II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 50 

To temporarily designate Venezuela under section 244(b) of the Immigration 

and Nationality Act to permit eligible nationals of Venezuela to be 

granted temporary protected status. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 26, 2021 

Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. LEAHY, and Mr. BOOKER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To temporarily designate Venezuela under section 244(b) 

of the Immigration and Nationality Act to permit eligible 

nationals of Venezuela to be granted temporary protected 

status. 

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 ‘‘Venezuela Temporary 

5 Protected Status Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 


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1 (1) Venezuela is enduring an unprecedented 

2 economic, humanitarian, security, and human rights 

3 crisis, consisting of extreme food and medicine 

4 shortages, severe infant and child malnutrition, 

5 rampant crime, and government-sponsored repres6 sion, which has resulted in significant displacement 

7 of Venezuelans to countries across the Western 

8 Hemisphere. 

9 (2) Venezuela’s economy contracted by 66 per10 cent between 2014 and 2019, with the International 

11 Monetary Fund reporting that inflation reached an 

12 annual rate of nearly 20,000 percent in 2019, mak13 ing Venezuela the country with the highest level of 

14 inflation in the world. 

15 (3) As evidence of the humanitarian crisis cre16 ated by Venezuela’s systemic economic turmoil and 

17 government corruption— 

18 (A) the percentage of Venezuelans living in 

19 poverty increased from 48.4 percent in 2014 to 

20 96 percent in 2019, with 80 percent living in 

21 extreme poverty, according to household sur22 veys; and 

23 (B) at least 2,300,000 Venezuelans face 

24 severe food insecurity. 


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1 (4) Access to quality healthcare is severely im2 peded, with— 

3 (A) more than 50 percent of healthcare 

4 professionals having left Venezuela during the 

5 past 5 years; 

6 (B) pharmacies experiencing shortages of 

7 approximately 85 percent of needed medicines; 

8 (C) 88 percent of hospitals lacking the 

9 basic medicines that should be available in any 

10 functional public hospital, including those that 

11 are on the World Health Organization’s List of 

12 Essential Medicines; and 

13 (D) roughly 70 percent of Venezuelan hos14 pitals surveyed in 2019 lacking access to clean 

15 water. 

16 (5) Venezuela continues to be among the 

17 world’s most violent countries, and the Venezuelan 

18 Violence Observatory, an independent nongovern19 mental organization, calculated that there were ap20 proximately 46 murders in Venezuela during 2020 

21 for every 100,000 people. 

22 (6) According to the United Nations Office of 

23 the High Commissioner for Human Rights 

24 (OHCHR)— 


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1 (A) Venezuelan intelligence and security 

2 forces have increasingly used arbitrary arrests, 

3 detentions, torture, and extrajudicial killings to 

4 repress and intimidate civil society, political op5 ponents, and any voices of dissent; 

6 (B) between 2015 and 2017, at least 505 

7 people, including 24 children, were executed by 

8 Venezuelan security forces, leading the Inter9 national Criminal Court prosecutor to announce 

10 a preliminary investigation into the use of ex11 cessive force in Venezuela; and 

12 (C) the incidence of alleged extrajudicial 

13 killings by security forces has been shockingly 

14 high, according to an OHCHR report, with the 

15 government registering nearly 7,000 extrajudi16 cial killings between January 2018 and May 

17 2019. 

18 (7) The United Nations Human Rights Coun19 cil’s Independent International Fact-Finding Mission 

20 on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela reported in 

21 September 2020 that the regime’s crimes were ‘‘part 

22 of a widespread and systematic course of conduct, 

23 thus amounting to crimes against humanity’’. 

24 (8) According to the United Nations High Com25 missioner for Refugees (UNHCR), more than 


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1 5,400,000 Venezuelans have fled their country for 

2 reasons such as violence, political oppression, eco3 nomic hardship, and the ongoing humanitarian cri4 sis. 

5 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

6 It is the sense of the Congress that— 

7 (1) Venezuela’s economic, security, and dis8 placement crisis has resulted in extraordinary and 

9 temporary conditions that currently prevent Ven10 ezuelan nationals from safely returning to Ven11 ezuela; and 

12 (2) Venezuela should be designated under sub13 section (b)(1)(C) of section 244 of the Immigration 

14 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a) for a period 

15 of 18 months to permit nationals of Venezuela to be 

16 eligible for temporary protected status in accordance 

17 with such section. 

18 SEC. 4. DESIGNATION FOR PURPOSES OF GRANTING TEM19 PORARY PROTECTED STATUS. 

20 (a) DESIGNATION.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of section 244 

22 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

23 1254a), Venezuela shall be treated as if it had been 

24 designated under subsection (b)(1)(C) of such sec25 tion, subject to the provisions of this section. 


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1 (2) PERIOD OF DESIGNATION.—The initial pe2 riod of the designation referred to in paragraph (1) 

3 shall be for the 18-month period beginning on the 

4 date of the enactment of this Act. 

5 (b) ALIENS ELIGIBLE.—As a result of the designa6 tion made under subsection (a), an alien who is a national 

7 of Venezuela is deemed to satisfy the requirements under 

8 paragraph (1) of section 244(c) of the Immigration and 

9 Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a(c)), subject to paragraph 

10 (3) of such section, if the alien— 

11 (1) has been continuously physically present in 

12 the United States since the date of the enactment of 

13 this Act; 

14 (2) is admissible as an immigrant, except as 

15 otherwise provided in paragraph (2)(A) of such sec16 tion; 

17 (3) is not ineligible for temporary protected sta18 tus under paragraph (2)(B) of such section; and 

19 (4) registers for temporary protected status in 

20 a manner established by the Secretary of Homeland 

21 Security. 

22 (c) CONSENT TO TRAVEL ABROAD.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Homeland 

24 Security shall give prior consent to travel abroad, in 

25 accordance with section 244(f)(3) of the ImmigraVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:13 Feb 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S50.IS S50

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1 tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a(f)(3)), to 

2 an alien who is granted temporary protected status 

3 pursuant to the designation made under subsection 

4 (a) if the alien establishes, to the satisfaction of the 

5 Secretary of Homeland Security, that emergency 

6 and extenuating circumstances beyond the control of 

7 the alien require the alien to depart for a brief, tem8 porary trip abroad. 

9 (2) TREATMENT UPON RETURN.—An alien re10 turning to the United States in accordance with an 

11 authorization described in paragraph (1) shall be 

12 treated as any other returning alien provided tem13 porary protected status under section 244 of the Im14 migration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a). 

15 SEC. 5. IMPROVING INTERNAL MIGRATION SYSTEMS IN 

16 COUNTRIES SURROUNDING VENEZUELA. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State, in con18 sultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall 

19 work with international partners, including the United 

20 Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Inter21 national Organization for Migration, to support and pro22 vide technical assistance to improve the domestic capacity 

23 of countries surrounding Venezuela and in the region to 

24 provide migration services and asylum to eligible Ven25 ezuelan citizens— 


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1 (1) by establishing and expanding temporary 

2 and long-term, in-country reception centers and shel3 ter capacity in those surrounding countries to meet 

4 the humanitarian needs of Venezuelan migrants or 

5 Venezuelans seeking asylum or other forms of inter6 national protection; 

7 (2) by improving migration and asylum reg8 istration systems in those surrounding countries to 

9 ensure that Venezuelan migrants and Venezuelans 

10 seeking asylum or other humanitarian protection— 

11 (A) receive due process and meaningful ac12 cess to legal protections; and 

13 (B) receive proper documents in order to 

14 prevent fraud and facilitate freedom of move15 ment and access to basic social services; 

16 (3) by supporting the creation or expansion of 

17 a corps of trained migration and asylum officers 

18 from those countries who are capable of— 

19 (A) providing migration services; and 

20 (B) evaluating and deciding individual asy21 lum claims consistent with international law 

22 and obligations; and 

23 (4) by developing the capacity to conduct best 

24 interest determinations for Venezuelan migrants to 

25 ensure that their needs are properly met. 


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1 (b) STRATEGY.—Not later than 90 days after the 

2 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, 

3 in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, 

4 shall submit a strategy describing plans for assisting the 

5 development of the international asylum processing capa6 bilities described in subsection (a) to— 

7 (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 

8 Senate; 

9 (2) the Committee on the Judiciary of the Sen10 ate; 

11 (3) the Committee on Appropriations of the 

12 Senate; 

13 (4) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 

14 House of Representatives; 

15 (5) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 

16 House of Representatives; and 

17 (6) the Committee on Appropriations of the 

18 House of Representatives. 

19 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 

21 appropriated to the Secretary of State $10,000,000 

22 for fiscal year 2021 to carry out the activities set 

23 forth in subsection (b). 

24 (2) NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENT.— 


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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided 

2 under subparagraph (B), amounts appropriated 

3 or otherwise made available pursuant to para4 graph (1) may not be obligated until 15 days 

5 after the date on which the President provides 

6 notice to the committees listed in subsection (b) 

7 of the intent to obligate such funds. 

8 (B) WAIVER.— 

9 (i) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of 

10 State may waive the requirement under 

11 subparagraph (A) if the Secretary of State 

12 determines that such waiver is in the na13 tional interest of the United States. 

14 (ii) NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENT.—If 

15 a waiver is invoked under clause (i), the 

16 President shall notify the committees listed 

17 in subsection (b) of the intention to obli18 gate funds under this section as early as 

19 practicable, but not later than 3 days after 

20 taking the action to which such notification 

21 requirement was applicable in the context 

22 of the circumstances necessitating such 

23 waiver. 

Æ 


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