I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4086 

To require that supplemental certifications and background investigations 

be completed prior to the admission of certain aliens as refugees, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 19, 2015 

Mr. HILL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, 

for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 

for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 

committee concerned 

A BILL 

To require that supplemental certifications and background 

investigations be completed prior to the admission of 

certain aliens as refugees, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Security Verification 

5 for Refugees Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REVIEW OF REFUGEES TO IDENTIFY SECURITY 

2 THREATS TO THE UNITED STATES. 

3 (a) BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION.—In addition to 

4 the screening conducted by the Secretary of Homeland Se5 curity, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation 

6 shall take all actions necessary to ensure that each covered 

7 alien receives a thorough background investigation prior 

8 to admission as a refugee. A covered alien may not be ad9 mitted as a refugee until the Director of the Federal Bu10 reau of Investigation certifies to the Secretary of Home11 land Security and the Director of National Intelligence 

12 that each covered alien has received a background inves13 tigation that is sufficient to determine whether the covered 

14 alien is a threat to the security of the United States. 

15 (b) CERTIFICATION BY UNANIMOUS CONCUR16 RENCE.—A covered alien may only be admitted to the 

17 United States after the Secretary of Homeland Security, 

18 with the unanimous concurrence of the Director of the 

19 Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Director of Na20 tional Intelligence, certifies to the appropriate Congres21 sional Committees that the covered alien is not a threat 

22 to the security of the United States. 

23 (c) INSPECTOR GENERAL REVIEW OF CERTIFI24 CATIONS.—The Inspector General of the Department of 

25 Homeland Security shall conduct a risk-based review of 

26 all certifications made under subsection (b) each year and 


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1 shall provide an annual report detailing the findings to 

2 the appropriate Congressional Committees. 

3 (d) MONTHLY REPORT.—The Secretary of Homeland 

4 Security shall submit to the appropriate Congressional 

5 Committees a monthly report on the total number of appli6 cations for admission with regard to which a certification 

7 under subsection (b) was made and the number of covered 

8 aliens with regard to whom such a certification was not 

9 made for the month preceding the date of the report. The 

10 report shall include, for each covered alien with regard to 

11 whom a certification was not made, the concurrence or 

12 nonconcurrence of each person whose concurrence was re13 quired by subsection (b). 

14 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 

15 (1) COVERED ALIEN.—The term ‘‘covered 

16 alien’’ means any alien applying for admission to the 

17 United States as a refugee who— 

18 (A) is a national or resident of Iraq, Syria, 

19 or a country designated as a high-risk country 

20 by the Secretary of State under section 3; 

21 (B) has no nationality and whose last ha22 bitual residence was in Iraq, Syria, or a country 

23 designated as a high-risk country by the Sec24 retary of State under section 3; or 


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1 (C) has been present in Iraq or Syria at 

2 any time on or after March 1, 2011. 

3 (2) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COM4 MITTEE.—The term ‘‘appropriate Congressional 

5 Committees’’ means— 

6 (A) the Committee on Armed Services of 

7 the Senate; 

8 (B) the Select Committee on Intelligence 

9 of the Senate; 

10 (C) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 

11 Senate; 

12 (D) the Committee on Homeland Security 

13 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; 

14 (E) the Committee on Foreign Relations of 

15 the Senate; 

16 (F) the Committee on Appropriations of 

17 the Senate; 

18 (G) the Committee on Armed Services of 

19 the House of Representatives; 

20 (H) the Permanent Select Committee on 

21 Intelligence of the House of Representatives; 

22 (I) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 

23 House of Representatives; 

24 (J) the Committee on Homeland Security 

25 of the House of Representatives; 


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1 (K) the Committee on Appropriations of 

2 the House of Representatives; and 

3 (L) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 

4 the House of Representatives. 

5 SEC. 3. REPORT ON RISK LEVELS OF COUNTRIES. 

6 Not later than 60 days after the date of the enact7 ment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary 

8 of State, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland 

9 Security, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investiga10 tion, and the Director of National Intelligence, shall sub11 mit to the appropriate Congressional Committees (as such 

12 term is defined in section 2(e)) a report, which shall be 

13 submitted in unclassified form to the maximum extent 

14 practicable, but may include a classified annex, and which 

15 includes the following: 

16 (1) A list of each country, a national or resi17 dent of which submitted an application for admis18 sion to the United States as a refugee under section 

19 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 

20 U.S.C. 1157) during the year preceding the report. 

21 (2) For each country listed under paragraph 

22 (1), an evaluation of the threat to the security of the 

23 United States posed by aliens who are nationals or 

24 residents of each such country, and a designation of 


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1 each such country as high-risk, medium-risk, or low2 risk. 

3 (3) For each country listed under paragraph 

4 (1), the number of applications for admission as a 

5 refugee to the United States during the year pre6 ceding the report. 

7 (4) For each country listed under paragraph 

8 (1), the number of aliens who were admitted to the 

9 United States as refugees during the year preceding 

10 the report. 

11 (5) Beginning with the second report submitted 

12 under this section, in the case of a country for which 

13 the designation under paragraph (2) changed from 

14 the designation of that country in the preceding 

15 year’s report, an explanation of the reason for the 

16 change. 

17 (6) To the extent practicable, and without jeop18 ardizing intelligence sources or methods, a descrip19 tion of the following: 

20 (A) Any presence of terrorism, hostile ac21 tions against the United States or its allies, 

22 gross violations of human rights, human traf23 ficking, drug trafficking, religious persecution, 

24 or other violations of international law. 


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1 (B) Any presence of al Qaeda, al Qaeda af2 filiates, Islamic State, or other terrorist groups. 

3 (C) Any presence of transnational criminal 

4 organizations. 

Æ 


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