Religious Persecution Relief Act

Summary

Religious Persecution Relief Act This bill declares that Syrian nationals who are religious minorities in their country of origin: shall be classified as refugees of special humanitarian concern, shall be eligible for priority two processing under the refugee resettlement priority system, and may apply directly to the U.S. refugee admissions program for admission to the United States. The Immigration and Nationality Act is amended to authorize, in addition to the current worldwide refugee resettlement quota, the refugee admission of up to 10,000 religious-minority Syrian nationals for each of FY2016-FY2020. The Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1990 is amended to establish as a protected refugee category persons who: are or were nationals and residents of the Syrian Arab Republic; as members of a religious minority in Syria, share common characteristics that identify them as targets of persecution in that state on account of religion, creed, or ethnicity; and have been underrepresented in the U.S. refugee resettlement program during the five-year period ending on September 30, 2015, when compared to their representation in the Syrian population as a whole.

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Timeline

1. 17 March 2016

   Introduced

   Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. (Sponsor introductory remarks on measure: CR S1594-1596)

   Source: IntroReferral

2. 17 March 2016

   Introduced

   Introduced in Senate

   Source: IntroReferral

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

• Introduced in Senate · 17 March 2016 · Official file

Documents

3 official files

• Introduced in Senate (text)

  Introduced in Senate · EN · 17 March 2016

  ViewDownloadOpen at official source

• Introduced in Senate (PDF)

  Introduced in Senate · EN · 17 March 2016

  ViewDownloadOpen at official source

• Introduced in Senate

  summary · EN · 17 March 2016

  Open at official source

Sponsors

• Tom Cotton · R · Sponsor
• Thomas Tillis · R · Cosponsor
• Sen. Sasse, Ben [R-NE] · R · Cosponsor
• · ssju00 · Standing

Related records

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