I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2349
To designate residents of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region as Priority
2 refugees of special humanitarian concern, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH25, 2025
Mr. S
UBRAMANYAM (for himself, Mr. MEEKS, Ms. SALAZAR, Mr. CONNOLLY,
Ms. T
OKUDA, Mr. BEYER, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. NUNNof Iowa, Mr. CAR-
SON, Mr. MAGAZINER, Ms. TITUS, Mr. MOULTON, and Mr.
K
RISHNAMOORTHI) introduced the following bill; which was 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 Speak-
er, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the ju-
risdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To designate residents of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous
Region as Priority 2 refugees of special humanitarian
concern, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Uyghur Human Rights 4
Protection Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
Congress makes the following findings: 7
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(1) The Government of the People’s Republic of 1
China has a long history of repressing Turkic Mus-2
lims and other Muslim minority groups, particularly 3
Uyghurs, in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Re-4
gion (‘‘Xinjiang’’ or ‘‘XUAR’’), also known as East 5
Turkestan. Central and regional Chinese government 6
policies have systematically discriminated against 7
these minority groups by denying them a range of 8
civil and political rights, particularly freedom of reli-9
gion. 10
(2) In May 2014, the Government of the Peo-11
ple’s Republic of China launched its latest ‘‘Strike 12
Hard Against Violent Extremism’’ campaign, using 13
wide-scale, internationally linked threats of terrorism 14
as a pretext to justify pervasive restrictions on and 15
serious human rights violations against members of 16
ethnic minority communities in Xinjiang. The Au-17
gust 2016 appointment of former Tibet Autonomous 18
Region Party Secretary Chen Quanguo to be Party 19
Secretary of the XUAR accelerated the crackdown 20
across the region. Scholars, human rights organiza-21
tions, journalists, and think tanks have provided 22
ample evidence substantiating the establishment by 23
the Government of the People’s Republic of China of 24
internment camps. Since 2017, the Government of 25
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the People’s Republic of China has detained more 1
than 1,000,000 Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, 2
and members of other Muslim minority groups in 3
these camps. The total ethnic minority population of 4
Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region was approxi-5
mately 13,000,000 at the time of the last census 6
conducted by the People’s Republic of China in 7
2010. 8
(3) The Government of the People’s Republic of 9
China’s actions against Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, 10
Kyrgyz, and members of other Muslim minority 11
groups in Xinjiang violate international human 12
rights laws and norms, including— 13
(A) the International Convention on the 14
Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimina-15
tion, to which the People’s Republic of China 16
has acceded; 17
(B) the Convention against Torture and 18
Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment 19
or Punishment, which the People’s Republic of 20
China has signed and ratified; 21
(C) the Convention on the Prevention and 22
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which 23
the People’s Republic of China has signed and 24
ratified; 25
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(D) the International Covenant on Civil 1
and Political Rights, which the People’s Repub-2
lic of China has signed; and 3
(E) the Universal Declaration of Human 4
Rights and the International Labor Organiza-5
tion’s Force Labor Convention (no. 29) and the 6
Abolition of Forced Labor Convention (no. 7
105). 8
(4) Senior Chinese Communist Party officials 9
bear direct responsibility for gross human rights vio-10
lations committed against Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, 11
Kyrgyz, and members of other Muslim minority 12
groups. These abuses include the arbitrary detention 13
of more than 1,000,000 Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, 14
Kyrgyz, and members of other Muslim minority 15
groups, separation of working age adults from their 16
children and elderly parents, and the integration of 17
forced labor into supply chains. 18
(5) Those held in detention facilities and intern-19
ment camps in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous 20
Region have described forced political indoctrination, 21
torture, beatings, food deprivation, sexual assault, 22
coordinated campaigns to reduce birth rates among 23
Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims through forced 24
sterilization, and denial of religious, cultural, and 25
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linguistic freedoms. These victims have confirmed 1
they were told by guards that the only way to secure 2
their release was to demonstrate adequate political 3
loyalty. Poor conditions and lack of medical treat-4
ment at such facilities appear to have contributed to 5
the deaths of some detainees, including the elderly 6
and infirm. Recent media reports indicate that since 7
2019 the Government of the People’s Republic of 8
China has newly constructed, expanded, or fortified 9
at least 60 detention facilities with higher security 10
or prison-like features. 11
(6) In September 2018, United Nations High 12
Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet 13
noted ‘‘the deeply disturbing allegations of large- 14
scale arbitrary detentions of Uyghurs and other 15
Muslim communities, in so-called reeducation camps 16
across Xinjiang’’. 17
(7) In 2019, the Congressional-Executive Com-18
mission on China concluded that, based on available 19
evidence, the establishment and actions committed in 20
the internment camps in Xinjiang Uyghur Autono-21
mous Region may constitute ‘‘crimes against human-22
ity’’. 23
(8) Uyghurs and ethnic Kazaks resettled or re-24
siding in third countries report being subjected to 25
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threats and harassment from People’s Republic of 1
China officials. 2
(9) There is a backlog of approximately 3.6 mil-3
lion visa applicants waiting to enter the United 4
States. Wait times for certain visas are between 5 5
and 18 years. 6
SEC. 3. DESIGNATION OF CERTAIN RESIDENTS OF THE 7
XINJIANG UYGHUR AUTONOMOUS REGION. 8
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Persons of special humanitarian 9
concern eligible for Priority 2 processing under the refugee 10
resettlement priority system shall include the following: 11
(1) Individuals who are residents of or fled the 12
Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region who suffered 13
persecution or have a well-founded fear of persecu-14
tion on account of their peaceful expression of polit-15
ical opinions, religious or cultural beliefs, or peaceful 16
participation in political, religious, or cultural activi-17
ties or associations. 18
(2) Individuals residing in other provinces of 19
China, or individuals not firmly resettled in third 20
countries, who fled the Xinjiang Uyghur Autono-21
mous Region because of the causes described in 22
paragraph (1). 23
(3) Individuals who have been formally charged, 24
detained, or convicted on account of their peaceful 25
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actions as described in the Uyghur Human Rights 1
Policy Act of 2020 (Public Law 116–145). 2
(4) The spouses, children, and parents (as such 3
terms are defined in subsections (a) and (b) of sec-4
tion 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 5
U.S.C. 1101)) of individuals described in paragraph 6
(1), (2), or (3), except such parents who are citizens 7
of a country other than the People’s Republic of 8
China. 9
(b) P
ROCESSING OF XINJIANGUYGHURAUTONO-10
MOUSREGIONREFUGEES.—The processing of individuals 11
described in subsection (a) for classification as refugees 12
may occur in China or in a third country. 13
(c) E
LIGIBILITY FORADMISSION ASREFUGEES.—An 14
alien may not be denied the opportunity to apply for ad-15
mission as a refugee under this section primarily because 16
such alien— 17
(1) qualifies as an immediate relative of a cit-18
izen of the United States; or 19
(2) is eligible for admission to the United 20
States under any other immigrant classification. 21
(d) F
ACILITATION OFADMISSIONS.—Certain appli-22
cants for admission to the United States from the 23
Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, as described in sub-24
section (a), may not be denied primarily on the basis of 25
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a politically, religiously, or culturally motivated arrest, de-1
tention, or other adverse government action taken against 2
such applicant as a result of the participation by such ap-3
plicant in protest activities. 4
(e) E
XCLUSIONFROMNUMERICALLIMITATIONS.— 5
Aliens provided refugee status under this section shall not 6
be counted against any numerical limitation under section 7
201, 202, 203, or 207 of the Immigration and Nationality 8
Act (8 U.S.C. 1151, 1152, 1153, or 1157). 9
(f) P
RIORITY.—The Secretary of State shall prioritize 10
bilateral diplomacy with third countries hosting former 11
residents from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, 12
as described in subsection (a), and who face significant 13
diplomatic pressure from the Government of the People’s 14
Republic of China. 15
(g) R
EPORTINGREQUIREMENTS.— 16
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 17
after the date of the enactment of this Act, and 18
every 90 days thereafter, the Secretary of State and 19
the Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit a 20
report on the matters described in paragraph (2) 21
to— 22
(A) the Committee on the Judiciary and 23
the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Sen-24
ate; and 25
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(B) the Committee on the Judiciary and 1
the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House 2
of Representatives. 3
(2) M
ATTERS TO BE INCLUDED .—Each report 4
required by paragraph (1) shall include— 5
(A) the total number of applications that 6
are pending at the end of the reporting period; 7
(B) the average wait times and number of 8
applicants who are currently pending— 9
(i) a pre-screening interview with a re-10
settlement support center; 11
(ii) an interview with U.S. Citizenship 12
and Immigration Services; 13
(iii) the completion of security checks; 14
and 15
(iv) receipt of a final decision after 16
completion of an interview with U.S. Citi-17
zenship and Immigration Services; and 18
(C) the number of denials of applications 19
for refugee status, disaggregated by the reason 20
for each such denial. 21
(3) F
ORM.—Each report required by paragraph 22
(1) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may 23
include a classified annex. 24
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(4) PUBLIC REPORTS.—The Secretary of State 1
shall make each report submitted under this sub-2
section available to the public on the internet website 3
of the Department of State. 4
(h) S
ATISFACTION OF OTHERREQUIREMENTS.— 5
Aliens eligible under this section for Priority 2 processing 6
under this section as Priority 2 refugees of special human-7
itarian concern under the refugee resettlement priority 8
system shall be considered to satisfy the requirements 9
under section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 10
(8 U.S.C. 1157) for admission to the United States. 11
SEC. 4. WAIVER OF IMMIGRANT STATUS PRESUMPTION. 12
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The presumption under the first 13
sentence of section 214(b) of the Immigration and Nation-14
ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1184(b)) that every alien is an immi-15
grant until the alien establishes that the alien is entitled 16
to nonimmigrant status shall not apply to an alien de-17
scribed in subsection (b). 18
(b) A
LIENDESCRIBED.— 19
(1) I
N GENERAL.—An alien described in this 20
paragraph is an alien who— 21
(A) on January 1, 2023, was a resident of 22
the Xinjiang Special Administrative Region; 23
(B) fled the Xinjiang Special Administra-24
tive Region after June 30, 2009, and now re-25
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sides in a different province of China or third 1
country; 2
(C) is seeking entry to the United States 3
to apply for asylum under section 208 of the 4
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 5
1158); and 6
(D) is facing repression in the Xinjiang 7
Uyghur Autonomous Region by the Government 8
of the People’s Republic of China including— 9
(i) forced and arbitrary detention in-10
cluding in internment and so-called re-edu-11
cation camps; 12
(ii) forced political indoctrination, tor-13
ture, beatings, food deprivation, and denial 14
of religious, cultural, and linguistic free-15
doms; 16
(iii) forced labor; 17
(iv) forced separation from family 18
members; or 19
(v) other forms of systemic threats, 20
harassment, and gross human rights viola-21
tions. 22
(2) E
XCLUSION.—An alien described in this 23
paragraph does not include any alien who— 24
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(A) is a citizen or permanent resident of a 1
country other than the People’s Republic of 2
China; or 3
(B) is determined to have committed a 4
gross violation of human rights. 5
(c) I
NTENTION TOABANDONFOREIGNRESI-6
DENCE.—The fact that an alien described in this section 7
is or was the beneficiary of an application for refugee sta-8
tus, or is seeking entry to the United States to apply for 9
asylum under section 208 of the Immigration and Nation-10
ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1158), shall not constitute evidence 11
of an intention to abandon a foreign residence for pur-12
poses of obtaining or maintaining the status of a non-13
immigrant described in section 101(a)(15) of the Immi-14
gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)). 15
SEC. 5. REFUGEE AND ASYLUM DETERMINATIONS UNDER 16
THE IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY ACT. 17
(a) P
ERSECUTION ON ACCOUNT OFPOLITICAL, RE-18
LIGIOUS, ORCULTURALEXPRESSION ORASSOCIATION.— 19
(1) I
N GENERAL.—In the case of an alien who 20
is within a category of aliens established under this 21
Act, the alien may establish, for purposes of section 22
3(a)(1) of this Act, that the alien has a well-founded 23
fear of persecution on account of race, religion, na-24
tionality, membership in a particular social group, or 25
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political opinion by asserting such a fear and assert-1
ing a credible basis for concern about the possibility 2
of such persecution. 3
(2) N
ATIONALS OF THE PEOPLE ’S REPUBLIC OF 4
CHINA.—For purposes of refugee determinations 5
under this Act in accordance with section 207 of the 6
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1157), a 7
national of the People’s Republic of China whose 8
residency in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Re-9
gion, or any other area within the jurisdiction of the 10
People’s Republic of China, as determined by the 11
Secretary of State, is revoked for having submitted 12
to any United States Government agency a nonfrivo-13
lous application for refugee status, asylum, or any 14
other immigration benefit under the immigration 15
laws shall be considered to have suffered persecution 16
on account of political opinion. 17
(b) C
HANGEDCIRCUMSTANCES.—For purposes of 18
asylum determinations under this Act in accordance with 19
section 208 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 20
U.S.C. 1158), the revocation of the citizenship, nation-21
ality, or residency of an individual for having submitted 22
to any United States Government agency a nonfrivolous 23
application for refugee status, asylum, or any other immi-24
gration benefit under the immigration laws shall be con-25
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sidered to be a changed circumstance under subsection 1
(a)(2)(D) of that section. 2
(c) D
EFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the 3
term ‘‘immigration laws’’ has the meaning given such term 4
in section 101(a)(17) of the Immigration and Nationality 5
Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(17)). 6
SEC. 6. STATEMENT OF POLICY ON ENCOURAGING ALLIES 7
AND PARTNERS TO MAKE SIMILAR ACCOM-8
MODATIONS. 9
It is the policy of the United States to encourage al-10
lies and partners of the United States to make accom-11
modations similar to the accommodations made in this Act 12
for residents of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region 13
who are fleeing oppression by the Government of the Peo-14
ple’s Republic of China. 15
SEC. 7. TERMINATION. 16
This Act, and the amendments made by this Act, 17
shall cease to have effect on the date that is 10 years after 18
the date of the enactment of this Act. 19
Æ
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