SECURE Act

Bill: 114-s-2329
Sponsor: Sen. Paul, Rand [R-KY]
Introduced: 2015-11-19 in the Senate
Policy area: Immigration
Subjects: Afghanistan
Africa
Algeria
Arizona
Asia
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Border security and unlawful immigration
California
Child health
Citizenship and naturalization
Congressional oversight
Criminal investigation, prosecution, interrogation
Egypt
Elections, voting, political campaign regulation
Eritrea
Food assistance and relief
Fraud offenses and financial crimes
Government information and archives
Health care costs and insurance
Health programs administration and funding
Immigration status and procedures
Income tax credits
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Latin America
Lebanon
Libya
Mali
Medicaid
Mexico
Middle East
Morocco
New Mexico
Nigeria
North Korea
Oman
Pakistan
Palestinians
Poverty and welfare assistance
Qatar
Refugees, asylum, displaced persons
Russia
Saudi Arabia
Somalia
Sudan
Syria
Tajikistan
Terrorism
Texas
Travel and tourism
Tunisia
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
Uzbekistan
Visas and passports
Wages and earnings
Yemen

Summary:
action_date: 2015-11-19
text: 

Stop Extremists Coming Under Refugee Entry Act or the SECURE Act

 
This bill directs the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to notify each alien admitted as a refugee or asylee that he or she must register with and be interviewed and fingerprinted by DHS.
 
DHS shall screen, perform a security review, and monitor all individuals seeking asylum or refugee status to ensure that they do not present a national security or terrorism risk. 
 
The Department of State may not approve a refugee application and DHS may not approve an asylum application for any national from the following high risk countries: 
 
 
Afghanistan, 
 
Algeria, 
 
Bahrain, 
 
Bangladesh, 
 
Egypt, 
 
Eritrea, 
 
Indonesia, 
 
Iran, 
 
Iraq, 
 
Jordan, 
 
Kazakhstan, 
 
Kuwait, 
 
Kyrgyzstan, 
 
Lebanon, 
 
Libya,
 
Mali, 
 
Morocco, 
 
Nigeria,
 
North Korea, 
 
Oman, 
 
Pakistan, 
 
Qatar, 
 
Russia, 
 
Saudi Arabia, 
 
Somalia, 
 
Sudan, 
 
Syria,
 
Tajikistan, 
 
Tunisia, 
 
Turkey, 
 
United Arab Emirates, 
 
Uzbekistan, 
 
Yemen, or 
 
the Palestinian Territories. 
 
 
This moratorium may be lifted when specified conditions are met.
 
DHS, in cooperation with the State Department, shall ensure that any new visa application is not approved: (1) for at least 30 days, and (2) until completion of an enhanced security screening.
 
Unless otherwise permitted under this Act, DHS, in cooperation with the State Department, shall ensure that no alien enters the United States until after 30 days of security assessments have been conducted, regardless of whether or not the alien's country of origin is a visa waiver country.
 
DHS may approve qualified applicants for enrollment in the global entry trusted traveler program regardless of the applicant's nationality or country of habitual residence. 
 
DHS may not approve any application for U.S. entry from an alien (other than a trusted traveler) who is a national of, or who is applying from, a high-risk country until: (1) completion of the congressional review process, and (2) enactment of a law authorizing termination of the visa moratorium.
 
DHS, the State Department, and the Director of National Intelligence shall certify jointly to Congress that: (1) a national security screening process has been implemented that significantly improves the government's ability to identify security risks posed by aliens from high-risk countries, (2) the biometric entry-exit control system has been implemented, and (3) a policy has been implemented to remove aliens who have overstayed their period of lawful U.S. presence. 
 
In order to carry out 100% land exit tracking, DHS shall integrate the records collected through the automated entry-exit control system into an interoperable data system and any other database necessary to correlate an alien's entry and exit data.
 
DHS may not: 
 
 
process travel documents of U.S. citizens (with certain exceptions) while documenting the departure of outbound individuals at each land point of entry along the Southern or Northern border; or 
 
designate an outbound U.S. citizen for secondary inspection or collect biometric information from a U.S. citizen under outbound inspection procedures unless criminal or other prohibited activity has been detected or is strongly suspected. 
 
 
An individual shall not be permitted to leave the United States if, during outbound inspection, DHS detects previous unresolved criminal activity by the individual. 
 
Any individual in asylum status, refugee status, legal permanent resident status, or any other permanent or temporary visa status who: 
 
 
intends to remain in the United States in such status for longer than six months shall submit to DHS a signed affidavit stating that the alien has not voted in any federal election, and will not register to vote or vote in any such election while in such status; or 
 
illegally registers to vote or votes in any federal election after receiving such status or visa shall not be eligible to apply for permanent residence or citizenship, or shall lose permanent residence status if ready granted it and be subject to deportation.
 
 
State and local governments: 
 
 
shall require individuals registering to vote in federal elections to provide proof of citizenship, 
 
may not accept an affirmation of citizenship as proof of citizenship for voter registration purposes, and 
 
may require identification information from voter registration applicants.
 
 
Beginning one year after admission, a refugee or asylee: (1) is ineligible for assistance under specified federal means-tested programs, and (2) may not claim the earned income tax credit. An alien who applies for and receives such assistance or who claims and is allowed such credit shall be permanently prohibited from U.S. naturalization.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-11-30
text: Read the second time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 301.
action_date: 2015-11-19
text: Introduced in the Senate. Read the first time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under Read the First Time.
action_date: 2015-11-19
text: Introduced in Senate