{"bills":[{"photos":{"featured":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/hr4731-114/featured_refugee-program-integrity-restoration-act-of-2016-1461311256.jpg","featured_large":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/hr4731-114/featured_large_refugee-program-integrity-restoration-act-of-2016-1461311256.jpg","shareable":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/bills/hr4731-114.png"},"introduced_on":"2016-03-14","title_override":"Should Congress — Not the President— Set Refugee Admission Caps?","summary_override":"

This bill would give Congress the power to set the number of refugees that may be admitted in a given year, and set the maximum number of admissible refugees at 60,000 annually.

The President would be kept from admitting additional refugees without Congressional approval. Under current law, the President announces refugee admission caps for each year after consulting with Congress, federal agencies, state and local governments.

State and local governments could enact legislation (or take executive action) rejecting the settlement of refugees within their jurisdiction. Under current law, states don't have a say in whether refugees are resettled in their area.

Admitted refugees would undergo screenings to ensure the legitimacy of their documents. Applicants would also go through recorded interviews with interpreters, and have their internet postings vetted.

If a resettled refugee returns to the country they fled from without a change in the conditions of that country, they would have their status as a refugee terminated.

When processing refugee applications from places considered to be “countries of particular concern”, requests for refugee status made by those who practice minority religions in their home countries would be prioritized.

The Secretary of Homeland Security would be prevented from unilaterally waiving most reasons for inadmissibility (including criminal convictions) for refugee applications. The Secretary would also be prevented from waiving reasons for deportation of refugees trying to adjust their status to lawful permanent resident. In essence, these provisions aim to keep prospective refugees with criminal backgrounds from being admitted, and could lead to deportation of admitted refugees convicted of crimes in the U.S.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) would issue a report on the security of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program including:

an assessment of the program’s screening and processing procedures,
the number of refugees convicted of terror-related offenses since 2006,
and the use of federally-funded benefit programs by refugees in the U.S.

","official_title":"To provide for an annual adjustment of the number of admissible refugees, and for other purposes.","short_title":"Refugee Program Integrity Restoration Act of 2016","popular_title":null,"short_summary":"Refugee Program Integrity Restoration Act of 2016\n\nThis bill amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to: (1) establish the number of annual refugee admissions at 60,000, (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.\n\nThe President shall (currently, may) terminate the refugee status of a person not entitled to such status.\n\nRefugee 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.\n\nThe Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shall, when processing refugee applications from individ...","summarized":true,"cost":null,"cost_commentary":"A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.","impact":"Potential refugees, particularly those from countries where there is religious persecution; the State Department; the GAO; and the Secretary of Homeland Security.","argument_for":"Congress needs to control the number of refugees admitted into the U.S. each year — not the President. 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Should Congress — Not the President— Set Refugee Admission Caps?