RAISE Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2278 To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to establish a skills-based immigration points system, to focus family-sponsored immigration on spouses and minor children, to eliminate the Diversity Visa Program, to set a limit on the number of refugees admitted annually to the United States, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 10, 2019 Mr. ROONEY of Florida (for himself, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. GAETZ, Mr. BROOKS of Alabama, Mr. GOSAR, and Mr. PERRY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to establish a skills-based immigration points system, to focus family- sponsored immigration on spouses and minor children, to eliminate the Diversity Visa Program, to set a limit on the number of refugees admitted annually to the United States, 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:18 Apr 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2278.IH H2278 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2278 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Reforming American 2 Immigration for a Strong Economy Act’’ or the ‘‘RAISE 3 Act’’. 4 SEC. 2. ELIMINATION OF DIVERSITY VISA PROGRAM. 5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 203 of the Immigration 6 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1153) is amended by strik- 7 ing subsection (c). 8 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 9 (1) IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY ACT.—The 10 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et 11 seq.) is amended— 12 (A) in section 101(a)(15)(V) (8 U.S.C. 13 1101(a)(15)(V)), by striking ‘‘section 203(d)’’ 14 and inserting ‘‘section 203(c)’’; 15 (B) in section 201 (8 U.S.C. 1151)— 16 (i) in subsection (a)— 17 (I) in paragraph (1), by adding 18 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 19 (II) in paragraph (2), by striking 20 ‘‘; and’’ and inserting a period; and 21 (III) by striking paragraph (3); 22 (ii) by striking subsection (e); and 23 (iii) by redesignating subsection (f) as 24 subsection (e); 25 (C) in section 203 (8 U.S.C. 1153)— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:18 Apr 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2278.IH H2278 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2278 IH (i) in subsection (b)(2)(B)(ii)(IV), by 1 striking ‘‘section 203(b)(2)(B)’’ each place 2 such term appears and inserting ‘‘clause 3 (i)’’; 4 (ii) by redesignating subsections (d), 5 (e), (f), (g), and (h) as subsections (c), (d), 6 (e), (f), and (g), respectively; 7 (iii) in subsection (c), as so redesig- 8 nated, by striking ‘‘subsection (a), (b), or 9 (c)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (a) or (b)’’; 10 (iv) in subsection (d), as so redesig- 11 nated— 12 (I) by striking paragraph (2); 13 and 14 (II) by redesignating paragraph 15 (3) as paragraph (2); 16 (v) in subsection (e), as so redesig- 17 nated, by striking ‘‘subsection (a), (b), or 18 (c) of this section’’ and inserting ‘‘sub- 19 section (a) or (b)’’; 20 (vi) in subsection (f), as so redesig- 21 nated, by striking ‘‘subsections (a), (b), 22 and (c)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsections (a) 23 and (b)’’; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:18 Apr 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2278.IH H2278 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2278 IH (vii) in subsection (g), as so redesig- 1 nated— 2 (I) by striking ‘‘(d)’’ each place 3 such term appears and inserting 4 ‘‘(c)’’; and 5 (II) in paragraph (2)(B), by 6 striking ‘‘subsection (a), (b), or (c)’’ 7 and inserting ‘‘subsection (a) or (b)’’; 8 (D) in section 204 (8 U.S.C. 1154)— 9 (i) in subsection (a)(1)— 10 (I) by striking subparagraph (I); 11 and 12 (II) by redesignating subpara- 13 graphs (J) through (L) as subpara- 14 graphs (I) through (K), respectively; 15 (ii) in subsection (e), by striking ‘‘sub- 16 section (a), (b), or (c) of section 203’’ and 17 inserting ‘‘subsection (a) or (b) of section 18 203’’; and 19 (iii) in subsection (l)(2)— 20 (I) in subparagraph (B), by 21 striking ‘‘section 203 (a) or (d)’’ and 22 inserting ‘‘subsection (a) or (c) of sec- 23 tion 203’’; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:18 Apr 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2278.IH H2278 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2278 IH (II) in subparagraph (C), by 1 striking ‘‘section 203(d)’’ and insert- 2 ing ‘‘section 203(c)’’; 3 (E) in section 214(q)(1)(B)(i) (8 U.S.C. 4 1184(q)(1)(B)(i)), by striking ‘‘section 203(d)’’ 5 and inserting ‘‘section 203(c)’’; 6 (F) in section 216(h)(1) (8 U.S.C. 7 1186a(h)(1)), in the undesignated matter fol- 8 lowing subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘section 9 203(d)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 203(c)’’; and 10 (G) in section 245(i)(1)(B) (8 U.S.C. 11 1255(i)(1)(B)), by striking ‘‘section 203(d)’’ 12 and inserting ‘‘section 203(c)’’. 13 (2) IMMIGRANT INVESTOR PILOT PROGRAM.