GRACE Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2237 To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to require the President to set a minimum annual goal for the number of refugees to be admitted, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 26, 2021 Ms. LOFGREN (for herself, Mr. NEGUSE, Mr. NADLER, Ms. DEGETTE, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. COOPER, Mrs. DEMINGS, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. BONAMICI, Ms. NORTON, Mr. RUSH, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. CASTEN, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mr. CARSON, Mr. MORELLE, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mr. TORRES of New York, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. WELCH, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. YARMUTH, and Ms. TLAIB) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to require the President to set a minimum annual goal for the number of refugees to be admitted, and for other pur- poses. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:09 May 25, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2237.IH H2237 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2237 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Guaranteed Refugee 2 Admission Ceiling Enhancement Act’’ or the ‘‘GRACE 3 Act’’. 4 SEC. 2. ADMISSION OF REFUGEES. 5 Section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 6 (8 U.S.C. 1157) is amended— 7 (1) in subsection (a)— 8 (A) by striking paragraphs (1) and (2) and 9 inserting the following: 10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in sub- 11 section (b), the number of refugees who may be ad- 12 mitted under this section in any fiscal year shall be 13 such number as the President determines is— 14 ‘‘(A) justified by humanitarian concerns or 15 otherwise in the national interest; and 16 ‘‘(B) not fewer than 125,000. 17 ‘‘(2) ABSENCE OF DETERMINATION.—If the 18 President does not issue a determination under 19 paragraph (1) before the beginning of a fiscal year, 20 the number of refugees who may be admitted under 21 this section shall be 125,000.’’; 22 (B) by redesignating paragraphs (3) and 23 (4) as paragraphs (4) and (7), respectively; 24 (C) by inserting after paragraph (2) the 25 following: 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:09 May 25, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2237.IH H2237 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2237 IH ‘‘(3) NUMERICAL GOALS.—Each officer of the 1 Federal Government responsible for refugee admis- 2 sions or refugee resettlement shall treat as the nu- 3 merical goals for refugee admissions under this sec- 4 tion for the applicable fiscal year— 5 ‘‘(A)(i) a determination under paragraph 6 (1); or 7 ‘‘(ii) in the absence of a determination 8 under paragraph (1), the number under para- 9 graph (2); and 10 ‘‘(B) a determination under subsection 11 (b).’’; and 12 (D) by inserting after paragraph (4), as 13 redesignated, the following: 14 ‘‘(5) CONSIDERATION OF RESETTLEMENT 15 NEEDS.—In making a determination under para- 16 graph (1), the President shall consider the number 17 of refugees who, during the calendar year beginning 18 immediately after the beginning of the applicable fis- 19 cal year, are in need of resettlement in a third coun- 20 try, as determined by the United Nations High 21 Commissioner for Refugees in the most recently 22 published projected global resettlement needs report. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:09 May 25, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2237.IH H2237 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2237 IH ‘‘(6) REGIONAL ALLOCATIONS.—The President 1 shall determine regional allocations for admissions 2 under this subsection, which shall— 3 ‘‘(A) consider the projected needs identi- 4 fied by the United Nations High Commissioner 5 for Refugees in the projected global resettle- 6 ment needs report for the calendar year begin- 7 ning immediately after the beginning of the ap- 8 plicable fiscal year; and 9 ‘‘(B) include an unallocated reserve that 10 the Secretary of State, after notifying the Com- 11 mittee on the Judiciary of the Senate and the 12 Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 13 Representatives, may use for 1 or more regions 14 in which the need for additional refugee admis- 15 sions arises.’’; and 16 (2) by adding at the end the following: 17 ‘‘(g) QUARTERLY REPORTS ON ADMISSIONS.—Not 18 later than 15 days after the last day of each quarter, the 19 President shall submit to the Committee on the Judiciary 20 of the Senate and the Committee on the Judiciary of the 21 House of Representatives a report that includes the fol- 22 lowing: 23 ‘‘(1) REFUGEES ADMITTED.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:09 May 25, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2237.IH H2237 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2237 IH ‘‘(A) The number of refugees admitted to 1 the United States during the preceding quarter. 