Religious Persecution Relief Act

Religious Persecution Relief Act

This bill declares that Syrian nationals who are religious minorities in their country of origin:

• shall be classified as refugees of special humanitarian concern,
• shall be eligible for priority two processing under the refugee resettlement priority system, and
• may apply directly to the U.S. refugee admissions program for admission to the United States.

The Immigration and Nationality Act is amended to authorize, in addition to the current worldwide refugee resettlement quota, the refugee admission of up to 10,000 religious-minority Syrian nationals for each of FY2016-FY2020.

The Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1990 is amended to establish as a protected refugee category persons who:

• are or were nationals and residents of the Syrian Arab Republic;
• as members of a religious minority in Syria, share common characteristics that identify them as targets of persecution in that state on account of religion, creed, or ethnicity; and
• have been underrepresented in the U.S. refugee resettlement program during the five-year period ending on September 30, 2015, when compared to their representation in the Syrian population as a whole.