I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 379 
To assist members of the Yazidi and Christian communities residing in 
Iraq and Syria, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 9, 2017 
Mr. HASTINGS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Foreign 
Affairs, Armed Services, and Appropriations, for a period to be subse-
quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To assist members of the Yazidi and Christian communities 
residing in Iraq and Syria, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Justice for Yazidis 
Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) Preventing genocide and mass atrocities is 
a national priority of the United States. 
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(2) Atrocities committed by the Islamic State 
(IS) against Yazidis and other minorities have in-
cluded mass murder, crucifixions, beheadings, rape, 
torture, enslavement, trafficking, and the kidnapping 
of children. 
(3) IS engages in, and publicly argues in favor 
of, the sexual enslavement of Yazidi women and 
girls. 
(4) The United Nations Convention on the Pre-
vention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, 
signed and ratified by the United States, defines 
genocide as follows: ‘‘any of the following acts com-
mitted with the intent to destroy, in whole or in 
part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, 
as such: 
‘‘(a) killing members of the group; 
‘‘(b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to 
members of the group; 
‘‘(c) deliberately inflicting on the group condi-
tions of life calculated to bring about its physical de-
struction in whole or in part; 
‘‘(d) imposing measures intended to prevent 
births within the group; and 
‘‘(e) forcibly transferring children of the group 
to another group.’’. 
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(5) In December 2015, the United States Holo-
caust Memorial Museum’s Simon-Skjodt Center for 
the Prevention of Genocide issued a report titled 
‘‘Our Generation Is Gone—the Islamic State’s Tar-
geting of Iraqi Minorities in Ninewa’’, which con-
cluded that ‘‘IS committed crimes against humanity, 
war crimes, and ethnic cleansing . . . [and] per-
petrated genocide against the Yezidi people’’. 
(6) On December 7, 2015, the United States 
Commission on International Religious Freedom 
called on the United States Government ‘‘to des-
ignate the Christian, Yezidi, Shi’a, Turkmen, and 
Shabak communities of Iraq and Syria as victims of 
genocide by ISIL’’. 
(7) On February 3, 2016, the European Par-
liament unanimously passed a resolution declaring 
that IS ‘‘is committing genocide against Christians 
and Yezidis, and other religious and ethnic minori-
ties’’. 
(8) On March 14, 2016, the United States 
House of Representatives passed H. Con. Res. 75, 
expressing the sense of Congress that the atrocities 
perpetrated by IS against religious and ethnic mi-
norities in Iraq and Syria include war crimes, crimes 
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against humanity, and genocide, by a unanimous 
vote of 393–0. 
(9) On March 17, 2016, United States Sec-
retary of State John Kerry declared that IS is ‘‘re-
sponsible for genocide against groups under its con-
trol including Yazidis, Christians, and Shiite Mus-
lims’’. 
(10) On June 15, 2016, the United Nations 
Human Rights Council issued the report ‘‘They 
Came to Destroy: ISIS Crimes Against the Yazidis’’ 
which stated that IS ‘‘has committed the crime of 
genocide as well as multiple crimes against humanity 
and war crimes against the Yazidis, thousands of 
whom are held captive in the Syrian Arab Republic 
where they are subjected to almost unimaginable 
horrors’’. 
(11) President Barack Obama established the 
Atrocities Prevention Board in 2011, and stated 
that ‘‘preventing atrocities and genocide is a core 
national security interest and a core moral responsi-
bility of the United States’’. 
(12) Over 3,200 Yazidi women and children are 
still being held by IS. 
(13) The atrocities committed by IS should be 
investigated through the establishment of a United 
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Nations Ad-hoc Tribunal for the purpose of docu-
menting mass graves and prosecuting cases of mass 
atrocities. 
(14) It is in the interest of the United States 
that the United States Armed Forces cooperate with 
friendly forces in Syria and Iraq for the purpose of 
securing members of the Yazidi and Christian com-
munities being held captive by IS. 
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW CATEGORY OF REFUGEE 
OF SPECIAL HUMANITARIAN CONCERN. 