2 ‘‘(B) The number of refugees admitted to 3 the United States during the preceding quarter, 4 expressed as a percentage of the number of ref- 5 ugees authorized to be admitted in accordance 6 with the determinations under subsections (a) 7 and (b) for the applicable fiscal year. 8 ‘‘(C) The cumulative number of refugees 9 admitted to the United States during the appli- 10 cable fiscal year, as of the last day of the pre- 11 ceding quarter. 12 ‘‘(D) The number of refugees to be admit- 13 ted to the United States during the remainder 14 of the applicable fiscal year so as to achieve the 15 numerical goals set forth in the determinations 16 under subsections (a) and (b) for such fiscal 17 year. 18 ‘‘(E) The number of refugees from each 19 region admitted to the United States during the 20 preceding quarter, expressed as a percentage of 21 the allocation for each region under subsection 22 (a)(6) for the applicable fiscal year. 23 ‘‘(2) ALIENS WITH SECURITY ADVISORY OPIN- 24 IONS.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:09 May 25, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2237.IH H2237 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2237 IH ‘‘(A) The number of aliens, by nationality, 1 for whom a Security Advisory Opinion has been 2 requested who were security-cleared during the 3 preceding quarter, expressed as a percentage of 4 all cases successfully adjudicated by the Direc- 5 tor of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration 6 Services in the applicable fiscal year. 7 ‘‘(B) The number of aliens, by nationality, 8 for whom a Security Advisory Opinion has been 9 requested who were admitted to the United 10 States during the preceding quarter. 11 ‘‘(3) CIRCUIT RIDES.— 12 ‘‘(A) For the preceding quarter— 13 ‘‘(i) the number of Refugee Corps of- 14 ficers deployed on circuit rides, expressed 15 as a percentage of the overall number of 16 Refugee Corps officers; 17 ‘‘(ii) the number of individuals inter- 18 viewed— 19 ‘‘(I) on each circuit ride; and 20 ‘‘(II) at each circuit ride location; 21 ‘‘(iii) the number of circuit rides; and 22 ‘‘(iv) for each circuit ride— 23 ‘‘(I) the duration of the circuit 24 ride; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:09 May 25, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2237.IH H2237 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2237 IH ‘‘(II) the average number of 1 interviews conducted daily on the cir- 2 cuit ride; and 3 ‘‘(III) the percentages of inter- 4 views conducted for— 5 ‘‘(aa) individuals who re- 6 quire Security Advisory Opinions; 7 and 8 ‘‘(bb) individuals who do not 9 require Security Advisory Opin- 10 ions. 11 ‘‘(B) For the subsequent quarter— 12 ‘‘(i) the number of circuit rides sched- 13 uled; and 14 ‘‘(ii) the number of circuit rides 15 planned. 16 ‘‘(4) PROCESSING.—For the preceding quar- 17 ter— 18 ‘‘(A) the average number of days be- 19 tween— 20 ‘‘(i) the date on which an individual is 21 identified by the United States Govern- 22 ment as a refugee; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:09 May 25, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2237.IH H2237 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 2237 IH ‘‘(ii) the date on which such individual 1 is interviewed by the Secretary of Home- 2 land Security; 3 ‘‘(B) the average number of days be- 4 tween— 5 ‘‘(i) the date on which an individual 6 identified by the United States Govern- 7 ment as a refugee is interviewed by the 8 Secretary of Homeland Security; and 9 ‘‘(ii) the date on which such individual 10 is admitted to the United States; and 11 ‘‘(C) with respect to individuals identified 12 by the United States Government as refugees 13 who have been interviewed by the Secretary of 14 Homeland Security, the approval, denial, and 15 hold rates for the applications for admission of 16 such individuals, by nationality. 17 ‘‘(5) PLAN AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.— 18 ‘‘(A) A plan that describes the procedural 19 or personnel changes necessary to ensure the 20 admission of the number of refugees authorized 21 to be admitted to the United States in accord- 22 ance with determinations under subsections (a) 23 and (b), including a projection of the number of 24 refugees to be admitted to the United States 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:09 May 25, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2237.IH H2237 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 2237 IH each month so as to achieve the numerical goals 1 set forth in such determinations. 2 ‘‘(B) Additional information relating to the 3 pace of refugee admissions, as determined by 4 the President. 5 ‘‘(h) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec- 6 tion may be construed— 7 ‘‘(1) to inhibit the expeditious processing of ref- 8 ugee and asylum applications; or 9 ‘‘(2) to restrict the authority of the Secretary of 10 Homeland Security to admit aliens to the United 11 States under any other Act.’’. 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:09 May 25, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2237.IH H2237 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS