US Congress Senate Bill 2708 (Prior Session Legislation)

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Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 3-0)
Status: Introduced on March 17 2016 - 25% progression, died in committee
Action: 2016-03-17 - Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. (Sponsor introductory remarks on measure: CR S1594-1596)
Pending: Senate Judiciary Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Introduced) [PDF]

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.

Religious Persecution Relief Act

Sen. Tom Cotton [R-AR]

Sen. Thom Tillis [R-NC]

Sen. Ben Sasse [R-NE]

Date	Chamber	Action
2016-03-17	Senate	Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. (Sponsor introductory remarks on measure: CR S1594-1596)

Type	Source
Summary	https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/2708/all-info
Text	https://www.congress.gov/114/bills/s2708/BILLS-114s2708is.pdf