Press Releases

Today, Congressman French Hill (AR-2) introduced H.R. 4086, the Security Verification for Refugees Act, a bill that would expand the vetting process proposed under H.R. 4038, the American Security Against Foreign Enemies (SAFE) Act of 2015. In H.R. 4038, the term “covered alien” only includes refugees from Syria and Iraq.

H.R. 4086 would redefine the term “covered alien” to include anyone seeking asylum in America from a country that is designated as a high-risk threat to the United States by the U.S. Department of State, in consultation with the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). Refugees applying for asylum from high-risk countries would require individual verification by DHS, FBI, and DNI before being granted admission to the United States. After introducing the bill, Congressman Hill released the following statement:

“America needs to remain a beacon of hope, liberty, and freedom for the rest of the world. However, in maintaining that promise, we also need to maintain our promise of defending the American people from the very real threats our enemies pose. Today’s vote in the House gets the ball moving in the right direction, but it is missing needed provisions that will avoid this same pitfall down the road.

“My bill takes what is good about the SAFE Act and broadens those provisions to apply to a refugee from any country that poses a high-risk threat to our democracy. The attacks in Paris were a tragic reminder of what our enemies are capable of and a wake up call that we need to be not only reactive, but also proactive in how we deal with these threats. Like the SAFE Act, The Security Verification for Refugees Act will give Congress additional oversight of our entire refugee vetting process and create another layer of security to ensure that those seeking asylum in the United States are doing so because they want to live in the greatest country in world—not because they want to destroy it.”

H.R. 4086 Bill Text.pdf