20 ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1184(b)) that every alien is an immi- 21 grant until the alien establishes that the alien is entitled 22 to nonimmigrant status shall not apply to an alien de- 23 scribed in subsection (b). 24 (b) ALIEN DESCRIBED.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:31 Feb 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S295.IS S295 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 295 IS (1) IN GENERAL.—An alien described in this 1 paragraph is an alien who— 2 (A) is a resident of the Hong Kong Special 3 Administrative Region on February 8, 2021; 4 (B) is seeking entry to the United States 5 to apply for asylum under section 208 of the 6 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 7 1158); and 8 (C)(i) had a leadership role in civil society 9 organizations supportive of the protests in 2019 10 and 2020 relating to the Hong Kong extra- 11 dition bill and the encroachment on the auton- 12 omy of Hong Kong by the People’s Republic of 13 China; 14 (ii) had an organizing role for such pro- 15 tests; 16 (iii) acted as a first aid responder for such 17 protests; 18 (iv) suffered harm while covering such pro- 19 tests as a journalist; 20 (v) provided paid or pro-bono legal services 21 to 1 or more individuals arrested for partici- 22 pating in such protests; or 23 (vi) during the period beginning on June 24 9, 2019, and ending on February 8, 2021, was 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:31 Feb 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S295.IS S295 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 295 IS formally charged, detained, or convicted for his 1 or her participation in such protests. 2 (2) EXCLUSION.—An alien described in this 3 paragraph does not include any alien who is a citizen 4 of a country other than the People’s Republic of 5 China. 6 SEC. 4. REFUGEE AND ASYLUM DETERMINATIONS UNDER 7 THE IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY ACT. 8 (a) PERSECUTION ON ACCOUNT OF POLITICAL OPIN- 9 ION.— 10 (1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of refugee de- 11 terminations under section 207 of the Immigration 12 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1157), an individual 13 whose citizenship, nationality, or residency is re- 14 voked for having submitted to any United States 15 Government agency a nonfrivolous application for 16 refugee status, asylum, or any other immigration 17 benefit under the immigration laws (as defined in 18 section 101(a) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a))) shall 19 be considered to have suffered persecution on ac- 20 count of political opinion. 21 (2) NATIONALS OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF 22 CHINA.—For purposes of refugee determinations 23 under section 207 of the Immigration and Nation- 24 ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1157), a national of the People’s 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:31 Feb 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S295.IS S295 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 295 IS Republic of China whose residency in the Hong 1 Kong Special Administrative Region, or any other 2 area within the jurisdiction of the People’s Republic 3 of China, as determined by the Secretary of State, 4 is revoked for having submitted to any United 5 States Government agency a nonfrivolous application 6 for refugee status, asylum, or any other immigration 7 benefit under the immigration laws shall be consid- 8 ered to have suffered persecution on account of po- 9 litical opinion. 10 (b) CHANGED CIRCUMSTANCES.—For purposes of 11 asylum determinations under section 208 of the Immigra- 12 tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1158), the revocation 13 of the citizenship, nationality, or residency of an individual 14 for having submitted to any United States Government 15 agency a nonfrivolous application for refugee status, asy- 16 lum, or any other immigration benefit under the immigra- 17 tion laws shall be considered to be a changed circumstance 18 under subsection (a)(2)(D) of such section. 19 SEC. 5. STATEMENT OF POLICY ON ENCOURAGING ALLIES 20 AND PARTNERS TO MAKE SIMILAR ACCOM- 21 MODATIONS. 22 It is the policy of the United States to encourage al- 23 lies and partners of the United States to make accom- 24 modations similar to the accommodations made under this 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:31 Feb 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S295.IS S295 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 295 IS Act for residents of the Hong Kong Special Administrative 1 Region who are fleeing oppression by the Government of 2 the People’s Republic of China. 3 SEC. 6. TERMINATION. 4 This Act shall cease to have effect on the date that 5 is 5 years after the date of the enactment of this Act. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:31 Feb 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S295.IS S295 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS