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H.R.1153 / 114th Congress

Asylum Reform and Border Protection Act of 2015

Ordered to be Reported by the Yeas and Nays: 21 - 12.

Official summary

Version 00 · Introduced in House · Feb 27, 2015

Asylum Reform and Border Protection Act of 2015

Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to prohibit the government from bearing any expense of counsel for any person in a removal or related appeal proceedings.

Adds an additional requirement in order to establish a credible fear of persecution claim in an asylum interview.

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Limits humanitarian and public interest parole authority.

Prohibits the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) from using parole authority for an alien who is ineligible for refugee status.

Amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to revise the definition of "unaccompanied alien child" (UAC).

Amends the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 to extend the period of time for a federal department or agency to: (1) notify the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that it has apprehended or discovered a UAC or an alien who is under 18 years old, and (2) transfer a UAC to HHS custody.

Provides for HHS-DHS information sharing concerning UACs.

Prohibits aUAC from applying for asylum if such child may be removed to a safe third country.

Provides for additional immigration judges and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement attorneys.

Directs the Secretary of State to suspend all foreign assistance to certain countries that refuse to: (1) negotiate a child repatriation agreement, or (2) accept from the United States repatriated UACs who are nationals or residents of the sending country.

Directs the Secretary of State to provide certain foreign assistance for repatriation and reintegration purposes.

Places the burden of proof on an an alien to establish that: (1) the alien's life or freedom would be threatened in a country to which he or she is scheduled to be removed to from the United States; and (2) that race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion would be at least one central reason for such threat.

Makes inadmissible an alien who has committed acts of torture, extrajudicial killings, war crimes, systematic attacks on civilians, persecution, or enforced disappearance of persons. Authorizes the President to make such alien's visa records public.

Terminates the refugee or asylee status of an alien who:

without a compelling reason returns to the country of such alien's nationality or, in the case of an alien having no nationality, returns to the country in which such alien last habitually resided; and

applied for such status 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.

Makes such provision inapplicable to an alien who is eligible for adjustment to lawful permanent resident status pursuant to the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966.

Allows up to 500 grants of asylum per fiscal year to families fleeing home school persecution.

Requires that a written warning be included in an asylum application advising the alien of the consequences of filing a frivolous application.

States that if an alien's asylum status is subject to termination the immigration judge shall first determine whether the termination conditions have been met, and if so, terminate the alien's asylum status before considering whether the alien is eligible for adjustment of status.

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Who introduced it

Rep. Chaffetz, Jason [R-UT-3] · R–UT

Committees

  • Judiciary Committee
  • Foreign Affairs Committee
43 cosponsorship records, including any withdrawals

Actions

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  1. Ordered to be Reported by the Yeas and Nays: 21 - 12.

  2. Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.

  3. Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.

  4. Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security Discharged.

  5. Referred to the Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security.

  6. Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

  7. Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

  8. Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

  9. Introduced in House

  10. Introduced in House

Bill text & related measures

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Source last updated: Aug 12, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.

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