Refugee Admissions and Resettlement Policy

Andorra Bruno
Specialist in Immigration Policy

A refugee is a person fleeing his or her country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of

persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. Typically, the annual number of refugees that can be admitted into the United States, known as the refugee ceiling, and the allocation of these numbers by region are set by the President after consultation with Congress at the start of each fiscal year. For FY2013, the worldwide refugee ceiling is 70,000, with 67,000 admissions numbers allocated among the regions of the world and 3,000 numbers comprising an unallocated reserve. An unallocated reserve is to be used if, and where, a need develops for refugee slots in excess of the allocated numbers. The FY2013 regional allocations are, as follows: Africa (12,000), East Asia (17,000), Europe and Central Asia (2,000), Latin America/Caribbean (5,000), and Near East/South Asia (31,000).

Overseas processing of refugees is conducted through a system of three priorities for admission. Priority 1 comprises cases involving persons facing compelling security concerns. Priority 2 comprises cases involving persons from specific groups of special humanitarian concern to the United States (e.g., Iranian religious minorities). Priority 3 comprises family reunification cases involving close relatives of persons admitted as refugees or granted asylum.

Special legislative provisions facilitate relief for certain refugee groups. The “Lautenberg Amendment,” which was first enacted in 1989, allows certain former Soviet and Indochinese nationals to qualify for refugee status based on their membership in a protected category with a credible fear of persecution. In 2004, Congress amended the Lautenberg Amendment to add the “Specter Amendment,” which requires the designation of categories of Iranian religious minorities whose cases are to be adjudicated under the Lautenberg Amendment’s reduced evidentiary standard. Subsequent laws extended the Lautenberg Amendment, as amended by the Specter Amendment. Most recently, the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013 (P.L. 113-6) extends the Lautenberg Amendment through September 30, 2013.

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement (HHS/ORR) administers an initial transitional assistance program for temporarily dependent refugees and Cuban/Haitian entrants. The final FY2013 appropriation for refugee and entrant assistance in P.L. 113-6 is $1.016 billion; after adjustments for the rescission and the sequestration, FY2013 funding totals $999.4 million.

Date of Report: August 8, 2013
Number of Pages: 15
Order Number: RL31269
Price: $29.95

To Order:

RL31269.pdf   to use the SECURE SHOPPING CART

e-mail congress@pennyhill.com

Phone 301-253-0881

For email and phone orders, provide a Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover card number, expiration date, and name on the card. Indicate whether you want e-mail or postal delivery. Phone orders are preferred and receive priority processing.

Immigration Provisions of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)

William A. Kandel
Analyst in Immigration Policy

The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) includes provisions to assist foreign nationals who have been victims of domestic abuse. These provisions, initially enacted by Congress with the Immigration Act of 1990 and the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 1994, afford benefits to abused foreign nationals and allow them to self-petition for lawful permanent resident (LPR) status independently of the U.S. citizen or LPR relatives who originally sponsored them. Congress reauthorized VAWA with the Battered Immigrant Women Protection Act of 2000, which also created the U visa for foreign national victims of a range of crimes—including domestic abuse—who assisted law enforcement. A second reauthorization in 2005 added protections and expanded eligibility for abused foreign nationals. Authorization for appropriations for the programs under VAWA expired in 2011.

The 113th Congress passed the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 in February. The bill was signed into law (P.L. 113-4) by President Barak Obama on March 7, 2013.

Among the immigration provisions, P.L. 113-4 includes “stalking” in the definition of criminal activity covered under the U visa. It increases the number of reports that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) must submit each year to Congress. It extends VAWA coverage to derivative-status children of deceased self-petitioning parents. It allows abuse victims to petition to waive their being classified as an inadmissible immigrant because of a disadvantaged financial position that otherwise might classify them as a “public charge.” It includes protections for children who are included in their parents’ U visa petitions but who “age out” of eligibility by turning 21 before their parents’ petitions have been adjudicated. The bill also extends protections to unknowing victims of bigamous marriages and to foreign nationals under age 18.

P.L. 113-4 requires more extensive background checks and demands more consistent selfdisclosures for U.S. citizen petitioners of alien fiancés or fiancées to provide the latter with greater information about potential abuse. It imposes additional penalties for marriage broker violations as well as false or incomplete representations by U.S. clients to foreign nationals to foster dating or matrimonial relationships. It permits information sharing of VAWA data by DHS for national security purposes and maintains the annual number of U visas at 10,000.

On June 27, 2013, the Senate approved S. 744, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act. S. 744 includes the following VAWA-related provisions. It would expand the annual number of U visas from 10,000 to 18,000. It would grant protection against aging out of status, deferred status eligibility, and work authorization eligibility to any child included on a VAWA petition. It would grant work authorization to VAWA petitioners no later than six months after they filed their petitions. It would allow VAWA petitioners to adjust status without being subject to numerical limits found in the INA. Finally, S. 744 would permit battered immigrants access to assisted housing.

