Refugee Program Integrity Restoration Act of 2017
Latest action · Jun 28, 2017 Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 15 - 11.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedJun 8, 2017
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Refugee Program Integrity Restoration Act of 2017
This bill amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to: (1) establish the number of annual refugee admissions at 50,000, (2) authorize the President to submit an adjustment recommendation to Congress for approval based upon humanitarian or national interest concerns, and (3) provide that the President must submit emergency refugee admission recommendations to Congress for approval.
The President shall (currently, may) terminate the refugee status of a person not entitled to such status.
Refugee status is terminated for an individual who applied for such status because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution in the country from which he or she sought refuge on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion, but who has returned to such country absent changed conditions.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shall, when processing refugee applications from individuals seeking refuge from a "country of particular concern," grant priority to minority religion applicants whose claims are based on persecution because of their religion.
DHS may conduct recurrent background security checks of an admitted refugee until the refugee adjusts to permanent resident status.
Waiver authorities are limited with respect to refugee inadmissibility and permanent resident status adjustment.
With respect to refugee status adjustment to permanent resident: (1) required U.S. residency is increased to three years; (2) an in-person DHS interview is required; (3) five-year reexaminations are required for a refugee whose status adjustment is refused; and (4) deportability grounds, with an exception for public charge grounds, shall be grounds for refusal of status adjustment.
Resettlement of any refugee may not be provided for in any state or locality in which the governor, chief executive, or legislature has taken action disapproving such resettlement.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) shall complete a refugee processing fraud study.
DHS shall: (1) establish a program to detect the use of fraudulent documents in refugee admissions applications, which shall include placement of fraud detection officers at screening locations; and (2) use digital recording technology to record USCIS refugee interviews.
A person may not be considered a refugee if such person fled from violence in his or her country of nationality if the violence: (1) was not specifically directed at the person; or (2) was specifically directed at the person but not because of that person's race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.
Prior to U.S. refugee admission, DHS shall ensure that an alien is not a threat to U.S. national security based on a background check that includes a review of the alien's publicly available Internet interactions, including social media services.
Cosponsors 14
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Jun 8, 2017 to Dec 14, 2017; 2 are original cosponsors, there from the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-VA | Bob Goodlatte | Original | Jun 8, 2017 |
| R-TX | Lamar Smith | Original | Jun 8, 2017 |
| R-WI | F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. | Jun 13, 2017 | |
| R-TX | John Ratcliffe | Jun 13, 2017 | |
| R-ND | Kevin Cramer | Jun 13, 2017 | |
| R-AL | Mo Brooks | Jun 13, 2017 | |
| R-VA | Dave Brat | Jun 16, 2017 | |
| R-GA | Doug Collins | Jun 16, 2017 | |
| R-TX | Michael C. Burgess | Jun 20, 2017 | |
| R-SD | Kristi L. Noem | Jun 29, 2017 | |
| R-TX | Pete Olson | Jul 11, 2017 | |
| R-IN | Jim Banks | Oct 12, 2017 | |
| R-FL | Francis Rooney | Nov 2, 2017 | |
| R-GA | Earl L. "Buddy" Carter | Dec 14, 2017 |
Committees 1
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| House | Judiciary Committee | Referred Jun 8, 2017Markup Jun 28, 2017 |
| Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Subcommittee | Referred Jun 8, 2017 |
Actions 6
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Jun 28, 2017Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
- Jun 28, 2017Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 15 - 11.
- Jun 21, 2017Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
- Jun 8, 2017Introduced in House
- Jun 8, 2017Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
- Jun 8, 2017Referred to the Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security.
In the Congressional Record 1
Days the Record’s own index lists this bill, newest first, with the pages and the members it names. Pages starting H are the House, S the Senate, E Extensions of Remarks.
| Where | In the Record | Members | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| House | Debate and remarks H7962 | Bob Goodlatte R-VA | Oct 11, 2017 |
Research
What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.
Constitutional authority
The sponsor’s statement, as printed in the Congressional Record, vol. 163, no. 98, June 8, 2017, page H4819.
Printed hearings 1
Hearings whose printed record names this bill, newest first: hearings on it, and wider hearings where it came up.
| Number | Hearing | Committee | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Serial No. 115-30 | OVERSIGHT OF THE UNITED STATES REFUGEE ADMISSIONS PROGRAM32 pages | Judiciary Committee | Oct 26, 2017 |
Related bills 1
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| HR 4731 | Refugee Program Integrity Restoration Act of 2016 | Reintroduction of | Mar 16, 2016 |
Titles 2
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- To provide for an annual adjustment of the number of admissible refugees, and for other purposes.
- Short Titles as Introduced
- Refugee Program Integrity Restoration Act of 2017
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Immigration.
- Congressional oversight
- Department of Homeland Security
- Department of State
- Foreign language and bilingual programs
- Fraud offenses and financial crimes
- Government information and archives
- Government studies and investigations
- Human rights
- Immigration
- Immigration status and procedures
- Internet and video services
- Internet, web applications, social media
- Racial and ethnic relations
- Refugees, asylum, displaced persons
- Religion
- Sound recording
- State and local government operations
- Terrorism
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Jun 8, 2017Introduced in House
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.
