Presidential Documents

Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 207 / Friday, October 27, 2017 / Presidential Documents 50055 

Executive Order 13815 of October 24, 2017 

Resuming the United States Refugee Admissions Program 

With Enhanced Vetting Capabilities 

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the 

laws of the United States of America, including the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq., and section 301 of title 3, United 

States Code, it is hereby ordered as follows: 

Section 1. Policy. (a) It is the policy of the United States to protect its 

people from terrorist attacks and other public-safety threats. Screening and 

vetting procedures associated with determining which foreign nationals may 

enter the United States, including through the U.S. Refugee Admissions 

Program (USRAP), play a critical role in implementing that policy. Those 

procedures enhance our ability to detect foreign nationals who might commit, 

aid, or support acts of terrorism, or otherwise pose a threat to the national 

security or public safety of the United States, and they bolster our efforts 

to prevent such individuals from entering the country. 

(b) Section 5 of Executive Order 13780 of March 6, 2017 (Protecting 

the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States), directed 

the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland 

Security, and the Director of National Intelligence to develop a uniform 

baseline for screening and vetting standards and procedures applicable to 

all travelers who seek to enter the United States. A working group was 

established to satisfy this directive. 

(c) Section 6(a) of Executive Order 13780 directed a review to strengthen 

the vetting process for the USRAP. It also instructed the Secretary of State 

to suspend the travel of refugees into the United States under that program, 

and the Secretary of Homeland Security to suspend decisions on applications 

for refugee status, subject to certain exceptions. Section 6(a) also required 

the Secretary of State, in conjunction with the Secretary of Homeland Security 

and in consultation with the Director of National Intelligence, to conduct 

a 120-day review of the USRAP application and adjudication process in 

order to determine, and implement, additional procedures to ensure that 

individuals seeking admission as refugees do not pose a threat to the security 

and welfare of the United States. Executive Order 13780 noted that terrorist 

groups have sought to infiltrate several nations through refugee programs 

and that the Attorney General had reported that more than 300 persons 

who had entered the United States as refugees were then the subjects of 

counterterrorism investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 

(d) The Secretary of State convened a working group to implement the 

review process under section 6(a) of Executive Order 13780. This review 

was informed by the development of uniform baseline screening and vetting 

standards and procedures for all travelers under section 5 of Executive 

Order 13780. The section 6(a) working group compared the process for 

screening and vetting refugees with the uniform baseline standards and 

procedures established by the section 5 working group. The section 6(a) 

working group identified several ways to enhance the process for screening 

and vetting refugees and began implementing those improvements. 

(e) The review process for refugees required by Executive Order 13780 

has made our Nation safer. The improvements the section 6(a) working 

group has identified will strengthen the data-collection process for all refugee 

applicants considered for resettlement in the United States. They will also 


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bolster the process for interviewing refugees through improved training, 

fraud-detection procedures, and interagency information sharing. Further, 

they will enhance the ability of our systems to check biometric and biographic 

information against a broad range of threat information contained in various 

Federal watchlists and databases. 

(f) Section 2 of Proclamation 9645 of September 24, 2017 (Enhancing 

Vetting Capabilities and Processes for Detecting Attempted Entry into the 

United States by Terrorists or Other Public-Safety Threats), suspended and 

limited, subject to exceptions and case-by-case waivers, the entry into the 

United States of foreign nationals of eight countries. As noted in that Proclamation, those suspensions and limitations are in the interest of the United 

States because of certain deficiencies in those countries’ identity-management 

and information-sharing protocols and procedures, and because of the national security and public-safety risks that emanate from their territory, 

including risks that result from the significant presence of terrorists within 

the territory of several of those countries. 

(g) The entry restrictions and limitations in Proclamation 9645 apply 

to the immigrant and nonimmigrant visa application and adjudication processes, which foreign nationals use to seek authorization to travel to the 

United States and apply for admission. Pursuant to section 3(b)(iii) of Proclamation 9645, however, those restrictions and limitations do not apply to 

those who seek to enter the United States through the USRAP. 

(h) Foreign nationals who seek to enter the United States with an immigrant 

or nonimmigrant visa stand in a different position from that of refugees 

who are considered for entry into this country under the USRAP. For a 

variety of reasons, including substantive differences in the risk factors presented by the refugee population and in the quality of information available 

to screen and vet refugees, the refugee screening and vetting process is 

different from the process that applies to most visa applicants. At the same 

time, the entry of certain refugees into the United States through the USRAP 

poses unique security risks and considerable domestic challenges that require 

the application of substantial resources. 

Sec. 2. Resumption of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. (a) Section 

6(a) of Executive Order 13780 provided for a temporary, 120-day review 

of the USRAP application and adjudication process and an accompanying 

worldwide suspension of refugee travel to the United States and of application decisions under the USRAP. That 120-day period expires on October 

24, 2017. Section 6(a) further provided that refugee travel and application 

decisions could resume after 120 days for stateless persons and for the 

nationals of countries for which the Secretary of State, the Secretary of 

Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence jointly determine that the additional procedures identified through the USRAP review 

process are adequate to ensure the security and welfare of the United States. 

The Secretary of State, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director 

of National Intelligence have advised that the improvements to the USRAP 

vetting process are generally adequate to ensure the security and welfare 

of the United States, that the Secretary of State and Secretary of Homeland 

Security may resume that program, and that they will apply special measures 

to certain categories of refugees whose entry continues to pose potential 

threats to the security and welfare of the United States. 

(b) With the improvements identified by the section 6(a) working group 

and implemented by the participating agencies, the refugee screening and 

vetting process generally meets the uniform baseline for immigration screening and vetting established by the section 5 working group. Accordingly, 

a general resumption of the USRAP, subject to the conditions set forth 

in section 3 of this order, is consistent with the security and welfare of 

the United States. 

(c) The suspension of the USRAP and other processes specified in section 

6(a) of Executive Order 13780 are no longer in effect. Subject to the conditions 

set forth in section 3 of this order, the Secretary of State may resume 


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travel of qualified and appropriately vetted refugees into the United States, 

and the Secretary of Homeland Security may resume adjudicating applications for refugee resettlement. 

Sec. 3. Addressing the Risks Presented by Certain Categories of Refugees. 

(a) Based on the considerations outlined above, including the special measures referred to in subsection (a) of section 2 of this order, Presidential 

action to suspend the entry of refugees under the USRAP is not needed 

at this time to protect the security and interests of the United States and 

its people. The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security, 

however, shall continue to assess and address any risks posed by particular 

refugees as follows: 

(i) The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall 

coordinate to assess any risks to the security and welfare of the United 

States that may be presented by the entry into the United States through 

the USRAP of stateless persons and foreign nationals. Under section 207(c) 

and applicable portions of section 212(a) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1157(c) 

and 1182(a), section 402(4) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, 6 

U.S.C. 202(4), and other applicable authorities, the Secretary of Homeland 

Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State, shall determine, 

as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, whether any actions 

should be taken to address the risks to the security and welfare of the 

United States presented by permitting any category of refugees to enter 

this country, and, if so, what those actions should be. The Secretary 

of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall administer the 

USRAP consistent with those determinations, and in consultation with 

the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence. 

(ii) Within 90 days of the date of this order and annually thereafter, 

the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary 

of State and the Director of National Intelligence, shall determine, as 

appropriate and consistent with applicable law, whether any actions taken 

to address the risks to the security and welfare of the United States 

presented by permitting any category of refugees to enter this country 

should be modified or terminated, and, if so, what those modifications 

or terminations should be. If the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State, determines, at any time, that any 

actions taken pursuant to section 3(a)(i) should be modified or terminated, 

the Secretary of Homeland Security may modify or terminate those actions 

accordingly. The Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of 

State shall administer the USRAP consistent with the determinations made 

under this subsection, and in consultation with the Attorney General 

and the Director of National Intelligence. 

(b) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the Attorney General shall, 

in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland 

Security, and in cooperation with the heads of other executive departments 

and agencies as he deems appropriate, provide a report to the President 

on the effect of refugee resettlement in the United States on the national 

security, public safety, and general welfare of the United States. The report 

shall include any recommendations the Attorney General deems necessary 

to advance those interests. 

Sec. 4. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed 

to impair or otherwise affect: 

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, 

or the head thereof; or 

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 

relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals. 

(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and 

subject to the availability of appropriations. 


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(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, 

substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party 

against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, 

employees, or agents, or any other person. 

THE WHITE HOUSE, 

October 24, 2017. 

[FR Doc. 2017–23630 

10–26–17; 11:15 am] 

Billing code 3295–F8–P 


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