— 14 Section 610(d) of the Departments of Commerce, 15 Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agen- 16 cies Appropriations Act, 1993 (8 U.S.C. 1153 note; 17 Public Law 102–395) is amended by striking ‘‘sec- 18 tion 203(e) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(e))’’ and in- 19 serting ‘‘section 203(d) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 20 1153(d))’’. 21 (3) HAITIAN REFUGEE IMMIGRATION FAIRNESS 22 ACT OF 1998.—Section 902(d)(1)(B)(iii) of the Hai- 23 tian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act of 1998 (8 24 U.S.C. 1225 note; Public Law 105–277) by striking 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:18 Apr 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2278.IH H2278 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2278 IH ‘‘section 204(a)(1)(J)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 1 204(a)(1)(I)’’. 2 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 3 this section shall take effect on the first day of the first 4 fiscal year beginning on or after the date of the enactment 5 of this Act. 6 SEC. 3. ANNUAL ADMISSION OF REFUGEES. 7 Section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 8 (8 U.S.C. 1157) is amended— 9 (1) by striking subsections (a) and (b); 10 (2) by redesignating subsections (e) and (f) as 11 subsections (a) and (e), respectively, and moving the 12 subsections so as to appear in alphabetical order; 13 and 14 (3) by inserting after subsection (a), as so re- 15 designated, the following: 16 ‘‘(b) MAXIMUM NUMBER OF ADMISSIONS.— 17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The number of refugees 18 who may be admitted under this section in any fiscal 19 year may not exceed 50,000. 20 ‘‘(2) ASYLEES.—The President shall annually 21 enumerate the number of aliens who were granted 22 asylum in the previous fiscal year.’’; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:18 Apr 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2278.IH H2278 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2278 IH (4) by striking ‘‘Attorney General’’ each place 1 such term appears and inserting ‘‘Secretary of 2 Homeland Security’’. 3 SEC. 4. FAMILY-SPONSORED IMMIGRATION PRIORITIES. 4 (a) IMMEDIATE RELATIVE REDEFINED.—The Immi- 5 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.) is 6 amended— 7 (1) in section 101(b)(1) (8 U.S.C. 1101(b)(1)), 8 in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by strik- 9 ing ‘‘under twenty-one years of age who’’ and insert- 10 ing ‘‘who is younger than 18 years of age and’’; and 11 (2) in section 201 (8 U.S.C. 1151)— 12 (A) in subsection (b)(2)(A)— 13 (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘children, 14 spouses, and parents of a citizen of the 15 United States, except that, in the case of 16 parents, such citizens shall be at least 21 17 years of age.’’ and inserting ‘‘children and 18 spouse of a citizen of the United States.’’; 19 and 20 (ii) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘such an 21 immediate relative’’ and inserting ‘‘the im- 22 mediate relative spouse of a United States 23 citizen’’; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:18 Apr 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2278.IH H2278 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 2278 IH (B) by striking subsection (c) and insert- 1 ing the following: 2 ‘‘(c) WORLDWIDE LEVEL OF FAMILY-SPONSORED 3 IMMIGRANTS.—(1) The worldwide level of family-spon- 4 sored immigrants under this subsection for a fiscal year 5 is equal to 88,000 minus the number computed under 6 paragraph (2). 7 ‘‘(2) The number computed under this paragraph for 8 a fiscal year is the number of aliens who were paroled into 9 the United States under section 212(d)(5) in the second 10 preceding fiscal year who— 11 ‘‘(A) did not depart from the United States 12 (without advance parole) within 365 days; and 13 ‘‘(B)(i) did not acquire the status of an alien 14 lawfully admitted to the United States for perma- 15 nent residence during the two preceding fiscal years; 16 or 17 ‘‘(ii) acquired such status during such period 18 under a provision of law (other than subsection (b)) 19 that exempts adjustment to such status from the nu- 20 merical limitation on the worldwide level of immigra- 21 tion under this section.’’; and 22 (C) in subsection (f)— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:18 Apr 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2278.IH H2278 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 2278 IH (i) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘sec- 1 tion 203(a)(2)(A)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 2 203(a)’’; 3 (ii) by striking paragraph (3); 4 (iii) by redesignating paragraph (4) as 5 paragraph (3); and 6 (iv) in paragraph (3), as redesignated, 7 by striking ‘‘(1) through (3)’’ and inserting 8 ‘‘(1) and (2)’’. 9 (b) FAMILY-BASED VISA PREFERENCES.—Section 10 203(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 11 1153(a)) is amended to read as follows: 12 ‘‘(a) SPOUSES AND MINOR CHILDREN OF PERMA- 13 NENT RESIDENT ALIENS.—Family-sponsored immigrants 14 described in this subsection are qualified immigrants who 15 are the spouse or a child of an alien lawfully admitted 16 for permanent residence.’’. 