SECURE America Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 194 To reform the process for admission of refugees, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 9, 2023 Mr. ROSENDALE (for himself and Mrs. MILLER of Illinois) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To reform the process for admission of refugees, 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 ‘‘Safeguards Ensuring 4 Criminal and Unvetted Refugees don’t Enter America 5 Act’’ or the ‘‘SECURE America Act’’. 6 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL AUTHORITY TO SET REFUGEE 7 CAP. 8 Section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 9 (8 U.S.C. 1157) is amended— 10 (1) in subsection (a)— 11 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:02 Jan 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H194.IH H194 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 194 IH (A) by amending paragraphs (1) and (2) 1 to read as follows: 2 ‘‘(1) Before the beginning of a fiscal year and 3 after appropriate consultation (as defined in sub- 4 section (e) of this section), the President shall sub- 5 mit to Congress a recommendation on the number of 6 refugees who may be admitted under this section in 7 any fiscal year. 8 ‘‘(2) Except as provided in subsection (b), no 9 refugees may be admitted under this section in a fis- 10 cal year until such time as a joint resolution is en- 11 acted which sets the number of refugees who may be 12 admitted under this section in that fiscal year.’’; and 13 (B) in paragraph (4)— 14 (i) by striking ‘‘determination’’ and 15 inserting ‘‘recommendation’’; 16 (ii) by striking ‘‘(beginning with fiscal 17 year 1992)’’ and inserting ‘‘(beginning 18 with fiscal year 2023)’’; and 19 (iii) by striking ‘‘determined’’ and in- 20 serting ‘‘recommended’’; 21 (2) in subsection (b)— 22 (A) by striking ‘‘fix’’ and inserting ‘‘submit 23 to Congress a recommendation for’’; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:02 Jan 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H194.IH H194 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 194 IH (B) by striking ‘‘situation and such’’ and 1 inserting ‘‘situation. Any such’’; 2 (C) by striking ‘‘determination made by 3 the President’’ and insert ‘‘recommendation 4 made by the President’’; and 5 (D) by adding at the end the following: 6 ‘‘No refugees may be admitted under this sub- 7 section until such time as a joint resolution is 8 enacted which sets the number of refugees who 9 may be admitted under this subsection.’’; 10 (3) in subsection (c)(1), by striking ‘‘Subject to 11 the numerical limitations established pursuant to 12 subsections (a) and (b)’’ and inserting ‘‘Subject to 13 the enactment of a joint resolution under subsection 14 (a) or (b), and the numerical limitations established 15 pursuant to such a resolution,’’; and 16 (4) in subsection (d)(3), by striking ‘‘deter- 17 mination’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘rec- 18 ommendation’’. 19 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW. 20 The Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 21 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 207 the fol- 22 lowing: 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:02 Jan 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H194.IH H194 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 194 IH ‘‘SEC. 207A. CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW OF ADMISSION OF 1 CERTAIN REFUGEES. 2 ‘‘(a) RULE PROVIDING NOTICE.—Not later than 30 3 days before an alien or a class of aliens is determined to 4 be eligible for refugee status, the Secretary of Homeland 5 Security shall submit to Congress a notice of the deter- 6 mination of eligibility and the facts supporting such a de- 7 termination. 8 ‘‘(b) CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW.—A notice submitted 9 pursuant to subsection (a) shall be treated in the same 10 manner as a rule under chapter 8 of title 5, United States 11 Code (commonly known as the ‘Congressional Review 12 Act’) and shall be subject to the same procedure for dis- 13 approval of a rule under such chapter.’’. 14 SEC. 4. VETTING OF REFUGEES PRIOR TO ADMISSION. 15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 207 of the Immigration 16 and Nationality Act, as amended by section 3, is further 17 amended by adding at the end the following: 18 ‘‘(g)(1) In addition to the screening conducted by the 19 Secretary of Homeland Security, the Director of the Fed- 20 eral Bureau of Investigation shall take all actions nec- 21 essary to ensure that each alien receives a thorough back- 22 ground investigation, including an assimilation likelihood 23 screening under section 212(a)(3)(H), prior to admission 24 as a refugee. An alien may not be admitted as a refugee 25 until the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:02 Jan 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H194.IH H194 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 194 IH certifies to the Secretary of Homeland Security, Secretary 1 of State, and the Director of National Intelligence that 2 each covered alien has received a background investigation 3 that is sufficient to determine whether the covered alien 4 is a threat to the security of the United States. 5 ‘‘(2) An alien may only be admitted to the United 6 States after the Secretary of Homeland Security, with the 7 unanimous concurrence of the Director of the Federal Bu- 8 reau of Investigation and the Director of National Intel- 9 ligence, certifies to Congress that the covered alien is not 10 a threat to the security of the United States. 11 ‘‘(3) The Inspector General of the Department of 12 Homeland Security shall conduct a risk-based review of 13 all certifications made under paragraph (1) each year and 14 shall provide an annual report detailing the findings to 15 Congress. 