GRACE Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1135 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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 15, 2021 Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. LEAHY, Ms. WARREN, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Ms. SMITH, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. REED, Mr. WYDEN, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Mr. CASEY, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. BROWN, Mrs. MURRAY, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. WARNER, Mr. KAINE, Mr. COONS, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, and Mr. MERKLEY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Guaranteed Refugee 4 Admission Ceiling Enhancement Act’’ or the ‘‘GRACE 5 Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1135.IS S1135 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1135 IS SEC. 2. ADMISSION OF REFUGEES. 1 Section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 2 (8 U.S.C. 1157) is amended— 3 (1) in subsection (a)— 4 (A) by striking paragraphs (1) and (2) and 5 inserting the following: 6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in sub- 7 section (b), the number of refugees who may be ad- 8 mitted under this section in any fiscal year shall be 9 such number as the President determines is— 10 ‘‘(A) justified by humanitarian concerns or 11 otherwise in the national interest; and 12 ‘‘(B) not fewer than 125,000. 13 ‘‘(2) ABSENCE OF DETERMINATION.—If the 14 President does not issue a determination under 15 paragraph (1) before the beginning of a fiscal year, 16 the number of refugees who may be admitted under 17 this section shall be 125,000.’’; 18 (B) by redesignating paragraphs (3) and 19 (4) as paragraphs (4) and (7), respectively; 20 (C) by inserting after paragraph (2) the 21 following: 22 ‘‘(3) NUMERICAL GOALS.—Each officer of the 23 Federal Government responsible for refugee admis- 24 sions or refugee resettlement shall treat as the nu- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1135.IS S1135 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1135 IS merical goals for refugee admissions under this sec- 1 tion for the applicable fiscal year— 2 ‘‘(A)(i) a determination under paragraph 3 (1); or 4 ‘‘(ii) in the absence of a determination 5 under paragraph (1), the number under para- 6 graph (2); and 7 ‘‘(B) a determination under subsection 8 (b).’’; and 9 (D) by inserting after paragraph (4), as 10 redesignated, the following: 11 ‘‘(5) CONSIDERATION OF RESETTLEMENT 12 NEEDS.—In making a determination under para- 13 graph (1), the President shall consider the number 14 of refugees who, during the calendar year beginning 15 immediately after the beginning of the applicable fis- 16 cal year, are in need of resettlement in a third coun- 17 try, as determined by the United Nations High 18 Commissioner for Refugees in the most recently 19 published projected global resettlement needs report. 20 ‘‘(6) REGIONAL ALLOCATIONS.—The President 21 shall determine regional allocations for admissions 22 under this subsection, which shall— 23 ‘‘(A) consider the projected needs identi- 24 fied by the United Nations High Commissioner 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1135.IS S1135 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1135 IS for Refugees in the projected global resettle- 1 ment needs report for the calendar year begin- 2 ning immediately after the beginning of the ap- 3 plicable fiscal year; and 4 ‘‘(B) include an unallocated reserve that 5 the Secretary of State, after notifying the Com- 6 mittee on the Judiciary of the Senate and the 7 Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 8 Representatives, may use for 1 or more regions 9 in which the need for additional refugee admis- 10 sions arises.’’; and 11 (2) by adding at the end the following: 12 ‘‘(g) QUARTERLY REPORTS ON ADMISSIONS.—Not 13 later than 15 days after the last day of each quarter, the 14 President shall submit to the Committee on the Judiciary 15 of the Senate and the Committee on the Judiciary of the 16 House of Representatives a report that includes the fol- 17 lowing: 18 ‘‘(1) REFUGEES ADMITTED.— 19 ‘‘(A) The number of refugees admitted to 20 the United States during the preceding quarter. 21 ‘‘(B) The number of refugees admitted to 22 the United States during the preceding quarter, 23 expressed as a percentage of the number of ref- 24 ugees authorized to be admitted in accordance 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1135.IS S1135 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1135 IS with the determinations under subsections (a) 1 and (b) for the applicable fiscal year. 2 ‘‘(C) The cumulative number of refugees 3 admitted to the United States during the appli- 4 cable fiscal year, as of the last day of the pre- 5 ceding quarter. 