17 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 18 (1) DEFINITION OF V NONIMMIGRANT.—Section 19 101(a)(15)(V) of the Immigration and Nationality 20 Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(V)) is amended by strik- 21 ing ‘‘section 203(a)(2)(A)’’ each place such term ap- 22 pears and inserting ‘‘section 203(a)’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:18 Apr 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2278.IH H2278 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 2278 IH (2) NUMERICAL LIMITATION TO ANY SINGLE 1 FOREIGN STATE.—Section 202 of such Act (8 2 U.S.C. 1152) is amended— 3 (A) in subsection (a)(4)— 4 (i) by striking subparagraphs (A) and 5 (B) and inserting the following: 6 ‘‘(A) 75 PERCENT OF FAMILY-SPONSORED 7 IMMIGRANTS NOT SUBJECT TO PER COUNTRY 8 LIMITATION.—Of the visa numbers made avail- 9 able under section 203(a) in any fiscal year, 75 10 percent shall be issued without regard to the 11 numerical limitation under paragraph (2). 12 ‘‘(B) TREATMENT OF REMAINING 25 PER- 13 CENT FOR COUNTRIES SUBJECT TO SUB- 14 SECTION (e).— 15 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Of the visa num- 16 bers made available under section 203(a) 17 in any fiscal year, 25 percent shall be 18 available, in the case of a foreign state or 19 dependent area that is subject to sub- 20 section (e) only to the extent that the total 21 number of visas issued in accordance with 22 subparagraph (A) to natives of the foreign 23 state or dependent area is less than the 24 subsection (e) ceiling. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:18 Apr 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2278.IH H2278 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 2278 IH ‘‘(ii) SUBSECTION (e) CEILING DE- 1 FINED.—In clause (i), the term ‘subsection 2 (e) ceiling’ means, for a foreign state or 3 dependent area, 77 percent of the max- 4 imum number of visas that may be made 5 available under section 203(a) to immi- 6 grants who are natives of the state or area, 7 consistent with subsection (e).’’; and 8 (ii) by striking subparagraphs (C) and 9 (D); and 10 (B) in subsection (e)— 11 (i) in paragraph (1), by adding ‘‘and’’ 12 at the end; 13 (ii) by striking paragraph (2); 14 (iii) by redesignating paragraph (3) as 15 paragraph (2); and 16 (iv) in the undesignated matter after 17 paragraph (2), as redesignated, by striking 18 ‘‘, respectively,’’ and all that follows 19 through ‘‘subsection (a)(4)(A)’’. 20 (3) RULES FOR DETERMINING WHETHER CER- 21 TAIN ALIENS ARE CHILDREN.—Section 203(h) of 22 such Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(h)) is amended by striking 23 ‘‘(a)(2)(A)’’ each place such term appears and in- 24 serting ‘‘(a)(2)’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:18 Apr 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2278.IH H2278 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 2278 IH (4) PROCEDURE FOR GRANTING IMMIGRANT 1 STATUS.—Section 204 of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1154) 2 is amended— 3 (A) in subsection (a)(1)— 4 (i) in subparagraph (A)(i), by striking 5 ‘‘to classification by reason of a relation- 6 ship described in paragraph (1), (3), or (4) 7 of section 203(a) or’’; 8 (ii) in subparagraph (B)— 9 (I) in clause (i)— 10 (aa) by redesignating the 11 second subclause (I) as subclause 12 (II); and 13 (bb) in subclause (I), by 14 striking ‘‘203(a)(2)’’ and insert- 15 ing ‘‘203(a)’’; and 16 (II) in clause (ii)— 17 (aa) in subclause (I), in the 18 matter preceding item (aa), by 19 striking ‘‘clause (iii) of section 20 203(a)(2)(A)’’ and inserting 21 ‘‘section 203(a)’’; and 22 (bb) in subclause (II)(cc), by 23 striking ‘‘203(a)(2)(A)’’ and in- 24 serting ‘‘203(a)’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:18 Apr 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2278.IH H2278 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 2278 IH (iii) in subparagraph (D)(i)(I), by 1 striking ‘‘a petitioner’’ and all that follows 2 through ‘‘(a)(1)(B)(iii).’’ and inserting ‘‘an 3 individual younger than 21 years of age for 4 purposes of adjudicating such petition and 5 for purposes of admission as an immediate 6 relative under section 201(b)(2)(A)(i) or a 7 family-sponsored immigrant under section 8 203(a), as appropriate, notwithstanding 9 the actual age of the individual.’’; 10 (B) in subsection (f)(1), by striking ‘‘, 11 203(a)(1), or 203(a)(3), as appropriate’’; 12 (C) by striking subsection (k); and 13 (D) by redesignating subsection (l) as sub- 14 section (k). 15 (5) WAIVERS OF INADMISSIBILITY.—Section 16 212 of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1182) is amended— 17 (A) in subsection (a)(6)(E)(ii), by striking 18 ‘‘section 203(a)(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 19 203(a)’’; and 20 (B) in subsection (d)(11), by striking 21 ‘‘(other than paragraph (4) thereof)’’. 22 (6) REQUIREMENTS FOR SPONSOR’S AFFIDAVIT 23 OF SUPPORT.—Section 213A(f)(5)(B)(ii) of such Act 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:18 Apr 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6 [Text truncated for display. 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