Sec. 307. United States refugee program priorities
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The Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall designate as Priority 2 refugees of special humanitarian concern— Syrian Kurds, stateless persons who habitually resided in Syria, and other Syrians who partnered with, or worked for or directly with, the United States Government in Syria; Syrian Kurds, stateless persons who habitually resided in Syria, and other Syrians who were employed in Syria by— a media or nongovernmental organization based in the United States; an organization or entity that has received a grant from, or entered into a cooperative agreement or contract with, the United States Government; or an organization that— was continuously physically present in Northeast Syria between 2011 and the date of the enactment of this Act; and has partnered with an organization described in subparagraph
(A)or (B); the spouses, children, sons, daughters, siblings, and parents of aliens described in paragraph
(1)or section 308(b); Syrian Kurds, stateless persons who habitually resided in Syria, and other Syrians who have an immediate relative (as defined in section 201(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act ( 8 U.S.C. 1151(b)(2)(A)(i) )) or a family member described in section 203(a) of such Act ( 8 U.S.C. 203(a) ) who is physically present in the United States; Syrian Kurds, stateless persons who habitually resided in Syria, and other Syrians who were or are employed by the United States Government in Syria, for an aggregate period of at least 1 year; and citizens or nationals of Syria or Iraq, or stateless persons who habitually resided in Syria or Iraq, who provided service to United States counter-ISIS efforts for an aggregate period of at least 1 year. An alien may not be denied the opportunity to apply for admission as a refugee under this section solely because such alien qualifies as an immediate relative of a national of the United States or is eligible for admission to the United States under any other immigrant classification. An applicant for admission to the United States may not be deemed inadmissible based solely on membership in, participation in, or support provided to, the Syrian Democratic Forces or other partner organizations as determined by the Secretary of Defense. Aliens provided refugee status under this section shall not be counted against any numerical limitation under section 201, 202, 203, or 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act ( 8 U.S.C. 1151 , 1152, 1153, and 1157). The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall ensure that all steps under the control of the United States Government incidental to the approval of such applications, including required screenings and background checks, are completed not later than 5 years after the date on which an eligible applicant submits an application under subsection (a). Notwithstanding paragraph (1), the United States Refugee Admission Program may take additional time to process applications described in paragraph
(1)if satisfaction of national security concerns requires such additional time, provided that the Secretary of Homeland Security, or the designee of the Secretary, has determined that the applicant meets the requirements for status as a refugee of special humanitarian concern under this section and has so notified the applicant. Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of the Refugee Protection Act of 2019 , and every 90 days thereafter, the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit a report to— the Committee on the Judiciary, the Committee on Foreign Relations, and the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate; and the Committee on the Judiciary, the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives. Each report submitted under paragraph
(1)shall describe the processing of applications for refugee status required under subsection (e), including information relating to— the number of aliens who have applied for refugee status under this section during each month of the preceding fiscal year; the total number of applications that are pending at the end of the reporting period; the average wait-times for all applicants who are currently pending— employment verification; a prescreening interview with a resettlement support center; an interview with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services; and the completion of security checks; the number of denials or rejections of applicants for refugee status, disaggregated by the reason for denial; and the reasons for denials by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services based on the categories already made available to denied applicants for refugee status in the notification of ineligibility issued to such denied applicants by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Each report under paragraph
(1)shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex. The Secretary of State shall make each report submitted under paragraph
(1)available to the public on the internet website of the Department of State. The Secretary of State, or the designee of the Secretary, is authorized to classify other groups of Syrians, including vulnerable populations, as Priority 2 refugees of special humanitarian concern. Aliens granted status under this section as Priority 2 refugees of special humanitarian concern under the refugee resettlement priority system shall be deemed to satisfy the requirements under section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act ( 8 U.S.C. 1157 ) for admission to the United States.
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