Title: Freedom of Religion Act of 2019
Policy area: Immigration

Summary:
Freedom of Religion Act of 2019
This bill establishes that 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.
This bill shall not affect the authority of various government agencies or immigration officers to determine whether a particular individual may pose a threat to national security.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 590 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 590

 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 aliens religion, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 16, 2019

 Mr. Beyer (for himself, Ms. Norton, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. McCollum, Mr. 
 Carson of Indiana, Ms. Jayapal, Ms. Omar, Mr. Raskin, Mr. Nadler, Ms. 
 Lofgren, Mr. Pocan, Ms. Johnson of Texas, Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of 
   New York, Ms. Pingree, Mr. Panetta, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Moulton, Mr. 
  Cohen, Mr. Price of North Carolina, Mr. McEachin, Ms. Clarke of New 
York, Mr. Hastings, Mr. Connolly, Mr. Deutch, Ms. DelBene, Mr. Khanna, 
 Mr. DeFazio, Mr. Cartwright, Mr. Ryan, Mr. Serrano, Mr. Langevin, Mr. 
   Garamendi, Mr. Engel, Mr. Kilmer, Ms. DeLauro, Mr. Courtney, Mr. 
 Espaillat, Mr. Keating, Mr. Pascrell, Ms. Speier, Ms. Bonamici, Mrs. 
Beatty, Mr. Pallone, Miss Rice of New York, Mr. Sean Patrick Maloney of 
   New York, Mrs. Dingell, Mr. Smith of Washington, Mr. Yarmuth, Mr. 
   Sires, Ms. Titus, Mr. Welch, Mr. Danny K. Davis of Illinois, Mr. 
 Swalwell of California, Mr. Lowenthal, Mr. Kind, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. 
McGovern, Mr. Sarbanes, Ms. Eshoo, Ms. Sanchez, Mr. Heck, Mr. Scott of 
  Virginia, Mr. Soto, Ms. Tlaib, Mr. Foster, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Mr. 
Brendan F. Boyle of Pennsylvania, Mr. Cummings, Ms. Moore, Mr. Quigley, 
   Mr. Gomez, Mr. Larsen of Washington, Mr. Suozzi, Mrs. Hayes, Mr. 
Correa, Mr. Ruppersberger, Ms. Wexton, Mr. Rush, Mr. Kildee, Ms. Clark 
  of Massachusetts, Mr. Rose of New York, Ms. Sewell of Alabama, Mr. 
 Tonko, Ms. Meng, Mr. Huffman, Ms. Matsui, Ms. Hill of California, Mr. 
 Costa, Mrs. Lawrence, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. Malinowski, Mr. Cardenas, 
    Mr. Payne, Mr. Norcross, Ms. Wilson of Florida, Ms. Judy Chu of 
   California, Mr. Takano, Mr. Higgins of New York, Ms. Shalala, Ms. 
 DeGette, Mr. Ted Lieu of California, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Cicilline, Mr. 
  Cisneros, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Mr. Himes, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mr. 
   Michael F. Doyle of Pennsylvania, Mr. Butterfield, Mr. Crist, Mr. 
 Schneider, Mr. Jeffries, Ms. Castor of Florida, Mr. Lamb, Ms. Lee of 
 California, Mr. Levin of Michigan, Ms. Roybal-Allard, Mr. Meeks, Mrs. 
   Demings, Ms. Brownley of California, Mr. Carbajal, Mr. Lawson of 
 Florida, Mr. Green of Texas, Mr. Lewis, and Ms. Velazquez) 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 aliens 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 2019''.

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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