I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4731 

To provide for an annual adjustment of the number of admissible refugees, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 14, 2016 

Mr. LABRADOR (for himself, Mr. GOODLATTE, Mr. GOWDY, Mr. SMITH of 

Texas, and Mr. COLLINS of Georgia) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To provide for an annual adjustment of the number of 

admissible 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 ‘‘Refugee Program In5 tegrity Restoration Act of 2016’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ANNUAL ADJUSTMENT OF THE NUMBER OF ADMIS7 SIBLE REFUGEES. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 207(a)(2) of the Immi9 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1157(a)(2)) is 

10 amended by striking all that follows after ‘‘shall be’’ and 


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1 inserting the following: ‘‘60,000. The President may, after 

2 appropriate consultation, submit a recommendation to 

3 Congress for the revision of such number not later than 

4 6 months prior to the beginning of such fiscal year, setting 

5 forth the justification for such revision due to humani6 tarian concerns or that such revision is otherwise in the 

7 national interest.’’. 

8 (b) IN CASES OF EMERGENCIES.—Section 207(b) of 

9 the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1157(b)) 

10 is amended— 

11 (1) by striking ‘‘the President may fix a num12 ber of refugees’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘the 

13 President may submit to Congress a recommended 

14 number of refugees’’; and 

15 (2) by striking all that follows after ‘‘to the 

16 emergency refugee situation’’ and inserting a period. 

17 SEC. 3. TERMINATION OF REFUGEE STATUS. 

18 Section 207(c) of the Immigration and Nationality 

19 Act (8 U.S.C. 1157(c)), as amended by this Act, is further 

20 amended— 

21 (1) in paragraph (4)— 

22 (A) by striking ‘‘may’’ each place it ap23 pears and inserting ‘‘shall’’; 

24 (B) by inserting after ‘‘determines’’ the 

25 following: ‘‘—’’; 


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1 (C) by striking ‘‘that the alien was not’’ 

2 and inserting the following: 

3 ‘‘(A) that the alien was not’’; 

4 (D) by striking the period at the end and 

5 inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

6 (E) by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(B) that the alien, who applied for such 

8 status because of persecution or a well-founded 

9 fear of persecution in the country from which 

10 they sought refuge on account of race, religion, 

11 nationality, membership in a particular social 

12 group, or political opinion, returned to such 

13 country absent changed conditions therein.’’; 

14 and 

15 (2) by inserting after paragraph (4) the fol16 lowing: 

17 ‘‘(5) Each fiscal year, the Secretary shall sub18 mit to the Committee on the Judiciary of the House 

19 of Representatives and the Committee on the Judici20 ary of the Senate a report that includes the number 

21 of terminations of status under paragraph (4), 

22 disaggregated by whether the termination occurred 

23 pursuant to subparagraph (A) or (B) of such para24 graph.’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. PRIORITY CONSIDERATION FOR CERTAIN APPLI2 CANTS FOR REFUGEE STATUS. 

3 Section 207(c) of the Immigration and Nationality 

4 Act (8 U.S.C. 1157(c)), as amended by this Act, is further 

5 is amended— 

6 (1) by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(6) When processing refugee applications from 

8 individuals seeking refuge from a country listed as 

9 a ‘Country of Particular Concern’ in the annual re10 port of the Commission on International Religious 

11 Freedom under section 203 of the International Re12 ligious Freedom Act of 1998 for the year prior to 

13 the current year, the Secretary of Homeland Secu14 rity shall grant priority consideration to such appli15 cants whose claims are based on persecution or a 

16 well-founded fear of persecution based on religion by 

17 reason of those applicants being practitioners of a 

18 minority religion in the country from which they 

19 sought refuge.’’; and 

20 (2) by striking ‘‘Attorney General’’ each place 

21 it appears and inserting ‘‘Secretary of Homeland Se22 curity’’. 

23 SEC. 5. LIMITATION OF WAIVER AUTHORITY ON ADMISSION 

24 OF REFUGEES. 

25 Section 207(c)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality 

26 Act (8 U.S.C. 1157(c)(3)) is amended by striking ‘‘any 


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1 other provision of such section (other than paragraph 

2 (2)(C) or subparagraph (A), (B), (C), or (E) of paragraph 

3 (3))’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph (1) of section 212(a)’’. 

4 SEC. 6. RECURRENT SECURITY MONITORING. 

5 Section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

6 (8 U.S.C. 1157) is amended by adding at the end the fol7 lowing: 

8 ‘‘(g) The Secretary may conduct recurrent back9 ground security checks of an admitted refugee until such 

10 date as the refugee adjusts status under section 209.’’. 

11 SEC. 7. ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS OF REFUGEES. 

12 Section 209(a)(1) of the Immigration and Nationality 

13 Act (8 U.S.C. 1159(a)(1)) is amended— 

14 (1) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘for at 

15 least one year’’ and inserting ‘‘for 3 years’’; and 

16 (2) by striking ‘‘shall, at the end of such year 

17 period’’ and inserting ‘‘shall, at the end of such pe18 riod’’. 

19 SEC. 8. LIMITATION OF WAIVER AUTHORITY ON ADJUST20 MENT OF STATUS OF REFUGEES. 

21 (a) GROUNDS FOR INADMISSIBILITY.—Section 

22 209(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

23 1159(c)) is amended by striking ‘‘any other provision of 

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1 graph (A), (B), (C), or (E) of paragraph (3))’’ and insert2 ing ‘‘paragraph (1) of section 212(a)’’. 

3 (b) GROUNDS OF DEPORTABILITY; IN-PERSON

4 INTERVIEW REQUIRED; REQUIRED REEXAMINATION FOR

5 ADMISSION.—Section 209 of the Immigration and Nation6 ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1159) is amended by adding at the 

7 end the following: 

8 ‘‘(d) COORDINATION WITH SECTION 237.—An alien 

9 may not adjust status under this section if the alien is 

10 deportable under section 237, except that section 

11 237(a)(5) shall not apply for purposes of this subsection. 

12 ‘‘(e) IN-PERSON INTERVIEW REQUIREMENTS.—An 

13 alien may not adjust status under this section unless, at 

14 the time of application for adjustment, the alien estab15 lishes by clear and convincing evidence during an in-per16 son interview with the Secretary of Homeland Security 

17 that the alien continues to meet the requirements of sec18 tion 101(a)(42). 

19 ‘‘(f) REQUIRED REEXAMINATION FOR ADMISSION.— 

20 An alien who is admitted as a refugee who is denied ad21 mission under subsection (a)(1) shall, beginning on the 

22 date that is 5 years after such denial, and every 5 years 

23 thereafter, if that alien retains status as a refugee, return 

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1 sion to the United States as an immigrant in accordance 

2 with the provisions of sections 235, 240, and 241.’’. 

3 SEC. 9. LIMITATION ON RESETTLEMENT. 

4 Section 412 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

5 (8 U.S.C. 1522) is amended by adding at the end the fol6 lowing: 

7 ‘‘(g) LIMITATION ON RESETTLEMENT.—Notwith8 standing any other provision of this section, for a fiscal 

9 year, the resettlement of any refugee may not be provided 

10 for— 

11 ‘‘(1) in any State where the Governor of that 

12 State, or the State legislature, has taken any action 

13 formally disapproving of resettlement in that State; 

14 or 

15 ‘‘(2) in any locality where the chief executive of 

16 that locality’s government, or the local legislature, 

17 has taken any action formally disapproving of reset18 tlement in that locality.’’. 

19 SEC. 10. BENEFIT FRAUD ASSESSMENT. 

20 Not later than 540 days after the date of enactment 

21 of this Act, the Fraud Detection and National Security 

22 Directorate of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services 

23 shall— 

24 (1) complete a study on the processing of refu25 gees by officers and employees of the U.S. CitizenVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:20 Mar 15, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4731.IH H4731

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1 ship and Immigration Services including an identi2 fication of the most common ways in which fraud oc3 curs in such processing and recommendations for 

4 the prevention of fraud in such processing; and 

5 (2) submit a report on such study to the Com6 mittee on the Judiciary of the House of Representa7 tives and the Committee on the Judiciary of the 

8 Senate. 

9 SEC. 11. DOCUMENT FRAUD DETECTION PROGRAM. 

10 Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment 

11 of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall es12 tablish a program for detecting the use of fraudulent docu13 ments in applications for admission as a refugee, includ14 ing— 

15 (1) placement of Fraud Detection and National 

16 Security officials who are under the direction of the 

17 Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate 

18 of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services at ini19 tial refugee screening in conjunction with the reset20 tlement agency and with the authority to hold a ref21 ugee application in abeyance until any fraud or na22 tional security concerns are resolved; and 

23 (2) creation of a searchable database of scanned 

24 and categorized documents proffered by applicants 

25 at initial refugee screening to allow for discovery of 


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1 fraud trends and random translation verification 

2 within such documents. 

3 SEC. 12. RECORDING OF INTERVIEWS TO PROTECT REFU4 GEES AND PREVENT FRAUD. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Homeland Secu6 rity shall use digital recording technology to record each 

7 interview of an alien applying for admission as a refugee 

8 under section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

9 by an officer or employee of the U.S. Citizenship and Im10 migration Services. 

11 (b) AUDITING OF TRANSLATIONS.—The Secretary 

12 shall randomly select a number of interviews conducted, 

13 with the assistance of an interpreter, during each refugee 

14 circuit ride, equal to 20 percent of the total number of 

15 interviews conducted with the assistance of an interpreter 

16 during such circuit ride and review each such selected 

17 interview in order to determine whether any interpreter 

18 who participated in the interview incorrectly interpreted 

19 any portion of the interview (other than a de minimis error 

20 in translation). Such reviews shall take place prior to ap21 proval or denial of any application for admission as a ref22 ugee submitted at that location. 

23 (c) IN CASES OF MISTRANSLATIONS.—If the Sec24 retary determines that the interpreter incorrectly interVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:20 Mar 15, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4731.IH H4731

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1 preted any portion of the interview (other than a de mini2 mis error in translation)— 

3 (1) the interpreter shall be barred from subse4 quently serving as an interpreter for immigration 

5 purposes; and 

6 (2) no action shall be taken regarding the appli7 cation until the applicant has been reinterviewed. 

8 SEC. 13. LIMITATION ON QUALIFICATION AS A REFUGEE. 

9 Section 101(a)(42) of the Immigration and Nation10 ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(42)) is amended by inserting 

11 ‘‘For purposes of this paragraph, a person may not be con12 sidered a refugee solely or in part because the person is 

13 displaced due to, or is fleeing from, violence in the country 

14 of such person’s nationality or, in the case of a person 

15 having no nationality, the country in which such person 

16 last habitually resided, if that violence is not specifically 

17 directed at the person, or, if it is directed specifically at 

18 the person, it is not directed at the person on account of 

19 that person’s race, religion, nationality, membership in a 

20 particular social group, or political opinion.’’ before ‘‘The 

21 term ‘refugee’ does not include’’. 

22 SEC. 14. SECURITY REQUIREMENTS FOR REFUGEES. 

23 Prior to admitting to the United States as a refugee 

24 under section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

25 (8 U.S.C. 1157) an alien, the Secretary of Homeland SeVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:40 Mar 15, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4731.IH H4731

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1 curity shall ensure that the alien does not pose a threat 

2 to the national security of the United States based on a 

3 background check that the Secretary conducts, which in4 cludes a review of the alien’s open source interactions on 

5 and posting of material to the Internet (including social 

6 media services). 

7 SEC. 15. GAO REPORT ON U.S. REFUGEE ADMISSIONS PRO8 GRAM. 

9 Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment 

10 of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 

11 shall conduct a review and report to Congress on the fol12 lowing: 

13 (1) The security of the U.S. Refugee Admis14 sions Program, including an examination of— 

15 (A) how the U.S. Government conducts se16 curity screening and background checks, includ17 ing the agencies or U.S. Government partners 

18 involved and the systems and databases used; 

19 (B) how the U.S. Government determines 

20 whether applicants are eligible for refugee reset21 tlement and admissible to the United States; 

22 and 

23 (C) the number of individuals who were 

24 admitted into the United States as refugees and 

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1 rorism-related investigation by the U.S. Govern2 ment since fiscal year 2006. 

3 (2) Federally funded benefit programs for 

4 which aliens admitted into the United States under 

5 section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

6 (8 U.S.C. 1157) are eligible, as well as what is 

7 known about their participation in these programs. 

Æ 


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