During the debate of the VAWA reauthorization in 2013, two potential concerns for Congress were emphasized regarding the immigration provisions of VAWA. The first was whether the VAWA reauthorization would provide sufficient relief to foreign nationals abused by their U.S. citizen or LPR sponsoring relatives. Advocates for battered foreign nationals suggested that additional provisions were needed to assist this population in obtaining legal and economic footing independently of their original sponsors for legal immigrant status. Critics of expanding
immigration, however, questioned the extent to which the provisions would increase the number of legal immigrants, thereby incurring costs to U.S. taxpayers.

The second related concern was the degree to which VAWA provisions unintentionally facilitate immigration fraud. Critics of VAWA argued that such fraud might be occurring through what some perceived as relatively lenient standards of evidence to demonstrate abuse; as the unintended result of processing procedures between the District Offices of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which adjudicate most immigration applications, and the USCIS Vermont Service Center, which adjudicates VAWA petitions; or as an unintended consequence of the structure of current law. While some have suggested that VAWA provides opportunities for dishonest and enterprising foreign nationals to circumvent U.S. immigration laws, the available empirical evidence offers little support for these assertions.

While addressed to some extent in the VAWA reauthorization of 2013, these two issues remain ongoing and reflect the tension found in other provisions of U.S. immigration policy. Such policies often involve balancing the granting of immigration benefits with adequate enforcement to reduce fraud and ensure intended eligibility.

Date of Report: August 9, 2013
Number of Pages: 36
Order Number: R42477
Price: $29.95

To Order:

e-mail congress@pennyhill.com

Phone 301-253-0881

For email and phone orders, provide a Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover card number, expiration date, and name on the card. Indicate whether you want e-mail or postal delivery. Phone orders are preferred and receive priority processing.

Agricultural Guest Workers: Legislative Activity in the 113th Congress

Andorra Bruno
Specialist in Immigration Policy

Foreign temporary workers, also known as guest workers, have long performed legal agricultural labor in the United States through different temporary worker programs. Today, agricultural guest workers may perform farm work of a temporary or seasonal nature through the H-2A visa program.

Bringing in H-2A workers is a multi-agency process involving the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the U.S. Department of State (DOS). As a first step, interested employers must apply to DOL for a certification that (1) there are not sufficient U.S. workers who are qualified and available to perform the work; and (2) the employment of foreign workers will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers. Among the H-2A labor certification requirements, employers must pay the highest of several wage rates and must provide workers with housing, transportation, and other benefits. The H-2A program is not subject to a numerical limit. Over the years, both growers and labor advocates have criticized the program. Growers complain that it is administratively cumbersome, expensive, and ineffective in meeting their labor needs. Labor advocates argue that the H-2A program provides too few protections for workers.

The House Judiciary Committee and the Senate have acted on separate bills that would establish new temporary agricultural worker visas to replace the H-2A visa. The House Judiciary Committee ordered reported the Agricultural Guest Worker Act (H.R. 1773) and the Senate passed the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act (S. 744). While the new visa programs proposed in these bills are different, they share some similarities that distinguish them from the H-2A program. For example, unlike the H-2A visa, the new visas would not be limited to temporary or seasonal work, would not require prospective employers to apply to DOL for labor certification or to meet all existing certification requirements, and would provide for at-will employment by agricultural workers.

H.R. 1773 would establish an H-2C agricultural worker visa. After undertaking to recruit U.S. workers, a prospective H-2C employer would file a petition with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) containing attestations concerning U.S. worker recruitment, worker benefits and wages, and other issues. With respect to wages, an employer petitioning for H-2C workers would have to pay the greater of the prevailing wage rate or the applicable minimum wage. The H-2C program would have a numerical cap of 500,000, subject to adjustment by USDA.

S. 744, a comprehensive immigration reform bill that addresses a wide range of immigration issues, would create a W-3 visa for contract agricultural workers and a W-4 visa for at-will agricultural workers. A prospective W-3 or W-4 employer would have to engage in U.S. worker recruitment. To import a W-3 or W-4 worker, an employer would submit a petition to DHS containing specified attestations, including attestations about contracts, U.S. worker recruitment, and compliance with other employer requirements. Required wages would be defined based on six standard agricultural occupational classifications, with certain wages specified and others to be determined by USDA, in consultation with DOL. W-3 and W-4 visas would be capped initially at 112,333 total visas per year, with provisions for USDA, in consultation with DOL, to adjust these caps and to set visa limits for later years.


Date of Report: July 23, 2013
Number of Pages: 11
Order Number: R43161
Price: $29.95

To Order:

RL33275.pdf   to use the SECURE SHOPPING CART

e-mail congress@pennyhill.com

Phone 301-253-0881

For email and phone orders, provide a Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover card number, expiration date, and name on the card. Indicate whether you want e-mail or postal delivery. Phone orders are preferred and receive priority processing.