II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 295 

To designate residents of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 

as Priority 2 refugees of special humanitarian concern, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 8, 2021 

Mr. RUBIO (for himself, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. YOUNG, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. 

MERKLEY, Mr. CORNYN, Ms. WARREN, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. LANKFORD, 

Mr. WYDEN, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, and Mr. COONS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the 

Judiciary 

A BILL 

To designate residents of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region as Priority 2 refugees of special humanitarian concern, 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 ‘‘Hong Kong Safe Har5 bor Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DESIGNATION OF CERTAIN RESIDENTS OF HONG 

2 KONG AS PRIORITY 2 REFUGEES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State, in con4 sultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall 

5 designate, as Priority 2 refugees of special humanitarian 

6 concern, the following categories of aliens: 

7 (1) Individuals who are residents of the Hong 

8 Kong Special Administrative Region who suffered 

9 persecution, or have a well-founded fear of persecu10 tion, on account of their peaceful expression of polit11 ical opinions or peaceful participation in political ac12 tivities or associations. 

13 (2) Individuals who have been formally charged, 

14 detained, or convicted on account of their peaceful 

15 actions as described in section 206(b)(2) of the 

16 United States-Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992 (22 

17 U.S.C. 5726). 

18 (3) The spouses, children, and parents (as such 

19 terms are defined in subsections (a) and (b) of sec20 tion 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 

21 U.S.C. 1101)) of individuals described in paragraph 

22 (1) or (2), except such parents who are citizens of 

23 a country other than the People’s Republic of China. 

24 (b) PROCESSING OF HONG KONG REFUGEES.—The 

25 processing of individuals described in subsection (a) for 


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1 classification as refugees may occur in Hong Kong or in 

2 a third country. 

3 (c) ELIGIBILITY FOR ADMISSION AS REFUGEES.—An 

4 alien may not be denied the opportunity to apply for ad5 mission as a refugee under this section primarily because 

6 such alien— 

7 (1) qualifies as an immediate relative of a cit8 izen of the United States; or 

9 (2) is eligible for admission to the United 

10 States under any other immigrant classification. 

11 (d) FACILITATION OF ADMISSIONS.—An applicant 

12 for admission to the United States from the Hong Kong 

13 Special Administrative Region may not be denied pri14 marily on the basis of a politically motivated arrest, deten15 tion, or other adverse government action taken against 

16 such applicant as a result of the participation by such ap17 plicant in protest activities. 

18 (e) EXCLUSION FROM NUMERICAL LIMITATIONS.— 

19 Aliens provided refugee status under this section shall not 

20 be counted against any numerical limitation under section 

21 201, 202, 203, or 207 of the Immigration and Nationality 

22 Act (8 U.S.C. 1151, 1152, 1153, and 1157). 

23 (f) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

25 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and 


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1 every 90 days thereafter, the Secretary of State and 

2 the Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit a 

3 report regarding the matters described in paragraph 

4 (2) to— 

5 (A) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 

6 Senate; 

7 (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations of 

8 the Senate; 

9 (C) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 

10 House of Representatives; and 

11 (D) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 

12 the House of Representatives. 

13 (2) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—Each report 

14 required under paragraph (1) shall include— 

15 (A) the total number of applications that 

16 are pending at the end of the reporting period; 

17 (B) the average wait-times for all appli18 cants who are currently pending— 

19 (i) employment verification; 

20 (ii) a prescreening interview with a re21 settlement support center; 

22 (iii) an interview with U.S. Citizen23 ship and Immigration Services; or 

24 (iv) the completion of security checks; 

25 and 


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1 (C) the number of denials of applications 

2 for refugee status, disaggregated by the reason 

3 for each such denial. 

4 (3) FORM.—Each report required under para5 graph (1) shall be submitted in unclassified form, 

6 but may include a classified annex. 

7 (4) PUBLIC REPORTS.—The Secretary of State 

8 shall make each report submitted under this sub9 section available to the public on the internet website 

10 of the Department of State. 

11 (g) SATISFACTION OF OTHER REQUIREMENTS.— 

12 Aliens granted status under this section as Priority 2 refu13 gees of special humanitarian concern under the refugee 

14 resettlement priority system shall be considered to satisfy 

15 the requirements under section 207 of the Immigration 

16 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1157) for admission to the 

17 United States. 

18 SEC. 3. WAIVER OF IMMIGRANT STATUS PRESUMPTION. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—The presumption under the first 

20 sentence of section 214(b) of the Immigration and Nation21 ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1184(b)) that every alien is an immi22 grant until the alien establishes that the alien is entitled 

23 to nonimmigrant status shall not apply to an alien de24 scribed in subsection (b). 

25 (b) ALIEN DESCRIBED.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—An alien described in this 

2 paragraph is an alien who— 

3 (A) is a resident of the Hong Kong Special 

4 Administrative Region on February 8, 2021; 

5 (B) is seeking entry to the United States 

6 to apply for asylum under section 208 of the 

7 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

8 1158); and 

9 (C)(i) had a leadership role in civil society 

10 organizations supportive of the protests in 2019 

11 and 2020 relating to the Hong Kong extra12 dition bill and the encroachment on the auton13 omy of Hong Kong by the People’s Republic of 

14 China; 

15 (ii) had an organizing role for such pro16 tests; 

17 (iii) acted as a first aid responder for such 

18 protests; 

19 (iv) suffered harm while covering such pro20 tests as a journalist; 

21 (v) provided paid or pro-bono legal services 

22 to 1 or more individuals arrested for partici23 pating in such protests; or 

24 (vi) during the period beginning on June 

25 9, 2019, and ending on February 8, 2021, was 


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1 formally charged, detained, or convicted for his 

2 or her participation in such protests. 

3 (2) EXCLUSION.—An alien described in this 

4 paragraph does not include any alien who is a citizen 

5 of a country other than the People’s Republic of 

6 China. 

7 SEC. 4. REFUGEE AND ASYLUM DETERMINATIONS UNDER 

8 THE IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY ACT. 

9 (a) PERSECUTION ON ACCOUNT OF POLITICAL OPIN10 ION.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of refugee de12 terminations under section 207 of the Immigration 

13 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1157), an individual 

14 whose citizenship, nationality, or residency is re15 voked for having submitted to any United States 

16 Government agency a nonfrivolous application for 

17 refugee status, asylum, or any other immigration 

18 benefit under the immigration laws (as defined in 

19 section 101(a) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a))) shall 

20 be considered to have suffered persecution on ac21 count of political opinion. 

22 (2) NATIONALS OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF

23 CHINA.—For purposes of refugee determinations 

24 under section 207 of the Immigration and Nation25 ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1157), a national of the People’s 


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1 Republic of China whose residency in the Hong 

2 Kong Special Administrative Region, or any other 

3 area within the jurisdiction of the People’s Republic 

4 of China, as determined by the Secretary of State, 

5 is revoked for having submitted to any United 

6 States Government agency a nonfrivolous application 

7 for refugee status, asylum, or any other immigration 

8 benefit under the immigration laws shall be consid9 ered to have suffered persecution on account of po10 litical opinion. 

11 (b) CHANGED CIRCUMSTANCES.—For purposes of 

12 asylum determinations under section 208 of the Immigra13 tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1158), the revocation 

14 of the citizenship, nationality, or residency of an individual 

15 for having submitted to any United States Government 

16 agency a nonfrivolous application for refugee status, asy17 lum, or any other immigration benefit under the immigra18 tion laws shall be considered to be a changed circumstance 

19 under subsection (a)(2)(D) of such section. 

20 SEC. 5. STATEMENT OF POLICY ON ENCOURAGING ALLIES 

21 AND PARTNERS TO MAKE SIMILAR ACCOM22 MODATIONS. 

23 It is the policy of the United States to encourage al24 lies and partners of the United States to make accom25 modations similar to the accommodations made under this 


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1 Act for residents of the Hong Kong Special Administrative 

2 Region who are fleeing oppression by the Government of 

3 the People’s Republic of China. 

4 SEC. 6. TERMINATION. 

5 This Act shall cease to have effect on the date that 

6 is 5 years after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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