Title: Freedom of Religion Act of 2017
Policy area: Immigration

Summary:
Freedom of Religion Act of 2017
This bill amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide that an alien may not be denied U.S. entry, reentry, or admission, or any other immigration benefit because of the alien's religion or lack of religious beliefs.
Nothing in this bill shall be construed to affect immigration law authority when exercised on a case-by-case basis with respect to an individual who a consular officer, an immigration officer, the Justice Department, the Department of State, the Department of Homeland Security, or the President determines may pose a threat to U.S. national security.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 852 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 852

 To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide that an alien 
  may not be denied admission or entry to the United States, or other 
 immigration benefits, because of the alien's religion, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 3, 2017

  Mr. Beyer (for himself, Mr. Larsen of Washington, Ms. Eddie Bernice 
   Johnson of Texas, Mr. Price of North Carolina, Mr. Courtney, Mr. 
  Swalwell of California, Mr. Yarmuth, Mr. Payne, Ms. Slaughter, Mr. 
  Heck, Mr. Welch, Mr. Norcross, Mr. Soto, Mr. Tonko, Mr. Cohen, Ms. 
 DeLauro, Mr. Sarbanes, Miss Rice of New York, Mr. Pocan, Mr. Brady of 
Pennsylvania, Ms. Speier, Mr. Crowley, Ms. Norton, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. 
McCollum, Mr. Ellison, Mr. Carson of Indiana, Ms. Jayapal, Mr. Conyers, 
  Ms. Lofgren, Mr. Kind, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Connolly, Mr. Kildee, Ms. 
Kaptur, Mr. Danny K. Davis of Illinois, Ms. Clark of Massachusetts, Ms. 
 Velazquez, Mrs. Dingell, Mr. Lewis of Georgia, Mr. Moulton, Mr. Sean 
 Patrick Maloney of New York, Ms. Esty, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. Serrano, 
 Mr. Quigley, Mr. Cartwright, Mr. Delaney, Ms. Shea-Porter, Mr. Rush, 
 Mrs. Watson Coleman, Mr. Michael F. Doyle of Pennsylvania, Mr. Sires, 
Mr. Butterfield, Ms. Eshoo, Mr. Pascrell, Ms. Bonamici, Mr. Nadler, Mr. 
    Kennedy, Mr. Cummings, Ms. Pingree, Mr. Hastings, Mr. Walz, Mr. 
  Gutierrez, Mr. Cardenas, Mr. O'Rourke, Mr. Higgins of New York, Mr. 
  Larson of Connecticut, Mr. Keating, Mr. DeFazio, Mr. Espaillat, Mr. 
 Suozzi, Mr. Jeffries, Mr. Cicilline, Mr. Ted Lieu of California, Ms. 
 Lee, Mr. Scott of Virginia, Mr. Himes, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. Brendan F. 
   Boyle of Pennsylvania, Mr. Grijalva, Ms. DelBene, Ms. Judy Chu of 
California, Ms. Meng, Mr. Raskin, Ms. Tsongas, Mr. Engel, Mr. McEachin, 
  Mr. Garamendi, Ms. Titus, Mr. Levin, Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of New 
York, Mr. Langevin, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. Doggett, Mr. Lynch, and 
 Ms. Matsui) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide that an alien 
  may not be denied admission or entry to the United States, or other 
 immigration benefits, because of the alien's religion, and for other 
                               purposes.

    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 ``Freedom of Religion Act of 2017''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON DENYING ADMISSION, ENTRY, OR OTHER BENEFIT 
              BECAUSE OF RELIGION.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 2 of title I of the Immigration and 
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1181 et seq.) is amended by inserting after 
section 219 the following:

``SEC. 220. PROHIBITION ON DENYING ADMISSION, ENTRY, OR OTHER BENEFIT 
              BECAUSE OF RELIGION.

    ``(a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of the 
immigration laws, an alien may not be denied entry, reentry, or 
admission to the United States, or any other immigration benefit, 
because of the alien's religion or lack of religious beliefs.
    ``(b) Construction.--Nothing in subsection (a) shall be construed 
to affect the authorities under section 212(f), subsections (h) and (i) 
of section 221, or any other provision of the immigration laws, when 
exercised on a case-by-case basis with respect to an individual who a 
consular officer, an immigration officer, the Attorney General, the 
Secretary of State, the Secretary of Homeland Security, or the 
President determines may pose a threat to United States national 
security interests.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents for the Immigration 
and Nationality Act is amended by inserting after the item relating to 
section 219 the following:

``Sec. 220. Prohibition on denying admission, entry, or other benefit 
                            because of religion.''.
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