[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1475 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1475

To reform and modernize domestic refugee resettlement programs, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 12, 2011

Mr. Peters (for himself, Mr. Stivers, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Ms. Zoe 
  Lofgren of California, Mr. Conyers, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. 
 Hastings of Florida, Mr. Levin, Mr. McDermott, Mr. Polis, Mrs. Miller 
  of Michigan, Mr. McCotter, Mr. Cardoza, Mr. Andrews, Mr. Clarke of 
    Michigan, Mr. Matheson, Mr. Tiberi, Mr. Hanna, and Mr. Dingell) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                             the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To reform and modernize domestic refugee resettlement programs, and for 
                            other purposes.

    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 ``Domestic Refugee Resettlement Reform 
and Modernization Act of 2011''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The United States has enhanced and accelerated its 
        efforts to resettle Iraqi refugees since 2007.
            (2) Resettlement in the United States remains an important 
        option for Iraqi refugees, many of whom are living in Syria and 
        Jordan and lack legal status or access to health care.
            (3) Many of these refugees are victims of torture and 
        persecution, or were forced to flee because of support they 
        gave to American military operations.
            (4) Refugees are often a product of human rights atrocities 
        and war, making them likely to have suffered traumatic events 
        which require the United States to offer them protection and 
        meet their needs once they arrive here.
            (5) In fiscal year 2008, 13,822 Iraqi refugees were 
        resettled in the United States, and nearly 17,000 were 
        resettled in fiscal year 2009.
            (6) Upon arrival in the United States, there is authorized 
        36 months of cash and medical assistance available to refugees, 
        as well as access to social services, such as job placement, 
        from the Office of Refugee Resettlement, but in practice 
        refugees receive only 8 months of cash and medical assistance.
            (7) When given adequate support through the resettlement 
        system, refugees can successfully become self-sufficient and 
        contribute positively to their communities.
            (8) Like millions of Americans, refugees are negatively 
        impacted by the recession, and a recent report by the 
        Georgetown Law Center indicated that in some areas as few as 10 
        percent of refugees have obtained employment at the end of the 
        8-month benefit period.
            (9) State refugee offices and voluntary agencies lack the 
        resources and data to increase staffing levels to accommodate 
        the large number of refugees in need of services.
            (10) ORR funding formulas are retroactive in nature, using 
        refugee admission data from the prior 3 years, so that large 
        increases in refugee admissions are not adequately reflected in 
        the amount of resources provided by ORR.
            (11) The United States resettlement policy assumes refugees 
        will be able to quickly become self-sufficient, while 
        specifically offering resettlement to individuals who have 
        specific vulnerabilities that inhibit their ability to achieve 
        self-sufficiency and integrate into society.
            (12) Some refugees will have mental health difficulties 
        associated with trauma or torture and this is one of the 
        significant barriers to self-sufficiency and integration into a 
        community when it is not addressed with adequate and 
        appropriate services.
            (13) Secondary migration is not properly tracked, and 
        resources are not available for States and agencies 
        experiencing high levels of secondary migration.
            (14) Refugee services are provided by national resettlement 
        agencies, community-based organizations, charities, and 
        nonprofits and coordinated locally by State refugee programs, 
        and all the organizations should be supported in their mission 
        to provide refugee services.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) National resettlement agency.--The term ``national 
        resettlement agency'' means voluntary agencies contracting with 
        the State Department to provide sponsorship and initial 
        resettlement services to refugees entering the United States.
            (2) Community based organization.--The term ``community 
        based organization'' means a nonprofit organization providing a 
        variety of social, health, educational and community services 
        to a population that includes refugees resettled into the 
        United States.
            (3) Assistant secretary.--The term ``Assistant Secretary'' 
        means the Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for 
        Refugee and Asylee Resettlement.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act shall take effect on the date that is 90 days after the 
date of enactment of this Act.

SEC. 5. ASSESSMENT OF THE REFUGEE DOMESTIC RESETTLEMENT PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--As soon as practicable after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 
shall conduct a study regarding the effectiveness of the domestic 
refugee resettlement programs operated by the Office of Refugee 
Resettlement.
    (b) Matters To Be Studied.--In the study required under subsection 
(a), the Comptroller General shall determine and analyze the following:
            (1) How the Office of Refugee Resettlement defines self-
        sufficiency and if this definition is adequate in addressing 
        refugee needs in the United States.
            (2) The effectiveness of the Office of Refugee Resettlement 
        programs in helping refugees to meet self-sufficiency and an 
        analysis of the unmet needs of the program.
            (3) An evaluation of the Office of Refugee Resettlement's 
        budgetary resources and projection of the amount of additional 
        resources needed to fully address the unmet needs of refugees 
        with regard to self-sufficiency.
            (4) The role of community based organizations in serving 
        refugees in areas experiencing a high number of new refugee 
        arrivals.
            (5) An analysis of how community based organizations can be 
        better utilized and supported in the Federal domestic 
        resettlement process.
            (6) Recommendations on statutory changes to improve the 
        Office of Refugee Resettlement and the domestic refugee program 
        in relation to the matters analyzed under paragraphs (1) 
        through (5).
    (c) Report.--Not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit the results of the 
study required under subsection (a) to the Congress.

SEC. 6. ELEVATION OF THE OFFICE OF REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT.

    (a) In General.--Section 411(a) of the Immigration and Nationality 
Act (8 U.S.C. 1521(a)) is amended by striking the second sentence and 
inserting the following: ``The head of the Office of Refugee 
Resettlement in the Department of Health and Human Services shall be an 
Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Refugee and Asylee 
Resettlement (hereinafter in this chapter referred to as the `Assistant 
Secretary'), to be appointed by the President, and to report directly 
to the Secretary.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--
            (1) Section 411(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act 
        (8 U.S.C. 1521(b)) is amended by striking ``Director'' and 
        inserting ``Assistant Secretary''.
            (2) Section 412 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
        U.S.C. 1522) is amended by striking ``Director'' each place it 
        appears and inserting ``Assistant Secretary''.
            (3) Section 413 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
        U.S.C. 1523) is amended by striking ``Director'' each place it 
        appears and inserting ``Assistant Secretary''.
            (4) Section 462 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 
        U.S.C. 279) is amended by striking ``Director'' each place it 
        appears and inserting ``Assistant Secretary''.
    (c) References.--Any reference to the Director of the Office of 
Refugee Resettlement in any other Federal law, Executive order, rule, 
regulation, operating instruction, or delegation of authority, or any 
document of or pertaining to the Department of Health and Human 
Services or the Office of Refugee Resettlement that refers to the 
Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, shall be deemed to 
refer to the Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for 
Refugee and Asylee Resettlement.

SEC. 7. REFUGEE ASSISTANCE.

    (a) Amendments to the Social Services Funding.--Section 
412(c)(1)(B) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
1522(c)(1)(B)) is amended to read as follows:
                    ``(B) The funds available for a fiscal year for 
                grants and contracts under subparagraph (A) shall be 
                allocated among the States based on a combination of 
                the total number or refugees (including children and 
                adults) who arrived in the United States not more than 
                36 months before the beginning of such fiscal year and 
                who are actually residing in each State (taking into 
                account secondary migration) as of the beginning of the 
                fiscal year, the total number of all other eligible 
                populations served by the Office during the period 
                described who are residing in the State as of the 
                beginning of the fiscal year, and projections on the 
                number and nature of incoming refugees and other 
                populations served by the Office during the subsequent 
                fiscal year.''.
    (b) Report on Secondary Migration.--Section 412(a)(3) of the 
Immigration and Nationality Act (814 U.S.C. 1522(a)(3)) is amended by 
striking the word ``periodic'' to ``annual'' and by adding at the end 
the following: ``At the end of each fiscal year, the Assistant 
Secretary shall present a report on these findings to the Congress. The 
information in the report shall include, but is not limited to, States 
experiencing departures and arrivals due to secondary migration, likely 
reasons for migration, the impact of secondary migration on States 
hosting secondary migrants, availability of social services for 
secondary migrants in those States, and unmet needs of those secondary 
migrants.''.
    (c) Assistance Made Available to Secondary Migrants.--Section 
412(a)(1) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1522(a)(1)) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(C) When providing such assistance, the Assistant 
                Secretary shall ensure that such assistance is provided 
                to refugees who are secondary migrants and meet all 
                other eligibility requirements for such services.''.
    (d) Notice and Rulemaking.--Not later than 90 days after the date 
of enactment of this Act, but in no event later than 30 days before the 
effective date of the amendments made by this section, the Assistant 
Secretary shall issue a proposed rule of the new formula by which 
grants and contracts are to be allocated pursuant to the amendments 
made by subsection (c), and solicit public comment.
    (e) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section shall 
become effective on the first day of the first fiscal year that begins 
after the date of enactment of this Act.

SEC. 8. RESETTLEMENT DATA.

    The Assistant Secretary shall expand the Office of Refugee 
Resettlement's data analysis, collection, and sharing activities in 
accordance with the following provisions:
            (1) Data on mental and physical medical cases.--The 
        Assistant Secretary shall coordinate with the Centers for 
        Disease Control, national resettlement agencies, community 
        based organizations, and State refugee health programs to track 
        national and State trends on refugees arriving with Class A 
        medical conditions and other urgent medical needs. The 
        Assistant Secretary shall utilize initial refugee health 
        screening data, including history of severe trauma, torture, 
        mental health symptoms, depression, anxiety and PTSD, recorded 
        during domestic and international health screenings, and 
        Refugee Medical Assistance utilization rate data in collecting 
        this information.
            (2) Data on housing needs.--The Assistant Secretary shall 
        partner with State refugee programs, community based 
        organizations, and national resettlement agencies to collect 
        data relating to the housing needs of refugees. This data 
        should include the number of refugees who have become homeless 
        and the number at severe risk of becoming homeless.
            (3) Data on refugee employment and self-sufficiency.--The 
        Assistant Secretary shall gather longitudinal information 
        relating to refugee self-sufficiency and employment status for 
        the period of 1-3 years post-arrival.
            (4) Availability of data.--The data collected under this 
        section shall be updated annually and the Assistant Secretary 
        shall submit a report to the Congress containing that updated 
        data.
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