(a) CLASSIFICATION OF SYRIAN AND IRAQI RELI-
GIOUS MINORITIES.—Syrian and Iraqi nationals who are 
members of a religious minority in their country of ori-
gin— 
(1) shall be classified as refugees of special hu-
manitarian concern; 
(2) shall be eligible for Priority 2 processing 
under the refugee resettlement priority system; and 
(3) may apply directly to the United States 
Refugee Admissions Program for admission to the 
United States. 
(b) ELIGIBILITY FOR ADMISSION AS A REFUGEE.— 
No alien shall be denied the opportunity to apply for ad-
mission under this section solely because such alien— 
(1) qualifies as an immediate relative; 
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(2) is eligible for any other immigrant classi-
fication; or 
(3) was referred to apply for admission to the 
United States as a refugee by a United States non-
profit organization that is exempt from Federal in-
come taxes under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal 
Revenue Code. 
(c) PERMITTING CERTAIN ALIENS WITHIN CAT-
EGORIES TO REAPPLY
FOR REFUGEE STATUS.—Each 
alien described in subsection (a) who after, June 1, 2014, 
and before the date of the enactment of this Act was de-
nied refugee status shall be permitted to reapply for such 
status. Such an application shall be determined taking 
into account the application of this Act. 
(d) PROTECTION OF ALIENS.—In a case in which 
that the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Sec-
retary of Homeland Security, determines that an alien 
who is described in subsection (a) and who has applied 
for admission to the United States as a refugee under sec-
tion 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
1157) using the processes established under this section 
is in imminent danger, the Secretary shall make a reason-
able effort to provide such alien with protection or the im-
mediate removal from that country. 
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SEC. 4. EXPEDITED SYSTEM FOR PRIORITY 2 REFUGEE 
PROCESSING. 
(a) REPORT.—Not later than 60 days after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, in 
consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, 
shall submit to the Committee on the Judiciary of the 
House of Representatives, the Committee on Foreign Af-
fairs of the House of Representatives, the Committee on 
the Judiciary of the Senate, and the Committee on For-
eign Relations of the Senate a report containing a plan 
to expedite the processing of applications for admission 
to the United States as a refugee under section 207 of 
the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1157) of 
aliens described in section 3 of this Act, which shall in-
clude information relating to— 
(1) expediting the processing of such refugees 
for resettlement, including through temporary ex-
pansion of the Refugee Corps of United States Citi-
zenship and Immigration Services; 
(2) streamlining existing systems for conducting 
background and security checks of such aliens; and 
(3) establishing or expanding facilities to proc-
ess such applications at appropriate locations in 
Dahouk, Iraq, and or near Erbil or Basrah, Iraq, 
and the processing of such applications in such fa-
cilities. 
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(b) EXPEDITED PROCESS.—Not later than 90 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 
of State, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland 
Security, shall implement the plan contained in the report 
under subsection (a). 
SEC. 5. REPORTS. 
(a) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than 120 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually there-
after through 2020, the Secretary of State, in consultation 
with the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall submit to 
the Congress an unclassified report, with a classified 
annex if necessary, which includes— 
(1) an assessment of the financial, security, and 
personnel considerations and resources necessary to 
carry out the provisions of this Act; 
(2) the number of aliens described in section 
3(a); and 
(3) the number of such aliens who have applied 
for admission to the United States as a refugee 
under section 207 of the Immigration and Nation-
ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1157) using the processes estab-
lished under section 3 of this Act. 
(b) REPORT
ON
VIDEO-CONFERENCE
REFUGEE 
INTERVIEWS.—Not later than 120 days after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Se-
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curity, in consultation with the Secretary of State, shall 
submit to the Congress an unclassified report, with a clas-
sified annex if necessary, which includes— 
(1) the number of aliens who applied for admis-
sion as a refugee under section 207 of the Immigra-
tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1157) in 2014 
who are awaiting interviews in locations inaccessible 
to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offi-
cers; 
(2) the number of locations worldwide to which 
Refugee Corps Officer circuit rides were suspended 
in 2014 due to security considerations; and 
(3) a proposal for how to implement interviews 
via video-conference for aliens who applied for ad-
mission the United States as a refugee under section 
207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
U.S.C. 1157), who currently reside in locations 
where Refugee Corps circuit rides have been sus-
pended. 
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