Title: WELCOMED Act of 2021
Policy area: Immigration

Summary:
Welcoming Evacuees Coming from Overseas to Mitigate Effects of Displacement Act of 2021 or the WELCOMED Act of 2021
This bill makes certain individuals from Afghanistan eligible for any benefit that is available to a refugee, such as resettlement assistance.  Specifically, this bill shall apply to a national of Afghanistan (or an individual with no nationality who last habitually resided in Afghanistan) who is temporarily paroled into the United States for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit during the four-year period beginning on July 1, 2021.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5168 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5168

      To authorize resettlement benefits for certain nationals of 
                  Afghanistan, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 3, 2021

   Mr. Moulton (for himself, Mrs. Luria, Mr. Bacon, Ms. Matsui, Mr. 
Keating, Mr. Malinowski, Ms. Jacobs of California, Mr. Blumenauer, Ms. 
Norton, Mr. Welch, Mr. Beyer, Mr. Case, Ms. Ross, Ms. Jackson Lee, Mr. 
 Meijer, Mrs. Miller-Meeks, Mr. Auchincloss, Mr. Cooper, Mr. Crow, Mr. 
  Gallego, Ms. Chu, Mr. Jones, Mr. Suozzi, Ms. Tlaib, Mr. Neguse, Ms. 
  Johnson of Texas, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, Mr. Bera, Mr. Costa, Ms. 
    Jayapal, Ms. Bourdeaux, Mr. Higgins of New York, Ms. Wild, Mr. 
 Cicilline, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Lois Frankel of Florida, Mr. Levin of 
California, and Mr. Johnson of Georgia) introduced the following bill; 
          which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
      To authorize resettlement benefits for certain nationals of 
                  Afghanistan, 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 ``Welcoming Evacuees Coming from 
Overseas to Mitigate Effects of Displacement Act of 2021'' or the 
``WELCOMED Act of 2021''.

SEC. 2. RESETTLEMENT BENEFITS FOR CERTAIN AFGHAN NATIONALS.

    (a) Resettlement Support Authorized.--Not withstanding any other 
provision of law, an Afghan entrant is eligible for any form of 
resettlement assistance, entitlement program, or other benefit 
(including services for unaccompanied refugee minors) that is available 
to a refugee (as such term is defined in section 207 of the Immigration 
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1157)) under Federal law to the same 
extent, and for the same period of time as any such assistance, 
program, or benefit is available to a refugee.
    (b) Definition.--In this Act, the term ``Afghan entrant'' means a 
national of Afghanistan (or in the case of an alien having no 
nationality, a person who last habitually resided in Afghanistan) who 
was initially paroled into the United States pursuant to section 
212(d)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182) during 
the period beginning on July 1, 2021, and ending on July 1, 2025.
    (c) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section such sums as may be necessary.
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