Title: UNRWA Reform and Refugee Support Act of 2018
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
UNRWA Reform and Refugee Support Act of 2018
This bill states that it shall be U.S. policy to recognize the refugee status of a Palestinian receiving assistance through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) if such person, or the person's spouse or minor child:
In applying such criteria to refugees under UNRWA it shall be U.S. policy, consistent with the definition of a refugee under the Immigration and Nationality Act, that:

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6451 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6451

     To establish the policy of the United States with respect to 
    contributions to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for 
      Palestine Refugees in the Near East, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 19, 2018

   Mr. Lamborn (for himself, Mr. Weber of Texas, Mr. DesJarlais, Mr. 
  Perry, Mr. McKinley, and Ms. Tenney) introduced the following bill; 
         which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To establish the policy of the United States with respect to 
    contributions to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for 
      Palestine Refugees in the Near East, 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 ``UNRWA Reform and Refugee Support Act 
of 2018''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for 
        Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) was founded in 1949 
        through United Nations General Assembly Resolution 302 at the 
        conclusion of the Arab-Israeli Conflict of 1948 to ``alleviate 
        the conditions of starvation and distress among the Palestine 
        refugees'' from that conflict.
            (2) According to UNRWA's Consolidated Eligibility and 
        Registration Instructions (CERI), Palestinian refugees are 
        ``persons whose normal place of residence was Palestine during 
        the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home 
        and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict''.
            (3) Beginning in the 1950s, UNRWA changed the eligibility 
        requirements to be a Palestinian refugee from those displaced 
        in 1948 that is inconsistent with the original definition of 
        the agency. This change significantly inflated the number of 
        purported refugees and subsequently the number of individuals 
        who are eligible to receive UNRWA benefits. UNRWA classifies 
        individuals eligible for benefits as Palestinian refugees 
        including, but not limited to, those ``descendants of Palestine 
        refugee males, including legally adopted children'', several 
        generations removed from the conflict, who were born decades 
        after the conflict ended.
            (4) This classification process is inconsistent with how 
        all other refugees in the world are classified, including the 
        definition used by the United Nations High Commission on 
        Refugees (UNHCR) and the laws concerning refugees in the United 
        States. Because of UNRWA's unique definition of a refugee, the 
        number of Palestinian refugees has grown exponentially over the 
        years, from approximately 600,000 in 1949 to 5,300,000 today. 
        In contrast the number of refugees from other conflicts has 
        diminished dramatically through UNHCR.
            (5) Instead of resettling Palestinian refugees displaced as 
        a result of the Arab-Israeli Conflict of 1948, UNRWA provides 
        aid to those they define as Palestinian refugees until there is 
        a solution they deem acceptable to the Israeli-Palestinian 
        conflict. This policy does not help resettle the refugees from 
        1948 but instead maintains a refugee population in perpetuity.
            (6) The United States has been UNRWA's biggest donor since 
        its inception, and contributes a disproportionate amount on 
        Palestinian refugees in comparison to other refugees around the 
        world. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has 
        addressed the world's estimated 65,000,000 displaced persons 
        with a staff of just over 10,000 and a 2017 budget of 
        $7,700,000,000. UNRWA, which claims it works on behalf of over 
        5,300,000 Palestinian refugees, has a staff of over 30,000, 
        with a 2016 budget of $1,450,000,000.
            (7) UNRWA has 1 relief worker per roughly 170 refugees, 40 
        times the allocation of relief workers to non-Palestinian 
        refugees by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
            (8) UNRWA facilities have been used to launch terror 
        attacks against Israel, and UNRWA employees have frequently 
        faced credible charges of working with terrorist groups such as 
        Hamas, including the following:
                    (A) On July 16, 2014, UNRWA reported that it had 
                found 20 missiles in one of its schools in Gaza, likely 
                placed there by Hamas, and then returned them to the 
                ``relevant authorities'' in Gaza, territory controlled 
                by Hamas.
                    (B) UNRWA reported finding missiles in their 
                schools again on July 22, 2014, and July 29, 2014.
                    (C) On July 30, 2014, three Israeli Defense Force 
                soldiers were killed in an explosion at a booby-trapped 
                UNRWA health clinic, which was housing the opening to 
                one of Hamas' underground tunnels.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the United States should--
                    (A) support UNRWA solely to the extent necessary to 
                accomplish its original and intended purpose to 
                resettle refugees from the Arab-Israeli Conflict of 
                1948;
                    (B) make contributions to UNRWA in proportion to 
                the number of refugees it assists that meet the United 
                States definition of a refugee; and
                    (C) continue to assist other needy populations 
                around the world through international aid and 
                development assistance, including Palestinians in the 
                West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria;
            (2) the Secretary of State should determine and accordingly 
        provide to UNRWA a voluntary contribution in an amount that 
        bears the same proportion to the total requested United States 
        contribution as the proportion that refugees of the Arab-
        Israeli Conflict of 1948 who meet the requirements described in 
        section 4(a) bear to the full population supported by UNRWA 
        programs;
            (3) amounts made available to the Secretary of State that 
        are withheld from UNRWA in accordance with the determination 
        described in paragraph (2) should instead be made available to 
        the Administrator of the United States Agency for International 
        Development for providing assistance to other populations in 
        need in the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria; and
            (4) in accordance with the prohibition under section 301(c) 
        of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2221(c)), 
        United States assistance should not be made available to any 
        refugee who is receiving military training as a member of the 
        Palestine Liberation Army or who is a part of any organization 
        engaging in acts of terrorism.

SEC. 4. STATEMENTS OF POLICY WITH RESPECT TO CRITERIA FOR RECOGNITION 
              OF REFUGEE STATUS.

    (a) Criteria for Recognition of UNRWA Refugee Status.--It shall be 
the policy of the United States, with respect to recognizing the 
refugee status of persons receiving assistance through UNRWA, that a 
Palestinian refugee is a person, or the spouse or minor child of a 
person--
            (1) whose resided, between June 1946 and May 1948, in the 
        region controlled by Britain between 1922 and 1948 known as 
        Mandatory Palestine;
            (2) who was personally displaced as a result of the Arab-
        Israeli Conflict of 1948; and
            (3) who has not accepted an offer of legal residency 
        status, citizenship, or other permanent adjustment in status in 
        another country.
    (b) Consistency With United States Eligibility for Refugee 
Status.--In applying the criteria described in subsection (a) with 
respect to refugees under UNRWA, it shall be the policy of the United 
States, consistent with the definition of a refugee in section 101(a) 
of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)) and the 
requirements for eligibility for refugee status under such Act, that--
            (1) derivative refugee status may only be extended to the 
        spouse or minor child of such a refugee; and
            (2) an alien who was firmly resettled in any country is not 
        eligible to retain refugee status.
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