6 ‘‘(D) The number of refugees to be admit- 7 ted to the United States during the remainder 8 of the applicable fiscal year so as to achieve the 9 numerical goals set forth in the determinations 10 under subsections (a) and (b) for such fiscal 11 year. 12 ‘‘(E) The number of refugees from each 13 region admitted to the United States during the 14 preceding quarter, expressed as a percentage of 15 the allocation for each region under subsection 16 (a)(6) for the applicable fiscal year. 17 ‘‘(2) ALIENS WITH SECURITY ADVISORY OPIN- 18 IONS.— 19 ‘‘(A) The number of aliens, by nationality, 20 for whom a Security Advisory Opinion has been 21 requested who were security-cleared during the 22 preceding quarter, expressed as a percentage of 23 all cases successfully adjudicated by the Direc- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1135.IS S1135 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1135 IS tor of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration 1 Services in the applicable fiscal year. 2 ‘‘(B) The number of aliens, by nationality, 3 for whom a Security Advisory Opinion has been 4 requested who were admitted to the United 5 States during the preceding quarter. 6 ‘‘(3) CIRCUIT RIDES.— 7 ‘‘(A) For the preceding quarter— 8 ‘‘(i) the number of Refugee Corps of- 9 ficers deployed on circuit rides, expressed 10 as a percentage of the overall number of 11 Refugee Corps officers; 12 ‘‘(ii) the number of individuals inter- 13 viewed— 14 ‘‘(I) on each circuit ride; and 15 ‘‘(II) at each circuit ride location; 16 ‘‘(iii) the number of circuit rides; and 17 ‘‘(iv) for each circuit ride— 18 ‘‘(I) the duration of the circuit 19 ride; 20 ‘‘(II) the average number of 21 interviews conducted daily on the cir- 22 cuit ride; and 23 ‘‘(III) the percentages of inter- 24 views conducted for— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1135.IS S1135 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1135 IS ‘‘(aa) individuals who re- 1 quire Security Advisory Opinions; 2 and 3 ‘‘(bb) individuals who do not 4 require Security Advisory Opin- 5 ions. 6 ‘‘(B) For the subsequent quarter— 7 ‘‘(i) the number of circuit rides sched- 8 uled; and 9 ‘‘(ii) the number of circuit rides 10 planned. 11 ‘‘(4) PROCESSING.—For the preceding quar- 12 ter— 13 ‘‘(A) the average number of days be- 14 tween— 15 ‘‘(i) the date on which an individual is 16 identified by the United States Govern- 17 ment as a refugee; and 18 ‘‘(ii) the date on which such individual 19 is interviewed by the Secretary of Home- 20 land Security; 21 ‘‘(B) the average number of days be- 22 tween— 23 ‘‘(i) the date on which an individual 24 identified by the United States Govern- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1135.IS S1135 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1135 IS ment as a refugee is interviewed by the 1 Secretary of Homeland Security; and 2 ‘‘(ii) the date on which such individual 3 is admitted to the United States; and 4 ‘‘(C) with respect to individuals identified 5 by the United States Government as refugees 6 who have been interviewed by the Secretary of 7 Homeland Security, the approval, denial, and 8 hold rates for the applications for admission of 9 such individuals, by nationality. 10 ‘‘(5) PLAN AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.— 11 ‘‘(A) A plan that describes the procedural 12 or personnel changes necessary to ensure the 13 admission of the number of refugees authorized 14 to be admitted to the United States in accord- 15 ance with determinations under subsections (a) 16 and (b), including a projection of the number of 17 refugees to be admitted to the United States 18 each month so as to achieve the numerical goals 19 set forth in such determinations. 20 ‘‘(B) Additional information relating to the 21 pace of refugee admissions, as determined by 22 the President. 23 ‘‘(h) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec- 24 tion may be construed— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1135.IS S1135 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1135 IS ‘‘(1) to inhibit the expeditious processing of ref- 1 ugee and asylum applications; or 2 ‘‘(2) to restrict the authority of the Secretary of 3 Homeland Security to admit aliens to the United 4 States under any other Act.’’. 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 Apr 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1135.IS S1135 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS