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 21, 2019
Refugee Protection Act of 2019
This bill provides protections for aliens such as asylum seekers and contains other provisions.
The bill's provisions include
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
eliminating the general requirement that an asylum seeker apply for asylum within one year of arriving in the United States;
prohibiting requiring an asylum seeker to provide corroborating evidence of persecution if such evidence is not reasonably obtainable;
waiving certain grounds of inadmissibility or deportability for qualifying refugees seeking permanent resident status;
requiring the Department of Justice to appoint counsel to a child or particularly vulnerable individual in certain immigration proceedings;
increasing the annual cap on principal nonimmigrant U visas (victims of crimes) from 10,000 to 20,000;
prohibiting the removal of an alien with certain pending immigration applications, such as a U visa application;
imposing limits on when an alien may be removed from the United States in a proceeding without the alien present;
establishing a presumption that the least restrictive conditions necessary should be imposed in custody proceedings for asylum seekers, including release if appropriate;
establishing that the maximum number of refugees admitted each fiscal year shall be no less than 95,000;
directing the Department of State to help other governments increase their capacity to care for and accept refugees;
directing the State Department to establish refugee processing centers in other countries in North and Central America; and
authorizing the Department of Homeland Security to provide special immigrant status to qualified aliens who assisted U.S. efforts in Syria and admit up to 5,000 such aliens each fiscal year for five years.
People & committees
Sen. Leahy, Patrick J. [D-VT] · D–VT
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Aug 10, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze S.2936 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine S.2936 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine S.2936 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine S.2936 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.