PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Nov 18, 2015
American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act of 2015 or the American SAFE Act of 2015
This bill requires that, in addition to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) screening, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) shall take all actions necessary to ensure that each covered alien receives a background investigation before U.S. refugee admission.
A "covered alien" is any alien applying for U.S. refugee admission who:
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
is a national or resident of Iraq or Syria,
has no nationality and whose last habitual residence was in Iraq or Syria, or
has been present in Iraq or Syria at any time on or after March 1, 2011.
A covered alien:
may not be admitted as a refugee until the FBI certifies to DHS and the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) that he or she has received a background investigation sufficient to determine whether the alien is a U.S. security threat; and
may only be admitted to the United States after DHS, with the unanimous concurrence of the FBI and the DNI, certifies to Congress that he or she is not such a threat.
The Inspector General of DHS shall conduct annual risk-based reviews of all certifications.
DHS shall report monthly to Congress on the total number of admission applications for which a certification was made and the number of covered aliens for whom such a certification was not made for the preceding month. The report shall include for each covered alien for whom a certification was not made the concurrence or nonconcurrence of each person whose concurrence was required by the certification.
People & committees
Sen. Johnson, Ron [R-WI] · R–WI
Legislative record
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Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
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Source last updated: Aug 10, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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