II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1088 

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to require the President 

to set a minimum annual goal for the number of refugees to be admitted, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 9, 2019 

Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Ms. HIRONO, Ms. HARRIS, Mr. 

LEAHY, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Ms. SMITH, Mr. BOOKER, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Mr. 

MURPHY, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. MERKLEY, and Mr. DURBIN) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the 

Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to require 

the President to set a minimum annual goal for the 

number of refugees to be admitted, 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 ‘‘Guaranteed Refugee 

5 Admission Ceiling Enhancement Act’’ or the ‘‘GRACE 

6 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ADMISSION OF REFUGEES. 

2 Section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

3 (8 U.S.C. 1157) is amended— 

4 (1) in subsection (a)— 

5 (A) by striking paragraph (1); 

6 (B) by redesignating paragraphs (2) and 

7 (4) as paragraphs (1) and (6), respectively; 

8 (C) in paragraph (1), as redesignated— 

9 (i) by striking ‘‘after fiscal year 

10 1982’’; and 

11 (ii) by striking ‘‘is justified’’ and all 

12 that follows through ‘‘interest.’’ and insert13 ing ‘‘is— 

14 ‘‘(A) justified by humanitarian concerns or oth15 erwise in the national interest; and 

16 ‘‘(B) not less than 95,000. 

17 ‘‘(2) Each officer of the Federal Government respon18 sible for refugee admissions or refugee resettlement shall 

19 treat a determination under paragraph (1) and subsection 

20 (b) as the numerical goals for refugee admissions under 

21 this section for the applicable fiscal year.’’; and 

22 (D) by inserting after paragraph (3) the 

23 following: 

24 ‘‘(4) In making a determination under paragraph (1), 

25 the President shall consider the number of refugees who, 

26 during the calendar year beginning immediately after the 


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1 beginning of the applicable fiscal year, are in need of reset2 tlement in a third country, as determined by the United 

3 Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in the most re4 cently published projected global resettlement needs re5 port. 

6 ‘‘(5) The President shall determine regional alloca7 tions for admissions under this subsection, which shall— 

8 ‘‘(A) consider the projected needs identified by 

9 the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees 

10 in the projected global resettlement needs report for 

11 the calendar year beginning immediately after the 

12 beginning of the applicable fiscal year; and 

13 ‘‘(B) include an unallocated reserve that the 

14 Secretary of State, after notifying the Committee on 

15 the Judiciary of the Senate and the Committee on 

16 the Judiciary of the House of Representatives, may 

17 use for 1 or more regions in which the need for ad18 ditional refugee admissions arises.’’; and 

19 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

20 ‘‘(g) QUARTERLY REPORTS ON ADMISSIONS.—Not 

21 later than 15 days after the last day of each quarter, the 

22 President shall submit to the Committee on the Judiciary 

23 of the Senate and the Committee on the Judiciary of the 

24 House of Representatives a report that includes the fol25 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘(1) REFUGEES ADMITTED.— 

2 ‘‘(A) The number of refugees admitted to 

3 the United States during the preceding quarter. 

4 ‘‘(B) The number of refugees admitted to 

5 the United States during the preceding quarter, 

6 expressed as a percentage of the number of ref7 ugees authorized to be admitted in accordance 

8 with the determinations under subsections (a) 

9 and (b) for the applicable fiscal year. 

10 ‘‘(C) The cumulative number of refugees 

11 admitted to the United States during the appli12 cable fiscal year, as of the last day of the pre13 ceding quarter. 

14 ‘‘(D) The number of refugees to be admit15 ted to the United States during the remainder 

16 of the applicable fiscal year so as to achieve the 

17 numerical goals set forth in the determinations 

18 under subsections (a) and (b) for such fiscal 

19 year. 

20 ‘‘(E) The number of refugees from each 

21 region admitted to the United States during the 

22 preceding quarter, expressed as a percentage of 

23 the allocation for each region under subsection 

24 (a)(5) for the applicable fiscal year. 


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1 ‘‘(2) ALIENS WITH SECURITY ADVISORY OPIN2 IONS.— 

3 ‘‘(A) The number of aliens, by nationality, 

4 for whom a Security Advisory Opinion has been 

5 requested who were security-cleared during the 

6 preceding quarter, expressed as a percentage of 

7 all cases successfully adjudicated by the Direc8 tor of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration 

9 Services in the applicable fiscal year. 

10 ‘‘(B) The number of aliens, by nationality, 

11 for whom a Security Advisory Opinion has been 

12 requested who were admitted to the United 

13 States during the preceding quarter. 

14 ‘‘(3) CIRCUIT RIDES.— 

15 ‘‘(A) For the preceding quarter— 

16 ‘‘(i) the number of Refugee Corps of17 ficers deployed on circuit rides, expressed 

18 as a percentage of the overall number of 

19 Refugee Corps officers; 

20 ‘‘(ii) the number of individuals inter21 viewed— 

22 ‘‘(I) on each circuit ride; and 

23 ‘‘(II) at each circuit ride location; 

24 ‘‘(iii) the number of circuit rides; and 

25 ‘‘(iv) for each circuit ride— 


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1 ‘‘(I) the duration of the circuit 

2 ride; 

3 ‘‘(II) the average number of 

4 interviews conducted daily on the cir5 cuit ride; and 

6 ‘‘(III) the percentages of inter7 views conducted for— 

8 ‘‘(aa) individuals who re9 quire Security Advisory Opinions; 

10 and 

11 ‘‘(bb) individuals who do not 

12 require Security Advisory Opin13 ions. 

14 ‘‘(B) For the subsequent quarter— 

15 ‘‘(i) the number of circuit rides sched16 uled; and 

17 ‘‘(ii) the number of circuit rides 

18 planned. 

19 ‘‘(4) PROCESSING.—For the preceding quar20 ter— 

21 ‘‘(A) the average number of days be22 tween— 

23 ‘‘(i) the date on which an individual is 

24 identified by the United States Govern25 ment as a refugee; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) the date on which such individual 

2 is interviewed by the Secretary of Home3 land Security; 

4 ‘‘(B) the average number of days be5 tween— 

6 ‘‘(i) the date on which an individual 

7 identified by the United States Govern8 ment as a refugee is interviewed by the 

9 Secretary of Homeland Security; and 

10 ‘‘(ii) the date on which such individual 

11 is admitted to the United States; and 

12 ‘‘(C) with respect to individuals identified 

13 by the United States Government as refugees 

14 who have been interviewed by the Secretary of 

15 Homeland Security, the approval, denial, and 

16 hold rates for the applications for admission of 

17 such individuals, by nationality. 

18 ‘‘(5) PLAN AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.— 

19 ‘‘(A) A plan that describes the procedural 

20 or personnel changes necessary to ensure the 

21 admission of the number of refugees authorized 

22 to be admitted to the United States in accord23 ance with determinations under subsections (a) 

24 and (b), including a projection of the number of 

25 refugees to be admitted to the United States 


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1 each month so as to achieve the numerical goals 

2 set forth in such determinations. 

3 ‘‘(B) Additional information relating to the 

4 pace of refugee admissions, as determined by 

5 the President. 

6 ‘‘(h) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec7 tion may be construed— 

8 ‘‘(1) to inhibit the expeditious processing of ref9 ugee and asylum applications; or 

10 ‘‘(2) to restrict the authority of the Secretary of 

11 Homeland Security to admit aliens to the United 

12 States under any other Act.’’. 

Æ 


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