GRACE Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1088 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 9, 2019 Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Ms. HIRONO, Ms. HARRIS, Mr. LEAHY, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Ms. SMITH, Mr. BOOKER, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Mr. MURPHY, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. MERKLEY, and Mr. DURBIN) 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 04:03 Apr 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1088.IS S1088 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 1088 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 paragraph (1); 5 (B) by redesignating paragraphs (2) and 6 (4) as paragraphs (1) and (6), respectively; 7 (C) in paragraph (1), as redesignated— 8 (i) by striking ‘‘after fiscal year 9 1982’’; and 10 (ii) by striking ‘‘is justified’’ and all 11 that follows through ‘‘interest.’’ and insert- 12 ing ‘‘is— 13 ‘‘(A) justified by humanitarian concerns or oth- 14 erwise in the national interest; and 15 ‘‘(B) not less than 95,000. 16 ‘‘(2) Each officer of the Federal Government respon- 17 sible for refugee admissions or refugee resettlement shall 18 treat a determination under paragraph (1) and subsection 19 (b) as the numerical goals for refugee admissions under 20 this section for the applicable fiscal year.’’; and 21 (D) by inserting after paragraph (3) the 22 following: 23 ‘‘(4) In making a determination under paragraph (1), 24 the President shall consider the number of refugees who, 25 during the calendar year beginning immediately after the 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:03 Apr 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1088.IS S1088 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 1088 IS beginning of the applicable fiscal year, are in need of reset- 1 tlement in a third country, as determined by the United 2 Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in the most re- 3 cently published projected global resettlement needs re- 4 port. 5 ‘‘(5) The President shall determine regional alloca- 6 tions for admissions under this subsection, which shall— 7 ‘‘(A) consider the projected needs identified by 8 the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees 9 in the projected global resettlement needs report for 10 the calendar year beginning immediately after the 11 beginning of the applicable fiscal year; and 12 ‘‘(B) include an unallocated reserve that the 13 Secretary of State, after notifying the Committee on 14 the Judiciary of the Senate and the Committee on 15 the Judiciary of the House of Representatives, may 16 use for 1 or more regions in which the need for ad- 17 ditional refugee admissions arises.’’; and 18 (2) by adding at the end the following: 19 ‘‘(g) QUARTERLY REPORTS ON ADMISSIONS.—Not 20 later than 15 days after the last day of each quarter, the 21 President shall submit to the Committee on the Judiciary 22 of the Senate and the Committee on the Judiciary of the 23 House of Representatives a report that includes the fol- 24 lowing: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:03 Apr 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1088.IS S1088 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 1088 IS ‘‘(1) REFUGEES ADMITTED.— 1 ‘‘(A) The number of refugees admitted to 2 the United States during the preceding quarter. 3 ‘‘(B) The number of refugees admitted to 4 the United States during the preceding quarter, 5 expressed as a percentage of the number of ref- 6 ugees authorized to be admitted in accordance 7 with the determinations under subsections (a) 8 and (b) for the applicable fiscal year. 9 ‘‘(C) The cumulative number of refugees 10 admitted to the United States during the appli- 11 cable fiscal year, as of the last day of the pre- 12 ceding quarter. 13 ‘‘(D) The number of refugees to be admit- 14 ted to the United States during the remainder 15 of the applicable fiscal year so as to achieve the 16 numerical goals set forth in the determinations 17 under subsections (a) and (b) for such fiscal 18 year. 19 ‘‘(E) The number of refugees from each 20 region admitted to the United States during the 21 preceding quarter, expressed as a percentage of 22 the allocation for each region under subsection 23 (a)(5) for the applicable fiscal year. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:03 Apr 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1088.IS S1088 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 1088 IS ‘‘(2) ALIENS WITH SECURITY ADVISORY OPIN- 1 IONS.— 2 ‘‘(A) The number of aliens, by nationality, 3 for whom a Security Advisory Opinion has been 4 requested who were security-cleared during the 5 preceding quarter, expressed as a percentage of 6 all cases successfully adjudicated by the Direc- 7 tor of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration 8 Services in the applicable fiscal year. 9 ‘‘(B) The number of aliens, by nationality, 10 for whom a Security Advisory Opinion has been 11 requested who were admitted to the United 12 States during the preceding quarter. 13 ‘‘(3) CIRCUIT RIDES.— 14 ‘‘(A) For the preceding quarter— 15 ‘‘(i) the number of Refugee Corps of- 16 ficers deployed on circuit rides, expressed 17 as a percentage of the overall number of 18 Refugee Corps officers; 19 ‘‘(ii) the number of individuals inter- 20 viewed— 21 ‘‘(I) on each circuit ride; and 22 ‘‘(II) at each circuit ride location; 23 ‘‘(iii) the number of circuit rides; and 24 ‘‘(iv) for each circuit ride— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:03 Apr 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1088.IS S1088 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 1088 IS ‘‘(I) the duration of the circuit 1 ride; 2 ‘‘(II) the average number of 3 interviews conducted daily on the cir- 4 cuit ride; and 5 ‘‘(III) the percentages of inter- 6 views conducted for— 7 ‘‘(aa) individuals who re- 8 quire Security Advisory Opinions; 9 and 10 ‘‘(bb) individuals who do not 11 require Security Advisory Opin- 12 ions. 13 ‘‘(B) For the subsequent quarter— 14 ‘‘(i) the number of circuit rides sched- 15 uled; and 16 ‘‘(ii) the number of circuit rides 17 planned. 18 ‘‘(4) PROCESSING.—For the preceding quar- 19 ter— 20 ‘‘(A) the average number of days be- 21 tween— 22 ‘‘(i) the date on which an individual is 23 identified by the United States Govern- 24 ment as a refugee; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:03 Apr 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1088.IS S1088 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 1088 IS ‘‘(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 04:03 Apr 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1088.IS S1088 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 1088 IS 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 04:03 Apr 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1088.IS S1088 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS