[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 636 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
116th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 636
To designate Venezuela under section 244 of the Immigration and
Nationality Act to permit nationals of Venezuela to be eligible for
temporary protected status under such section.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 28, 2019
Mr. Menendez (for himself, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Leahy, and Mr.
Booker) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To designate Venezuela under section 244 of the Immigration and
Nationality Act to permit nationals of Venezuela to be eligible for
temporary protected status under such section.
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 ``Venezuela Temporary Protected Status
Act of 2019''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Venezuela is enduring an unprecedented economic,
humanitarian, security, and refugee crisis, consisting of
extreme food and medicine shortages, severe infant and child
malnutrition, rampant crime, and government-sponsored
repression.
(2) Venezuela's economic crisis continues unabated and the
International Monetary Fund projects that inflation in
Venezuela could reach an annual rate of 10,000,000 percent in
2019.
(3) As evidence of the humanitarian crisis created by
Venezuela's systemic economic turmoil--
(A) more than 9,000,000 people in Venezuela are
eating 2 or fewer meals a day; and
(B) approximately 75 percent of the population have
reported losing an average of--
(i) 19 pounds in 2016; and
(ii) 24 pounds in 2017.
(4) Moderate to severe malnutrition among Venezuelan
children under 5 years of age increased by more than 50 percent
in 2017, and approximately 300,000 Venezuelan children are at
risk of dying from malnutrition, according to Caritas de
Venezuela, a Catholic humanitarian organization.
(5) Pharmacies in Venezuela have shortages of approximately
85 percent of needed medicines and 76 percent of public
hospitals lack the basic medicines that should be available in
any functional public hospital, including those that are on the
World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines.
(6) As evidence of the significant effect that Venezuela's
economic crisis on public health, Venezuela's Health Ministry
reported that in 2016--
(A) there was a 30-percent increase in the infant
mortality rate; and
(B) there was a 65-percent increase in the maternal
mortality rate.
(7) Violent crime in Venezuela has risen sharply and the
Venezuelan Violence Observatory, an independent nongovernmental
organization, calculated the national per capita murder rate to
be 89 per 100,000 people in 2017.
(8) According to Citizens Council for Public Safety and
Criminal Justice, Caracas was the most dangerous capital city
in the world in 2017, with 111 murders per 100,000 residents.
(9) According to the United Nations Human Rights Office of
the High Commissioner--
(A) Venezuelan intelligence and security forces
have increasingly used arbitrary arrests and detentions
to repress and intimidate civil society, political
opponents, and any voices of dissent; and
(B) between 2015 and 2017, at least 505 people
including 24 children, were executed by Venezuelan
security forces, leading the International Criminal
Court prosecutor to announce a preliminary
investigation into the use of excessive force in
Venezuela.
(10) Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights, stated, ``The failure to hold
security forces accountable for such serious human rights
violations suggests that the rule of law is virtually absent in
Venezuela.''.
(11) According to the United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights, more than 3,400,000 Venezuelans have left their
country for reasons such as violence, political oppression,
economic hardship, and the ongoing humanitarian crisis.
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of the Congress that--
(1) Venezuela's economic, humanitarian, security, and
refugee crisis has resulted in extraordinary and temporary
conditions that currently prevent Venezuelan nationals from
safely returning to Venezuela; and
(2) Venezuela should be designated under subsection
(b)(1)(C) of section 244 of the Immigration and Nationality Act
(8 U.S.C. 1254a) for a period of 18 months to permit nationals
of Venezuela to be eligible for temporary protected status in
accordance with such section.
SEC. 4. DESIGNATION FOR PURPOSES OF GRANTING TEMPORARY PROTECTED
STATUS.
(a) Designation.--
(1) In general.--For purposes of section 244 of the
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a), Venezuela
shall be treated as if it had been designated under subsection
(b)(1)(C) of that section, subject to the provisions of this
section.
(2) Period of designation.--The initial period of the
designation referred to in paragraph (1) shall be for the 18-
month period beginning on the date of the enactment of this
Act.
(b) Aliens Eligible.--As a result of the designation made under
subsection (a), an alien who is a national of Venezuela is deemed to
satisfy the requirements under paragraph (1) of section 244(c) of the
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a(c)), subject to
paragraph (3) of such section, if the alien--
(1) has been continuously physically present in the United
States since the date of the enactment of this Act;
(2) is admissible as an immigrant, except as otherwise
provided in paragraph (2)(A) of such section, and is not
ineligible for temporary protected status under paragraph
(2)(B) of such section; and
(3) registers for temporary protected status in a manner
established by the Secretary of Homeland Security.
(c) Consent To Travel Abroad.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary of Homeland Security shall
give prior consent to travel abroad, in accordance with section
244(f)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C.
1254a(f)(3)), to an alien who is granted temporary protected
status pursuant to the designation made under subsection (a) if
the alien establishes to the satisfaction of the Secretary of
Homeland Security that emergency and extenuating circumstances
beyond the control of the alien require the alien to depart for
a brief, temporary trip abroad.
(2) Treatment upon return.--An alien returning to the
United States in accordance with an authorization described in
paragraph (1) shall be treated as any other returning alien
provided temporary protected status under section 244 of the
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a).
SEC. 5. IMPROVING INTERNAL MIGRATION SYSTEMS IN COUNTRIES SURROUNDING
VENEZUELA.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of State, in consultation with the
Secretary of Homeland Security, shall work with international partners,
including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, to support
and provide technical assistance to improve the domestic capacity of
countries surrounding Venezuela and in the region to provide migration
services and asylum to eligible Venezuelan citizens--
(1) by establishing and expanding temporary and long-term,
in-country reception centers and shelter capacity in those
surrounding countries to meet the humanitarian needs of
Venezuelan migrants or Venezuelans seeking asylum or other
forms of international protection;
(2) by improving migration and asylum registration systems
in those surrounding countries to ensure that Venezuelan
migrants and Venezuelans seeking asylum or other humanitarian
protection--
(A) receive due process and meaningful access to
legal protections; and
(B) receive proper documents in order to prevent
fraud and facilitate freedom of movement and access to
basic social services;
(3) by supporting the creation or expansion of a corps of
trained migration and asylum officers from those countries who
are capable of--
(A) providing migration services; and
(B) evaluating and deciding individual asylum
claims consistent with international law and
obligations; and
(4) by developing the capacity to conduct best interest
determinations for Venezuelan migrants to ensure that their
needs are properly met.
(b) Strategy.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, in consultation with the
Secretary of Homeland Security, shall submit a strategy describing
plans for assisting the development of the international asylum
processing capabilities described in subsection (a) to--
(1) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate;
(2) the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate;
(3) the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate;
(4) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of
Representatives;
(5) the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of
Representatives; and
(6) the Committee on Appropriations of the House of
Representatives.
(c) Authorization of Appropriations.--
(1) In general.--There is authorized to be appropriated to
the Secretary of State $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2019 to
carry out the activities set forth in subsection (b), in
accordance with this section.
(2) Notification requirement.--
(A) In general.--Except as provided under
subparagraph (B), amounts appropriated or otherwise
made available pursuant to paragraph (1) may not be
obligated until 15 days after the date on which the
President provides notice to the committees listed in
subsection (b) of the intent to obligate such funds.
(B) Waiver.--
(i) In general.--The Secretary of State may
waive the requirement under subparagraph (A) if
the Secretary of State determines that such
waiver is in the national interest of the
United States.
(ii) Notification requirement.--If a waiver
is invoked under clause (i), the President
shall notify the committees listed in
subsection (b) of the intention to obligate
funds under this section as early as
practicable, but not later than 3 days after
taking the action to which such notification
requirement was applicable in the context of
the circumstances necessitating such waiver.
<all>