16 ‘‘(4) The Secretary of Homeland Security shall sub- 17 mit to Congress a monthly report on the total number of 18 applications for admission with regard to which a certifi- 19 cation under paragraph (1) was made and the number of 20 aliens with regard to whom such a certification was not 21 made for the month preceding the date of the report. The 22 report shall include, for each alien with regard to whom 23 a certification was not made, the concurrence or non- 24 concurrence of each person whose concurrence was re- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:02 Jan 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H194.IH H194 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 194 IH quired under paragraph (1). The report shall also include 1 the country of origin of each alien and the grounds for 2 which each alien is seeking refuge in the United States.’’. 3 SEC. 5. ASSIMILATION LIKELIHOOD SCREENING. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 212(a)(3) of the Immi- 5 gration and Nationality Act is amended— 6 (1) by amending subparagraph (C) to read as 7 follows: 8 ‘‘(C) FOREIGN POLICY.—An alien whose 9 entry or proposed activities in the United States 10 the Secretary of State has reasonable ground to 11 believe would have potentially serious adverse 12 foreign policy consequences for the United 13 States is inadmissible.’’; and 14 (2) by adding at the end the following: 15 ‘‘(H) ASSIMILATION LIKELIHOOD SCREEN- 16 ING.— 17 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Any alien who has 18 expressed or, based on a screening, has 19 been determined to hold any views incom- 20 patible with the principles of the United 21 States, as described in clause (ii) is inad- 22 missible. 23 ‘‘(ii) VIEWS INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE 24 PRINCIPLES OF UNITED STATES DE- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:02 Jan 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H194.IH H194 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 194 IH SCRIBED.—The following are view incom- 1 patible with the principles of the United 2 States: 3 ‘‘(I) The belief that a system of 4 religious law should be implemented 5 in the United States. 6 ‘‘(II) The belief that a system of 7 religious law should operate in parallel 8 to or supersede the laws of the United 9 States, a State, territory, or munici- 10 pality thereof. 11 ‘‘(III) The belief that violence 12 based on religious teachings is justi- 13 fied under any circumstances. 14 ‘‘(IV) The belief that individuals 15 should not be entitled to any right 16 guaranteed to them in the Constitu- 17 tion of the United States, or any 18 amendment thereto. 19 ‘‘(V) The belief that the Con- 20 stitution of the United States, and all 21 amendments thereto are not the su- 22 preme law of the land. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:02 Jan 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H194.IH H194 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •HR 194 IH ‘‘(VI) The belief that authori- 1 tarian forms of government are supe- 2 rior to representative democracy. 3 ‘‘(VII) The belief that the alien 4 does not need to learn how to speak 5 and understand the English language, 6 if the alien is not already fluent in 7 English. 8 ‘‘(VIII) Any other belief that the 9 Secretary of State, in coordination 10 with the Secretary of Homeland Secu- 11 rity, determines to be incompatible 12 with the principles of the United 13 States.’’. 14 (b) REMOVAL OF ALIENS INADMISSIBLE ON SECU- 15 RITY AND RELATED GROUNDS.—Section 235(c) of the 16 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1225(c)) is 17 amended— 18 (1) in paragraph (1), in the matter preceding 19 subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘or (C)’’ and insert- 20 ing ‘‘(C), or (H)’’; and 21 (2) in paragraph (2)(B)(i), by striking ‘‘or (C)’’ 22 and inserting ‘‘(C), or (H)’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:02 Jan 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H194.IH H194 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 9 •HR 194 IH SEC. 6. RESCIND AUTHORITY OF THE SECRETARY OF 1 HOMELAND SECURITY TO PAROLE ALIENS 2 INTO THE UNITED STATES. 3 Section 212(d) of the Immigration and Nationality 4 Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(d)) is amended by striking paragraph 5 (5) and inserting the following: 6 ‘‘(5) Notwithstanding any other provision of 7 law, the Secretary of Homeland Security may not 8 parole into the United States any alien who has not 9 been granted status under the immigration laws of 10 the United States.’’. 11 SEC. 7. PROVIDES STATES AUTHORITY TO REJECT TO REF- 12 UGEES. 13 Section 412 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 14 (8 U.S.C. 1522) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 15 lowing: 16 ‘‘(g) LIMITATION ON RESETTLEMENT.— 17 ‘‘(1) NOTICE.—Not later than 30 days before 18 the date on which a refugee is to resettled in a 19 State, the Director or Federal agency administering 20 subsection (b)(1) shall submit to the chief executive 21 of the State in which resettlement is to take place 22 a notice of the intention to resettle aliens in such 23 State. 24 ‘‘(2) DISAPPROVAL.—Notwithstanding any 25 other provision of this section, the Director or the 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:02 Jan 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H194.IH H194 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 10 •HR 194 IH Federal agency administering subsection (b)(1) may 1 not resettle any refugee or coordinate placement of 2 any refugee in a State if the chief executive of the 3 State communicates to the Director that the State 4 does not accede to the resettlement or placement of 5 refugees in that State.’’. 6 SEC. 8. REMOVAL OF REFUGEES WHO COMMIT CRIMES OF 7 VIOLENCE. 8 Section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 9 as amended by sections 3 and 4, is further amended by 10 adding at the end the following: 11 ‘‘(h)(1) An alien who commits a crime of violence (as 12 such term is defined in section 16(a) of title 18, United 13 States Code) shall be ineligible for admission as a refugee 14 and shall be ordered removed. 15 ‘‘(2) In the case of a refugee whose status is adjusted 16 to that of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent resi- 17 dence and who commits a crime of violence (as such term 18 is defined in section 16(a) of title 18, United States Code), 19 such status shall be rescinded.’’. 20 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:02 Jan 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H194.IH H194 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB