Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1474 To amend the Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2009 to make 4,000 visas available for the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa program, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 15, 2019 Mrs. SHAHEEN (for herself, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. WICKER, Mr. GARDNER, Mr. REED, Mr. KAINE, and Mr. BLUMENTHAL) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend the Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2009 to make 4,000 visas available for the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa program, 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 ‘‘Afghan Allies Protec- 4 tion Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. SPECIAL IMMIGRANT VISAS FOR AFGHAN ALLIES. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 602(b)(2)(A)(ii) of the 7 Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2009 (8 U.S.C. 1101 8 note) is amended, in the matter preceding subclause (I), 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 May 25, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1474.IS S1474 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1474 IS by inserting ‘‘for the first time’’ after ‘‘submitting a peti- 1 tion’’. 2 (b) NUMERICAL LIMITATIONS.—Section 602(b)(3) of 3 the Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2009 (8 U.S.C. 1101 4 note) is amended— 5 (1) by striking subparagraph (A) and inserting 6 the following: 7 ‘‘(A) FISCAL YEAR 2019.— 8 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In addition to any 9 unused balance under subparagraph (F), 10 for fiscal year 2019, not more than 4,000 11 principal aliens may be granted special im- 12 migrant status under this subsection. 13 ‘‘(ii) PERIOD OF EMPLOYMENT.—For 14 purposes of this subparagraph, the period 15 of employment referred to in paragraph 16 (2)(A)(ii) shall end not later than Decem- 17 ber 31, 2021. 18 ‘‘(iii) APPLICATION.—For purposes of 19 this subparagraph, not later than Decem- 20 ber 31, 2021, a principal alien seeking spe- 21 cial immigrant status under this subsection 22 shall submit an application to the Chief of 23 Mission.’’; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 May 25, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1474.IS S1474 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1474 IS (2) by striking subparagraph (C) and inserting 1 the following: 2 ‘‘(C) CARRY FORWARD.—If the numerical 3 limitation described in subparagraph (A)(i) is 4 not reached for fiscal year 2019, the numerical 5 limitation for each subsequent fiscal year shall 6 be established at a number equal to the dif- 7 ference between— 8 ‘‘(i) the numerical limitation described 9 in subparagraph (A)(i); and 10 ‘‘(ii) the number of principal aliens 11 granted special immigrant status under 12 this subsection during each fiscal year be- 13 ginning in fiscal year 2019.’’; 14 (3) in subparagraph (D), by striking ‘‘notwith- 15 standing the provisions of paragraph (C),’’; and 16 (4) in subparagraph (F)— 17 (A) in the subparagraph heading, by strik- 18 ing ‘‘2015, 2016, AND 2017’’ and inserting ‘‘2015 19 THROUGH 2020’’; 20 (B) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘December 21 31, 2020’’ and inserting ‘‘December 31, 2021;’’; 22 (C) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘December 23 31, 2020’’ and inserting ‘‘December 31, 2021;’’; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 May 25, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1474.IS S1474 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1474 IS (D) by redesignating clauses (i) through 1 (iii) as subclauses (I) through (III), respec- 2 tively, and indenting appropriately; 3 (E) in the matter preceding subclause (I), 4 as so redesignated, in the second sentence, by 5 striking ‘‘For purposes’’ and inserting the fol- 6 lowing: 7 ‘‘(ii) REQUIREMENTS.—For pur- 8 poses’’; 9 (F) in the matter preceding clause (ii), as 10 so designated— 11 (i) by striking ‘‘exhausted,,’’ and in- 12 serting ‘‘exhausted,’’; 13 (ii) by striking ‘‘18,500’’ and insert- 14 ing ‘‘22,500’’; and 15 (iii) by striking ‘‘In addition’’ and in- 16 serting the following: 17 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In addition’’; and 18 (G) by adding at the end the following: 19 ‘‘(iii) UNUSED VISAS.—Any unused 20 balance under this subparagraph shall be 21 added to the number under subparagraph 22 (A)(i) for use in fiscal year 2019.’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 May 25, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1474.IS S1474 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1474 IS (c) CONVERSION OF PETITIONS.—Section 2 of Public 1 Law 110–242 (8 U.S.C. 1101 note) is amended by strik- 2 ing subsection (b) and inserting the following: 3 ‘‘(b) DURATION.—The authority under subsection (a) 4 shall expire on the date on which the numerical limitation 5 specified under section 1244 of the National Defense Au- 6 thorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 (Public Law 110– 7 181; 8 U.S.C. 1157 note) is reached.’’. 8 SEC. 3. SPECIAL IMMIGRANT VISA PROGRAM REPORTING 9 REQUIREMENT. 10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 11 date of the enactment of this Act, the Inspector General 12 of the Department of State shall submit to the appropriate 13 committees of Congress a report that evaluates the obsta- 14 cles to effective protection of Afghan and Iraqi allies 15 through the special immigrant visa programs and makes 16 recommendations for improvements in future programs. 17 (b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The report under 18 subsection (a) shall include information relating to— 19 (1) the hiring of locally employed staff and con- 20 tractors; 21 (2) documenting the identity and employment 22 of locally employed staff and contractors of the 23 United States Government, including the possibility 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 May 25, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1474.IS S1474 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1474 IS of establishing a central database of employees of 1 the United States Government and its contractors; 2 (3) the protection and safety of employees of lo- 3 cally employed staff and contractors; 4 (4) means of expediting processing at all stages 5 of the process for applicants, including consideration 6 of reducing required forms; 7 (5) appropriate staffing levels for expedited 8 processing domestically and abroad; 9 (6) the effect of uncertainty of visa availability 10 on visa processing; 11 (7) the cost and availability of medical examina- 12 tions; and 13 (8) means to reduce delays in interagency proc- 14 essing and security checks. 15 (c) CONSULTATION.— 16 (1) IN GENERAL.—In preparing the report 17 under subsection (a), the Inspector General shall 18 consult with— 19 (A) the Department of State, Bureau of 20 Consular Affairs, Visa Office; 21 (B) the Department of State, Bureau of 22 Near Eastern Affairs and South and Central 23 Asian Affairs, Executive Office; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 May 25, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1474.IS S1474 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1474 IS (C) the United States embassy in Kabul, 1 Afghanistan, Consular Section; 2 (D) the United States embassy in Bagh- 3 dad, Iraq, Consular Section; 4 (E) the Department of Homeland Security, 5 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services; 6 (F) the Department of Defense; 7 (G) the Federal Bureau of Investigation; 8 and 9 (H) nongovernmental organizations pro- 10 viding legal aid in the special immigrant visa 11 application process. 12 (2) CONSULTATION WITH CURRENT AND 13 FORMER EMPLOYEES.—To the maximum extent 14 practicable, the Inspector General shall consult with 15 current and former employees of the offices de- 16 scribed in paragraph (1). 17 (d) FORM.—The report under subsection (a) shall be 18 submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classi- 19 fied annex. 20 (e) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CONGRESS DE- 21 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate commit- 22 tees of Congress’’ means— 23 (1) the Committee on the Judiciary, the Com- 24 mittee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 May 25, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1474.IS S1474 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1474 IS Armed Services, and the Committee on Appropria- 1 tions of the Senate; and 2 (2) the Committee on the Judiciary, the Com- 3 mittee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Armed 4 Services, and the Committee on Appropriations of 5 the House of Representatives. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 May 25, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1474.IS S1474 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS