I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5430 

To direct the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, to establish processes for certain aliens located in Iraq, 

Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, Turkey, or Syria to apply 

for admission to the United States as refugees, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 9, 2014 

Mr. VARGAS (for himself and Mr. ROONEY) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of State, in consultation with the 

Secretary of Homeland Security, to establish processes 

for certain aliens located in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, 

Jordan, Kuwait, Turkey, or Syria to apply for admission 

to the United States 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 ‘‘Nineveh Plain Refugee 

5 Act of 2014’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. IN-COUNTRY PROCESSES FOR CERTAIN ALIENS AP2 PLYING FOR REFUGEE STATUS. 

3 (a) IN-COUNTRY PROCESSES.—The Secretary of 

4 State, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Se5 curity, shall establish or use existing processes in Iraq, 

6 Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, Turkey, and 

7 Syria through which an alien who is located in such a 

8 country and described in section 3(b) may apply and inter9 view for admission to the United States as a refugee under 

10 section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 

11 U.S.C. 1157). Such an alien shall be considered a refugee 

12 of special humanitarian concern eligible for Priority 2 

13 processing under the refugee resettlement priority system. 

14 (b) SUSPENSION OF IN-COUNTRY PROCESSES.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State, in 

16 consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Secu17 rity, may suspend the processes under subsection (a) 

18 in a foreign country listed in subsection (a) for a pe19 riod not to exceed 90 days, if the Secretary deter20 mines that such a suspension is appropriate. 

21 (2) EXTENSION.—The Secretary of State, in 

22 consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Secu23 rity, may extend a suspension under paragraph (1) 

24 upon notification to the Committee on the Judiciary 

25 of the House of Representatives, the Committee on 

26 Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives, the 


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1 Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate, and the 

2 Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate. 

3 (3) REPORT.—The Secretary of State shall sub4 mit to the committees listed in paragraph (2) a re5 port that describes the reason for each suspension 

6 and extension under this subsection. 

7 SEC. 3. ALIENS ELIGIBLE TO APPLY FOR ADMISSION TO 

8 THE UNITED STATES AS A REFUGEE USING 

9 IN-COUNTRY PROCESSES. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—In the case of an alien who is 

11 within a category of aliens established under subsection 

12 (b), the alien may establish, for purposes of admission as 

13 a refugee under section 207 of the Immigration and Na14 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1157), that the alien has a well15 founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, 

16 nationality, membership in a particular social group, or 

17 political opinion by asserting such a fear and asserting a 

18 credible basis for concern about the possibility of such per19 secution. 

20 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF CATEGORIES.—For pur21 poses of subsection (a), the Secretary of State, in consulta22 tion with the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall estab23 lish one or more categories of aliens who are or were na24 tionals or residents of a territory controlled by the group 

25 commonly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the LeVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:57 Sep 11, 2014 Jkt 039060 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5430.IH H5430

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1 vant (or any successor name) in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Leb2 anon, Jordan, Kuwait, Turkey, or Syria and who share 

3 common characteristics that identify them as targets of 

4 persecution in that country on account of race, religion, 

5 nationality, membership in a particular social group, or 

6 political opinion. 

7 (c) EXCLUSION FROM NUMERICAL LIMITATIONS.— 

8 Aliens provided Priority 2 processing under the refugee 

9 resettlement priority system under this section shall not 

10 be counted against any numerical limitation under section 

11 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

12 1157) for fiscal years 2014 and 2015. 

13 (d) ELIGIBILITY FOR ADMISSION AS REFUGEE.—No 

14 alien shall be denied the opportunity to apply for admis15 sion under this section solely because such alien qualifies 

16 as an immediate relative or is eligible for any other immi17 grant classification. 

18 (e) WRITTEN REASONS FOR DENIALS OF REFUGEE

19 STATUS.—Each decision to deny an application for ref20 ugee status of an alien under this section shall be in writ21 ing and shall state, to the maximum extent feasible, the 

22 reason for the denial. 

23 (f) PERMITTING CERTAIN ALIENS WITHIN CAT24 EGORIES TO REAPPLY FOR REFUGEE STATUS.—Each 

25 alien described in subsection (b) who after, June 1, 2014, 


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1 and before the date of the enactment of this Act was de2 nied refugee status shall be permitted to reapply for such 

3 status. Such an application shall be determined taking 

4 into account the application of this Act. 

5 (g) PROTECTION OF ALIENS.—In the case that the 

6 Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of 

7 Homeland Security, determines that an alien who is lo8 cated in a foreign country listed in section 2(a) and de9 scribed in subsection (b) who has applied for admission 

10 to the United States as a refugee under section 207 of 

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

12 using the processes under this Act is in imminent danger, 

13 the Secretary shall make a reasonable effort to provide 

14 such alien with protection or the immediate removal from 

15 that country. 

16 SEC. 4. REPORTS. 

17 (a) INITIAL REPORT.—Not later than 120 days after 

18 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 

19 State, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Se20 curity, shall submit to the Committee on the Judiciary of 

21 the House of Representatives, the Committee on Foreign 

22 Affairs of the House of Representatives, the Committee 

23 on the Judiciary of the Senate, and the Committee on For24 eign Relations of the Senate a report containing plans to 

25 expedite the processing of applications for admission to 


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1 the United States as refugee under section 207 of the Im2 migration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1157) of aliens 

3 described in section 3(b) who apply for admission using 

4 the processes under the Act, including information relat5 ing to— 

6 (1) expediting the processing of such refugees 

7 for resettlement, including through temporary ex8 pansion of the Refugee Corps of United States Citi9 zenship and Immigration Services; 

10 (2) increasing the number of personnel of the 

11 Department of State and the Department of Home12 land Security devoted to the processing of such ap13 plications; 

14 (3) enhancing existing systems for conducting 

15 background and security checks of such aliens; and 

16 (4) the projections of the Secretary for the 

17 number of refugee interviews that will be conducted 

18 in each foreign country listed in section 2(a) in each 

19 month of fiscal years 2015 and 2016. 

20 (b) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than 120 days after 

21 the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually there22 after through 2016, the Secretary of State, in consultation 

23 with the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall submit to 

24 Congress an unclassified report, with a classified annex 

25 if necessary, which includes— 


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1 (1) an assessment of the financial, security, and 

2 personnel considerations and resources necessary to 

3 carry out the provisions of this Act; 

4 (2) the number of aliens described in section 

5 3(b); 

6 (3) the number of such aliens who have applied 

7 for admission to the United States as a refugee 

8 under section 207 of the Immigration and Nation9 ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1157) using the processes under 

10 this Act; and 

11 (4) in the case of such applications pending for 

12 longer than 180 days, the reason that refugee status 

13 has not been granted in each such case. 

Æ 


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