Presidential DocumentExecutive Order 138152017-23630
Resuming the United States Refugee Admissions Program With Enhanced Vetting Capabilities
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Published
October 27, 2017
Signed
October 24, 2017
Issuing agencies
Executive Office of the President
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 82 Issue 207 (Friday, October 27, 2017)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 207 (Friday, October 27, 2017)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 50055-50058]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2017-23630]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 82 , No. 207 / Friday, October 27, 2017 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 50055]]
Executive Order 13815 of October 24, 2017
Resuming the United States Refugee Admissions
Program With Enhanced Vetting Capabilities
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, including the Immigration and Nationality Act
(INA), 8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq., and section 301 of title
3, United States Code, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Policy. (a) It is the policy of the United
States to protect its people from terrorist attacks and
other public-safety threats. Screening and vetting
procedures associated with determining which foreign
nationals may enter the United States, including
through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP),
play a critical role in implementing that policy. Those
procedures enhance our ability to detect foreign
nationals who might commit, aid, or support acts of
terrorism, or otherwise pose a threat to the national
security or public safety of the United States, and
they bolster our efforts to prevent such individuals
from entering the country.
(b) Section 5 of Executive Order 13780 of March 6,
2017 (Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist
Entry into the United States), directed the Secretary
of State, the Attorney General, the Secretary of
Homeland Security, and the Director of National
Intelligence to develop a uniform baseline for
screening and vetting standards and procedures
applicable to all travelers who seek to enter the
United States. A working group was established to
satisfy this directive.
(c) Section 6(a) of Executive Order 13780 directed
a review to strengthen the vetting process for the
USRAP. It also instructed the Secretary of State to
suspend the travel of refugees into the United States
under that program, and the Secretary of Homeland
Security to suspend decisions on applications for
refugee status, subject to certain exceptions. Section
6(a) also required the Secretary of State, in
conjunction with the Secretary of Homeland Security and
in consultation with the Director of National
Intelligence, to conduct a 120-day review of the USRAP
application and adjudication process in order to
determine, and implement, additional procedures to
ensure that individuals seeking admission as refugees
do not pose a threat to the security and welfare of the
United States. Executive Order 13780 noted that
terrorist groups have sought to infiltrate several
nations through refugee programs and that the Attorney
General had reported that more than 300 persons who had
entered the United States as refugees were then the
subjects of counterterrorism investigations by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation.
(d) The Secretary of State convened a working group
to implement the review process under section 6(a) of
Executive Order 13780. This review was informed by the
development of uniform baseline screening and vetting
standards and procedures for all travelers under
section 5 of Executive Order 13780. The section 6(a)
working group compared the process for screening and
vetting refugees with the uniform baseline standards
and procedures established by the section 5 working
group. The section 6(a) working group identified
several ways to enhance the process for screening and
vetting refugees and began implementing those
improvements.
(e) The review process for refugees required by
Executive Order 13780 has made our Nation safer. The
improvements the section 6(a) working group has
identified will strengthen the data-collection process
for all refugee applicants considered for resettlement
in the United States. They will also
[[Page 50056]]
bolster the process for interviewing refugees through
improved training, fraud-detection procedures, and
interagency information sharing. Further, they will
enhance the ability of our systems to check biometric
and biographic information against a broad range of
threat information contained in various Federal
watchlists and databases.
(f) Section 2 of Proclamation 9645 of September 24,
2017 (Enhancing Vetting Capabilities and Processes for
Detecting Attempted Entry into the United States by
Terrorists or Other Public-Safety Threats), suspended
and limited, subject to exceptions and case-by-case
waivers, the entry into the United States of foreign
nationals of eight countries. As noted in that
Proclamation, those suspensions and limitations are in
the interest of the United States because of certain
deficiencies in those countries' identity-management
and information-sharing protocols and procedures, and
because of the national security and public-safety
risks that emanate from their territory, including
risks that result from the significant presence of
terrorists within the territory of several of those
countries.
(g) The entry restrictions and limitations in
Proclamation 9645 apply to the immigrant and
nonimmigrant visa application and adjudication
processes, which foreign nationals use to seek
authorization to travel to the United States and apply
for admission. Pursuant to section 3(b)(iii) of
Proclamation 9645, however, those restrictions and
limitations do not apply to those who seek to enter the
United States through the USRAP.
(h) Foreign nationals who seek to enter the United
States with an immigrant or nonimmigrant visa stand in
a different position from that of refugees who are
considered for entry into this country under the USRAP.
