[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 24 (Friday, February 9, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S728]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 1546. Mr. RUBIO submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to 
amendment SA 1388 proposed by Mrs. Murray (for herself and Mr. Schumer) 
to the bill H.R. 815, to amend title 38, United States Code, to make 
certain improvements relating to the eligibility of veterans to receive 
reimbursement for emergency treatment furnished through the Veterans 
Community Care program, and for other purposes; which was ordered to 
lie on the table; as follows:

        At the appropriate place, insert the following:

     SEC. ____. CREDIBLE FEAR STANDARD AND ASYLUM BARS AT 
                   SCREENING INTERVIEW.

       Section 235(b)(1)(B) of the Immigration and Nationality Act 
     (8 U.S.C. 1225(b)(1)(B)) is amended--
       (1) in clause (v), by striking ``significant possibility'' 
     and inserting ``reasonable possibility''; and
       (2) by adding at the end, the following:
       ``(vi) Asylum exceptions.--An asylum officer, during the 
     credible fear screening of an alien--

       ``(I) shall determine whether any of the asylum exceptions 
     under section 208(b)(2) disqualify the alien from receiving 
     asylum; and
       ``(II) may determine that the alien does not meet the 
     definition of credible fear of persecution under clause (v) 
     if any such exceptions apply, including whether any such 
     exemptions to such disqualifying exceptions may apply.''.

     SEC. ____. INTERNAL RELOCATION.

       (a) In General.--Section 208(b)(2)(A) of the Immigration 
     and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1158(b)(2)(A)) is amended--
       (1) in clause (v), by striking ``or'' at the end;
       (2) in clause (vi), by striking the period at the end and 
     inserting ``; or''; and
       (3) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(vii) there are reasonable grounds for concluding that 
     the alien could avoid persecution by relocating to--

       ``(I) another location in the alien's country of 
     nationality; or
       ``(II) in the case of an alien having no nationality, 
     another location in the alien's country of last habitual 
     residence.''.

       (b) Inapplicability.--Section 244(c)(2)(B)(ii) of the 
     Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a(c)(2)(B)(ii)) 
     is amended by inserting ``clauses (i) through (vi) of'' after 
     ``described in''.

     SEC. ___. SAFE THIRD COUNTRY.

       Section 208(a)(2)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act 
     (8 U.S.C. 1158(a)(2)(A)) is amended--
       (1) by striking ``if the Attorney General determines'' and 
     inserting ``if the Attorney General or the Secretary of 
     Homeland Security determines--'';
       (2) by striking ``that the alien may be removed'' and 
     inserting the following:
       ``(i) that the alien may be removed'';
       (3) by striking ``, pursuant to a bilateral or multilateral 
     agreement, to'' and inserting ``to'';
       (4) by inserting ``or the Secretary, on a case by case 
     basis,'' before ``finds that'';
       (5) by striking the period at the end and inserting ``; 
     or''; and
       (6) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(ii) that the alien entered, attempted to enter, or 
     arrived in the United States after transiting through at 
     least one country outside the alien's country of citizenship, 
     nationality, or last lawful habitual residence en route to 
     the United States, unless--
       ``(I) the alien demonstrates that he or she applied for 
     protection from persecution or torture in at least one 
     country outside the alien's country of citizenship, 
     nationality, or last lawful habitual residence through which 
     the alien transited en route to the United States;
       ``(II) the alien demonstrates that he or she was a victim 
     of a severe form of trafficking in which a commercial sex act 
     was induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the 
     person induced to perform such act was under the age of 18 
     years; or in which the trafficking included the recruitment, 
     harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a 
     person for labor or services through the use of force, fraud, 
     or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary 
     servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery, and was unable 
     to apply for protection from persecution in each country 
     through which the alien transited en route to the United 
     States as a result of such severe form of trafficking; or
       ``(III) the only countries through which the alien 
     transited en route to the United States were, at the time of 
     the transit, not parties to the 1951 United Nations 
     Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, the 1967 
     Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, or the United 
     Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman 
     or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.''.

     SEC. ___. TRAVEL THROUGH CONTIGUOUS COUNTRY.

       Section 208(b)(2)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act 
     (8 U.S.C. 1158(b)(2)(A)) is amended--
       (1) in clause (v), by striking ``; or'' and inserting a 
     semicolon;
       (2) in clause (vi), by striking the period and inserting 
     ``; or''; and
       (3) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(vii)(I) the alien has traveled through a country that is 
     contiguous to the United States immediately before arriving 
     at a port of entry of, or otherwise entering, the United 
     States; and
       ``(II) did not apply for asylum in such country.''.
                                 ______