Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2349 Compare Versions

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11 I
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION H. R. 2349
55 To designate residents of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region as Priority
66 2 refugees of special humanitarian concern, and for other purposes.
77 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
88 MARCH25, 2025
99 Mr. S
1010 UBRAMANYAM (for himself, Mr. MEEKS, Ms. SALAZAR, Mr. CONNOLLY,
1111 Ms. T
1212 OKUDA, Mr. BEYER, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. NUNNof Iowa, Mr. CAR-
1313 SON, Mr. MAGAZINER, Ms. TITUS, Mr. MOULTON, and Mr.
1414 K
1515 RISHNAMOORTHI) introduced the following bill; which was referred to
1616 the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on
1717 Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speak-
1818 er, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the ju-
1919 risdiction of the committee concerned
2020 A BILL
2121 To designate residents of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous
2222 Region as Priority 2 refugees of special humanitarian
2323 concern, and for other purposes.
2424 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
2525 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
2626 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
2727 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Uyghur Human Rights 4
2828 Protection Act’’. 5
2929 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
3030 Congress makes the following findings: 7
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3333 •HR 2349 IH
3434 (1) The Government of the People’s Republic of 1
3535 China has a long history of repressing Turkic Mus-2
3636 lims and other Muslim minority groups, particularly 3
3737 Uyghurs, in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Re-4
3838 gion (‘‘Xinjiang’’ or ‘‘XUAR’’), also known as East 5
3939 Turkestan. Central and regional Chinese government 6
4040 policies have systematically discriminated against 7
4141 these minority groups by denying them a range of 8
4242 civil and political rights, particularly freedom of reli-9
4343 gion. 10
4444 (2) In May 2014, the Government of the Peo-11
4545 ple’s Republic of China launched its latest ‘‘Strike 12
4646 Hard Against Violent Extremism’’ campaign, using 13
4747 wide-scale, internationally linked threats of terrorism 14
4848 as a pretext to justify pervasive restrictions on and 15
4949 serious human rights violations against members of 16
5050 ethnic minority communities in Xinjiang. The Au-17
5151 gust 2016 appointment of former Tibet Autonomous 18
5252 Region Party Secretary Chen Quanguo to be Party 19
5353 Secretary of the XUAR accelerated the crackdown 20
5454 across the region. Scholars, human rights organiza-21
5555 tions, journalists, and think tanks have provided 22
5656 ample evidence substantiating the establishment by 23
5757 the Government of the People’s Republic of China of 24
5858 internment camps. Since 2017, the Government of 25
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6161 •HR 2349 IH
6262 the People’s Republic of China has detained more 1
6363 than 1,000,000 Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, 2
6464 and members of other Muslim minority groups in 3
6565 these camps. The total ethnic minority population of 4
6666 Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region was approxi-5
6767 mately 13,000,000 at the time of the last census 6
6868 conducted by the People’s Republic of China in 7
6969 2010. 8
7070 (3) The Government of the People’s Republic of 9
7171 China’s actions against Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, 10
7272 Kyrgyz, and members of other Muslim minority 11
7373 groups in Xinjiang violate international human 12
7474 rights laws and norms, including— 13
7575 (A) the International Convention on the 14
7676 Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimina-15
7777 tion, to which the People’s Republic of China 16
7878 has acceded; 17
7979 (B) the Convention against Torture and 18
8080 Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment 19
8181 or Punishment, which the People’s Republic of 20
8282 China has signed and ratified; 21
8383 (C) the Convention on the Prevention and 22
8484 Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which 23
8585 the People’s Republic of China has signed and 24
8686 ratified; 25
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8989 •HR 2349 IH
9090 (D) the International Covenant on Civil 1
9191 and Political Rights, which the People’s Repub-2
9292 lic of China has signed; and 3
9393 (E) the Universal Declaration of Human 4
9494 Rights and the International Labor Organiza-5
9595 tion’s Force Labor Convention (no. 29) and the 6
9696 Abolition of Forced Labor Convention (no. 7
9797 105). 8
9898 (4) Senior Chinese Communist Party officials 9
9999 bear direct responsibility for gross human rights vio-10
100100 lations committed against Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, 11
101101 Kyrgyz, and members of other Muslim minority 12
102102 groups. These abuses include the arbitrary detention 13
103103 of more than 1,000,000 Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, 14
104104 Kyrgyz, and members of other Muslim minority 15
105105 groups, separation of working age adults from their 16
106106 children and elderly parents, and the integration of 17
107107 forced labor into supply chains. 18
108108 (5) Those held in detention facilities and intern-19
109109 ment camps in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous 20
110110 Region have described forced political indoctrination, 21
111111 torture, beatings, food deprivation, sexual assault, 22
112112 coordinated campaigns to reduce birth rates among 23
113113 Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims through forced 24
114114 sterilization, and denial of religious, cultural, and 25
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117117 •HR 2349 IH
118118 linguistic freedoms. These victims have confirmed 1
119119 they were told by guards that the only way to secure 2
120120 their release was to demonstrate adequate political 3
121121 loyalty. Poor conditions and lack of medical treat-4
122122 ment at such facilities appear to have contributed to 5
123123 the deaths of some detainees, including the elderly 6
124124 and infirm. Recent media reports indicate that since 7
125125 2019 the Government of the People’s Republic of 8
126126 China has newly constructed, expanded, or fortified 9
127127 at least 60 detention facilities with higher security 10
128128 or prison-like features. 11
129129 (6) In September 2018, United Nations High 12
130130 Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet 13
131131 noted ‘‘the deeply disturbing allegations of large- 14
132132 scale arbitrary detentions of Uyghurs and other 15
133133 Muslim communities, in so-called reeducation camps 16
134134 across Xinjiang’’. 17
135135 (7) In 2019, the Congressional-Executive Com-18
136136 mission on China concluded that, based on available 19
137137 evidence, the establishment and actions committed in 20
138138 the internment camps in Xinjiang Uyghur Autono-21
139139 mous Region may constitute ‘‘crimes against human-22
140140 ity’’. 23
141141 (8) Uyghurs and ethnic Kazaks resettled or re-24
142142 siding in third countries report being subjected to 25
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145145 •HR 2349 IH
146146 threats and harassment from People’s Republic of 1
147147 China officials. 2
148148 (9) There is a backlog of approximately 3.6 mil-3
149149 lion visa applicants waiting to enter the United 4
150150 States. Wait times for certain visas are between 5 5
151151 and 18 years. 6
152152 SEC. 3. DESIGNATION OF CERTAIN RESIDENTS OF THE 7
153153 XINJIANG UYGHUR AUTONOMOUS REGION. 8
154154 (a) I
155155 NGENERAL.—Persons of special humanitarian 9
156156 concern eligible for Priority 2 processing under the refugee 10
157157 resettlement priority system shall include the following: 11
158158 (1) Individuals who are residents of or fled the 12
159159 Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region who suffered 13
160160 persecution or have a well-founded fear of persecu-14
161161 tion on account of their peaceful expression of polit-15
162162 ical opinions, religious or cultural beliefs, or peaceful 16
163163 participation in political, religious, or cultural activi-17
164164 ties or associations. 18
165165 (2) Individuals residing in other provinces of 19
166166 China, or individuals not firmly resettled in third 20
167167 countries, who fled the Xinjiang Uyghur Autono-21
168168 mous Region because of the causes described in 22
169169 paragraph (1). 23
170170 (3) Individuals who have been formally charged, 24
171171 detained, or convicted on account of their peaceful 25
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174174 •HR 2349 IH
175175 actions as described in the Uyghur Human Rights 1
176176 Policy Act of 2020 (Public Law 116–145). 2
177177 (4) The spouses, children, and parents (as such 3
178178 terms are defined in subsections (a) and (b) of sec-4
179179 tion 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 5
180180 U.S.C. 1101)) of individuals described in paragraph 6
181181 (1), (2), or (3), except such parents who are citizens 7
182182 of a country other than the People’s Republic of 8
183183 China. 9
184184 (b) P
185185 ROCESSING OF XINJIANGUYGHURAUTONO-10
186186 MOUSREGIONREFUGEES.—The processing of individuals 11
187187 described in subsection (a) for classification as refugees 12
188188 may occur in China or in a third country. 13
189189 (c) E
190190 LIGIBILITY FORADMISSION ASREFUGEES.—An 14
191191 alien may not be denied the opportunity to apply for ad-15
192192 mission as a refugee under this section primarily because 16
193193 such alien— 17
194194 (1) qualifies as an immediate relative of a cit-18
195195 izen of the United States; or 19
196196 (2) is eligible for admission to the United 20
197197 States under any other immigrant classification. 21
198198 (d) F
199199 ACILITATION OFADMISSIONS.—Certain appli-22
200200 cants for admission to the United States from the 23
201201 Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, as described in sub-24
202202 section (a), may not be denied primarily on the basis of 25
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205205 •HR 2349 IH
206206 a politically, religiously, or culturally motivated arrest, de-1
207207 tention, or other adverse government action taken against 2
208208 such applicant as a result of the participation by such ap-3
209209 plicant in protest activities. 4
210210 (e) E
211211 XCLUSIONFROMNUMERICALLIMITATIONS.— 5
212212 Aliens provided refugee status under this section shall not 6
213213 be counted against any numerical limitation under section 7
214214 201, 202, 203, or 207 of the Immigration and Nationality 8
215215 Act (8 U.S.C. 1151, 1152, 1153, or 1157). 9
216216 (f) P
217217 RIORITY.—The Secretary of State shall prioritize 10
218218 bilateral diplomacy with third countries hosting former 11
219219 residents from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, 12
220220 as described in subsection (a), and who face significant 13
221221 diplomatic pressure from the Government of the People’s 14
222222 Republic of China. 15
223223 (g) R
224224 EPORTINGREQUIREMENTS.— 16
225225 (1) I
226226 N GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 17
227227 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and 18
228228 every 90 days thereafter, the Secretary of State and 19
229229 the Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit a 20
230230 report on the matters described in paragraph (2) 21
231231 to— 22
232232 (A) the Committee on the Judiciary and 23
233233 the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Sen-24
234234 ate; and 25
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237237 •HR 2349 IH
238238 (B) the Committee on the Judiciary and 1
239239 the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House 2
240240 of Representatives. 3
241241 (2) M
242242 ATTERS TO BE INCLUDED .—Each report 4
243243 required by paragraph (1) shall include— 5
244244 (A) the total number of applications that 6
245245 are pending at the end of the reporting period; 7
246246 (B) the average wait times and number of 8
247247 applicants who are currently pending— 9
248248 (i) a pre-screening interview with a re-10
249249 settlement support center; 11
250250 (ii) an interview with U.S. Citizenship 12
251251 and Immigration Services; 13
252252 (iii) the completion of security checks; 14
253253 and 15
254254 (iv) receipt of a final decision after 16
255255 completion of an interview with U.S. Citi-17
256256 zenship and Immigration Services; and 18
257257 (C) the number of denials of applications 19
258258 for refugee status, disaggregated by the reason 20
259259 for each such denial. 21
260260 (3) F
261261 ORM.—Each report required by paragraph 22
262262 (1) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may 23
263263 include a classified annex. 24
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266266 •HR 2349 IH
267267 (4) PUBLIC REPORTS.—The Secretary of State 1
268268 shall make each report submitted under this sub-2
269269 section available to the public on the internet website 3
270270 of the Department of State. 4
271271 (h) S
272272 ATISFACTION OF OTHERREQUIREMENTS.— 5
273273 Aliens eligible under this section for Priority 2 processing 6
274274 under this section as Priority 2 refugees of special human-7
275275 itarian concern under the refugee resettlement priority 8
276276 system shall be considered to satisfy the requirements 9
277277 under section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 10
278278 (8 U.S.C. 1157) for admission to the United States. 11
279279 SEC. 4. WAIVER OF IMMIGRANT STATUS PRESUMPTION. 12
280280 (a) I
281281 NGENERAL.—The presumption under the first 13
282282 sentence of section 214(b) of the Immigration and Nation-14
283283 ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1184(b)) that every alien is an immi-15
284284 grant until the alien establishes that the alien is entitled 16
285285 to nonimmigrant status shall not apply to an alien de-17
286286 scribed in subsection (b). 18
287287 (b) A
288288 LIENDESCRIBED.— 19
289289 (1) I
290290 N GENERAL.—An alien described in this 20
291291 paragraph is an alien who— 21
292292 (A) on January 1, 2023, was a resident of 22
293293 the Xinjiang Special Administrative Region; 23
294294 (B) fled the Xinjiang Special Administra-24
295295 tive Region after June 30, 2009, and now re-25
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298298 •HR 2349 IH
299299 sides in a different province of China or third 1
300300 country; 2
301301 (C) is seeking entry to the United States 3
302302 to apply for asylum under section 208 of the 4
303303 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 5
304304 1158); and 6
305305 (D) is facing repression in the Xinjiang 7
306306 Uyghur Autonomous Region by the Government 8
307307 of the People’s Republic of China including— 9
308308 (i) forced and arbitrary detention in-10
309309 cluding in internment and so-called re-edu-11
310310 cation camps; 12
311311 (ii) forced political indoctrination, tor-13
312312 ture, beatings, food deprivation, and denial 14
313313 of religious, cultural, and linguistic free-15
314314 doms; 16
315315 (iii) forced labor; 17
316316 (iv) forced separation from family 18
317317 members; or 19
318318 (v) other forms of systemic threats, 20
319319 harassment, and gross human rights viola-21
320320 tions. 22
321321 (2) E
322322 XCLUSION.—An alien described in this 23
323323 paragraph does not include any alien who— 24
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327327 (A) is a citizen or permanent resident of a 1
328328 country other than the People’s Republic of 2
329329 China; or 3
330330 (B) is determined to have committed a 4
331331 gross violation of human rights. 5
332332 (c) I
333333 NTENTION TOABANDONFOREIGNRESI-6
334334 DENCE.—The fact that an alien described in this section 7
335335 is or was the beneficiary of an application for refugee sta-8
336336 tus, or is seeking entry to the United States to apply for 9
337337 asylum under section 208 of the Immigration and Nation-10
338338 ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1158), shall not constitute evidence 11
339339 of an intention to abandon a foreign residence for pur-12
340340 poses of obtaining or maintaining the status of a non-13
341341 immigrant described in section 101(a)(15) of the Immi-14
342342 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)). 15
343343 SEC. 5. REFUGEE AND ASYLUM DETERMINATIONS UNDER 16
344344 THE IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY ACT. 17
345345 (a) P
346346 ERSECUTION ON ACCOUNT OFPOLITICAL, RE-18
347347 LIGIOUS, ORCULTURALEXPRESSION ORASSOCIATION.— 19
348348 (1) I
349349 N GENERAL.—In the case of an alien who 20
350350 is within a category of aliens established under this 21
351351 Act, the alien may establish, for purposes of section 22
352352 3(a)(1) of this Act, that the alien has a well-founded 23
353353 fear of persecution on account of race, religion, na-24
354354 tionality, membership in a particular social group, or 25
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358358 political opinion by asserting such a fear and assert-1
359359 ing a credible basis for concern about the possibility 2
360360 of such persecution. 3
361361 (2) N
362362 ATIONALS OF THE PEOPLE ’S REPUBLIC OF 4
363363 CHINA.—For purposes of refugee determinations 5
364364 under this Act in accordance with section 207 of the 6
365365 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1157), a 7
366366 national of the People’s Republic of China whose 8
367367 residency in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Re-9
368368 gion, or any other area within the jurisdiction of the 10
369369 People’s Republic of China, as determined by the 11
370370 Secretary of State, is revoked for having submitted 12
371371 to any United States Government agency a nonfrivo-13
372372 lous application for refugee status, asylum, or any 14
373373 other immigration benefit under the immigration 15
374374 laws shall be considered to have suffered persecution 16
375375 on account of political opinion. 17
376376 (b) C
377377 HANGEDCIRCUMSTANCES.—For purposes of 18
378378 asylum determinations under this Act in accordance with 19
379379 section 208 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 20
380380 U.S.C. 1158), the revocation of the citizenship, nation-21
381381 ality, or residency of an individual for having submitted 22
382382 to any United States Government agency a nonfrivolous 23
383383 application for refugee status, asylum, or any other immi-24
384384 gration benefit under the immigration laws shall be con-25
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387387 •HR 2349 IH
388388 sidered to be a changed circumstance under subsection 1
389389 (a)(2)(D) of that section. 2
390390 (c) D
391391 EFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the 3
392392 term ‘‘immigration laws’’ has the meaning given such term 4
393393 in section 101(a)(17) of the Immigration and Nationality 5
394394 Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(17)). 6
395395 SEC. 6. STATEMENT OF POLICY ON ENCOURAGING ALLIES 7
396396 AND PARTNERS TO MAKE SIMILAR ACCOM-8
397397 MODATIONS. 9
398398 It is the policy of the United States to encourage al-10
399399 lies and partners of the United States to make accom-11
400400 modations similar to the accommodations made in this Act 12
401401 for residents of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region 13
402402 who are fleeing oppression by the Government of the Peo-14
403403 ple’s Republic of China. 15
404404 SEC. 7. TERMINATION. 16
405405 This Act, and the amendments made by this Act, 17
406406 shall cease to have effect on the date that is 10 years after 18
407407 the date of the enactment of this Act. 19
408408 Æ
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