For a variety of reasons, including substantive
differences in the risk factors presented by the
refugee population and in the quality of information
available to screen and vet refugees, the refugee
screening and vetting process is different from the
process that applies to most visa applicants. At the
same time, the entry of certain refugees into the
United States through the USRAP poses unique security
risks and considerable domestic challenges that require
the application of substantial resources.
Sec. 2. Resumption of the U.S. Refugee Admissions
Program. (a) Section 6(a) of Executive Order 13780
provided for a temporary, 120-day review of the USRAP
application and adjudication process and an
accompanying worldwide suspension of refugee travel to
the United States and of application decisions under
the USRAP. That 120-day period expires on October 24,
2017. Section 6(a) further provided that refugee travel
and application decisions could resume after 120 days
for stateless persons and for the nationals of
countries for which the Secretary of State, the
Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director of
National Intelligence jointly determine that the
additional procedures identified through the USRAP
review process are adequate to ensure the security and
welfare of the United States. The Secretary of State,
the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director of
National Intelligence have advised that the
improvements to the USRAP vetting process are generally
adequate to ensure the security and welfare of the
United States, that the Secretary of State and
Secretary of Homeland Security may resume that program,
and that they will apply special measures to certain
categories of refugees whose entry continues to pose
potential threats to the security and welfare of the
United States.
(b) With the improvements identified by the section
6(a) working group and implemented by the participating
agencies, the refugee screening and vetting process
generally meets the uniform baseline for immigration
screening and vetting established by the section 5
working group. Accordingly, a general resumption of the
USRAP, subject to the conditions set forth in section 3
of this order, is consistent with the security and
welfare of the United States.
(c) The suspension of the USRAP and other processes
specified in section 6(a) of Executive Order 13780 are
no longer in effect. Subject to the conditions set
forth in section 3 of this order, the Secretary of
State may resume
[[Page 50057]]
travel of qualified and appropriately vetted refugees
into the United States, and the Secretary of Homeland
Security may resume adjudicating applications for
refugee resettlement.
Sec. 3. Addressing the Risks Presented by Certain
Categories of Refugees. (a) Based on the considerations
outlined above, including the special measures referred
to in subsection (a) of section 2 of this order,
Presidential action to suspend the entry of refugees
under the USRAP is not needed at this time to protect
the security and interests of the United States and its
people. The Secretary of State and the Secretary of
Homeland Security, however, shall continue to assess
and address any risks posed by particular refugees as
follows:
(i) The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall
coordinate to assess any risks to the security and welfare of the United
States that may be presented by the entry into the United States through
the USRAP of stateless persons and foreign nationals. Under section 207(c)
and applicable portions of section 212(a) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1157(c) and
1182(a), section 402(4) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, 6 U.S.C.
202(4), and other applicable authorities, the Secretary of Homeland
Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State, shall determine, as
appropriate and consistent with applicable law, whether any actions should
be taken to address the risks to the security and welfare of the United
States presented by permitting any category of refugees to enter this
country, and, if so, what those actions should be. The Secretary of State
and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall administer the USRAP
consistent with those determinations, and in consultation with the Attorney
General and the Director of National Intelligence.
(ii) Within 90 days of the date of this order and annually thereafter, the
Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State
and the Director of National Intelligence, shall determine, as appropriate
and consistent with applicable law, whether any actions taken to address
the risks to the security and welfare of the United States presented by
permitting any category of refugees to enter this country should be
modified or terminated, and, if so, what those modifications or
terminations should be. If the Secretary of Homeland Security, in
consultation with the Secretary of State, determines, at any time, that any
actions taken pursuant to section 3(a)(i) should be modified or terminated,
the Secretary of Homeland Security may modify or terminate those actions
accordingly. The Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of State
shall administer the USRAP consistent with the determinations made under
this subsection, and in consultation with the Attorney General and the
Director of National Intelligence.
(b) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the
Attorney General shall, in consultation with the
Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland
Security, and in cooperation with the heads of other
executive departments and agencies as he deems
appropriate, provide a report to the President on the
effect of refugee resettlement in the United States on
the national security, public safety, and general
welfare of the United States. The report shall include
any recommendations the Attorney General deems
necessary to advance those interests.
Sec. 4. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order
shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or
the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with
applicable law and subject to the availability of
appropriations.
[[Page 50058]]
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not,
create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural,
enforceable at law or in equity by any party against
the United States, its departments, agencies, or
entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any
other person.
<GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT>
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
October 24, 2017.
[FR Doc. 2017-23630
10-26-17; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3295-F8-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on October 27, 2017.
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