Venezuela Temporary Protected Status Act of 2021
Bill: S.50 | Sponsor: Sen. Menendez, Robert (D-NJ)
Policy area: Immigration

Summary:
Venezuela Temporary Protected Status Act of 2021
This bill provides assistance to eligible nationals of Venezuela.
Under this bill, eligible nationals of Venezuela shall qualify for temporary protected status, which prevents their removal from the United States and allows them to obtain employment and travel authorization. Such status shall be available to qualifying nationals of Venezuela for 18 months starting from this bill's enactment.
The Department of State shall work with international partners to increase the capacity of countries in the region to provide migration services and asylum to eligible Venezuelan citizens.

To temporarily designate Venezuela under section 244(b) of the 
    Immigration and Nationality Act to permit eligible nationals of 
          Venezuela to be granted temporary protected status.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Venezuela Temporary Protected Status 
Act of 2021''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Venezuela is enduring an unprecedented economic, 
        humanitarian, security, and human rights crisis, consisting of 
        extreme food and medicine shortages, severe infant and child 
        malnutrition, rampant crime, and government-sponsored 
        repression, which has resulted in significant displacement of 
        Venezuelans to countries across the Western Hemisphere.
            (2) Venezuela's economy contracted by 66 percent between 
        2014 and 2019, with the International Monetary Fund reporting 
        that inflation reached an annual rate of nearly 20,000 percent 
        in 2019, making Venezuela the country with the highest level of 
        inflation in the world.
            (3) As evidence of the humanitarian crisis created by 
        Venezuela's systemic economic turmoil and government 
        corruption--
                    (A) the percentage of Venezuelans living in poverty 
                increased from 48.4 percent in 2014 to 96 percent in 
                2019, with 80 percent living in extreme poverty, 
                according to household surveys; and
                    (B) at least 2,300,000 Venezuelans face severe food 
                insecurity.
            (4) Access to quality healthcare is severely impeded, 
        with--
                    (A) more than 50 percent of healthcare 
                professionals having left Venezuela during the past 5 
                years;
                    (B) pharmacies experiencing shortages of 
                approximately 85 percent of needed medicines;
                    (C) 88 percent of hospitals lacking the basic 
                medicines that should be available in any functional 
                public hospital, including those that are on the World 
                Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines; and
                    (D) roughly 70 percent of Venezuelan hospitals 
                surveyed in 2019 lacking access to clean water.
            (5) Venezuela continues to be among the world's most 
        violent countries, and the Venezuelan Violence Observatory, an 
        independent nongovernmental organization, calculated that there 
        were approximately 46 murders in Venezuela during 2020 for 
        every 100,000 people.
            (6) According to the United Nations Office of the High 
        Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)--
                    (A) Venezuelan intelligence and security forces 
                have increasingly used arbitrary arrests, detentions, 
                torture, and extrajudicial killings to repress and 
                intimidate civil society, political opponents, and any 
                voices of dissent;
                    (B) between 2015 and 2017, at least 505 people, 
                including 24 children, were executed by Venezuelan 
                security forces, leading the International Criminal 
                Court prosecutor to announce a preliminary 
                investigation into the use of excessive force in 
                Venezuela; and
                    (C) the incidence of alleged extrajudicial killings 
                by security forces has been shockingly high, according 
                to an OHCHR report, with the government registering 
                nearly 7,000 extrajudicial killings between January 
                2018 and May 2019.
            (7) The United Nations Human Rights Council's Independent 
        International Fact-Finding Mission on the Bolivarian Republic 
        of Venezuela reported in September 2020 that the regime's 
        crimes were ``part of a widespread and systematic course of 
        conduct, thus amounting to crimes against humanity''.
            (8) According to the United Nations High Commissioner for 
        Refugees (UNHCR), more than 5,400,000 Venezuelans have fled 
        their country for reasons such as violence, political 
        oppression, economic hardship, and the ongoing humanitarian 
        crisis.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of the Congress that--
            (1) Venezuela's economic, security, and displacement crisis 
        has resulted in extraordinary and temporary conditions that 
        currently prevent Venezuelan nationals from safely returning to 
        Venezuela; and
            (2) Venezuela should be designated under subsection 
        (b)(1)(C) of section 244 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 
        (8 U.S.C. 1254a) for a period of 18 months to permit nationals 
        of Venezuela to be eligible for temporary protected status in 
        accordance with such section.

SEC. 4. DESIGNATION FOR PURPOSES OF GRANTING TEMPORARY PROTECTED 
              STATUS.

    (a) Designation.--
            (1) In general.--For purposes of section 244 of the 
        Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a), Venezuela 
        shall be treated as if it had been designated under subsection 
        (b)(1)(C) of such section, subject to the provisions of this 
        section.
            (2) Period of designation.--The initial period of the 
        designation referred to in paragraph (1) shall be for the 18-
        month period beginning on the date of the enactment of this 
        Act.
    (b) Aliens Eligible.--As a result of the designation made under 
subsection (a), an alien who is a national of Venezuela is deemed to 
satisfy the requirements under paragraph (1) of section 244(c) of the 
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a(c)), subject to 
paragraph (3) of such section, if the alien--
            (1) has been continuously physically present in the United 
        States since the date of the enactment of this Act;
            (2) is admissible as an immigrant, except as otherwise 
        provided in paragraph (2)(A) of such section;
            (3) is not ineligible for temporary protected status under 
        paragraph (2)(B) of such section; and
            (4) registers for temporary protected status in a manner 
        established by the Secretary of Homeland Security.
    (c) Consent To Travel Abroad.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary of Homeland Security shall 
        give prior consent to travel abroad, in accordance with section 
        244(f)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
        1254a(f)(3)), to an alien who is granted temporary protected 
        status pursuant to the designation made under subsection (a) if 
        the alien establishes, to the satisfaction of the Secretary of 
        Homeland Security, that emergency and extenuating circumstances 
        beyond the control of the alien require the alien to depart for 
        a brief, temporary trip abroad.
            (2) Treatment upon return.--An alien returning to the 
        United States in accordance with an authorization described in 
        paragraph (1) shall be treated as any other returning alien 
        provided temporary protected status under section 244 of the 
        Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a).

SEC. 5. IMPROVING INTERNAL MIGRATION SYSTEMS IN COUNTRIES SURROUNDING 
              VENEZUELA.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of State, in consultation with the 
Secretary of Homeland Security, shall work with international partners, 
including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the 
International Organization for Migration, to support and provide 
technical assistance to improve the domestic capacity of countries 
surrounding Venezuela and in the region to provide migration services 
and asylum to eligible Venezuelan citizens--
            (1) by establishing and expanding temporary and long-term, 
        in-country reception centers and shelter capacity in those 
        surrounding countries to meet the humanitarian needs of 
        Venezuelan migrants or Venezuelans seeking asylum or other 
        forms of international protection;
            (2) by improving migration and asylum registration systems 
        in those surrounding countries to ensure that Venezuelan 
        migrants and Venezuelans seeking asylum or other humanitarian 
        protection--
                    (A) receive due process and meaningful access to 
                legal protections; and
                    (B) receive proper documents in order to prevent 
                fraud and facilitate freedom of movement and access to 
                basic social services;
            (3) by supporting the creation or expansion of a corps of 
        trained migration and asylum officers from those countries who 
        are capable of--
                    (A) providing migration services; and
                    (B) evaluating and deciding individual asylum 
                claims consistent with international law and 
                obligations; and
            (4) by developing the capacity to conduct best interest 
        determinations for Venezuelan migrants to ensure that their 
        needs are properly met.
    (b) Strategy.--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 submit a strategy describing 
plans for assisting the development of the international asylum 
processing capabilities described in subsection (a) to--
            (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate;
            (2) the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate;
            (3) the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate;
            (4) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of 
        Representatives;
            (5) the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 
        Representatives; and
            (6) the Committee on Appropriations of the House of 
        Representatives.
    (c) Authorization of Appropriations.--
            (1) In general.--There is authorized to be appropriated to 
        the Secretary of State $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2021 to 
        carry out the activities set forth in subsection (b).
            (2) Notification requirement.--
                    (A) In general.--Except as provided under 
                subparagraph (B), amounts appropriated or otherwise 
                made available pursuant to paragraph (1) may not be 
                obligated until 15 days after the date on which the 
                President provides notice to the committees listed in 
                subsection (b) of the intent to obligate such funds.
                    (B) Waiver.--
                            (i) In general.--The Secretary of State may 
                        waive the requirement under subparagraph (A) if 
                        the Secretary of State determines that such 
                        waiver is in the national interest of the 
                        United States.
                            (ii) Notification requirement.--If a waiver 
                        is invoked under clause (i), the President 
                        shall notify the committees listed in 
                        subsection (b) of the intention to obligate 
                        funds under this section as early as 
                        practicable, but not later than 3 days after 
                        taking the action to which such notification 
                        requirement was applicable in the context of 
                        the circumstances necessitating such waiver.
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