GRACE Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The GRACE Act amends section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act so annual refugee admissions equal at least the President-determined humanitarian number, not fewer than 125,000, plus refugees admitted through community or private sponsorship. If the President fails to issue a determination before the fiscal year starts, the default admission number is 125,000. The bill requires federal refugee officers to treat those figures as numerical goals, directs the President to consider UNHCR global resettlement needs, requires regional allocations and an unallocated reserve, and imposes extensive quarterly public reporting on admissions, processing timelines, security checks, circuit rides, regional performance, and corrective action if quarterly progress falls below 25 percent of the annual goal.
Who Benefits and How
Refugees needing third-country resettlement, community sponsors, private sponsors, domestic resettlement agencies, and congressional oversight committees benefit from a floor that limits sharp admission cuts, expands sponsor capacity, and gives Congress processing data.
Who Bears the Burden and How
USCIS refugee officers, State Department refugee staff, community sponsors, private sponsors, domestic resettlement agencies, and federal taxpayers must comply with higher admission goals, prepare reports, provide reception and placement services, and pay or administer the expanded processing workload.
Key Provisions
- Requires a refugee-admissions floor of at least 125,000 when the President sets annual admissions or fails to set them.
- Creates a community and private sponsorship pathway in addition to traditional resettlement agencies.
- Directs regional allocations to consider UNHCR projected global resettlement needs and permits an unallocated reserve.
- Requires quarterly public reports and corrective action when admissions lag annual goals.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Sets a 125,000 annual refugee-admissions floor, creates a community and private sponsorship pathway, and adds regional allocation, processing, corrective-action, and quarterly reporting requirements for federal refugee admissions.
Key Policy Areas
Immigration, Foreign Entities, Social Services, Government, Non-Profit Institutions
Primary Purpose
Sets a 125,000 annual refugee-admissions floor, creates a community and private sponsorship pathway, and adds regional allocation, processing, corrective-action, and quarterly reporting requirements for federal refugee admissions.
Policy Domains
Substantive provisions
Identified Gains
- Refugees needing resettlement
- Community refugee sponsors
- Private refugee sponsors
- Congressional oversight committees
Identified Costs
- USCIS refugee officers
- State Department refugee staff
- Domestic resettlement agencies
- Federal taxpayers
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMs. Lofgren (for herself, Mr. Moulton, Ms. Ansari, Ms. Tlaib, …
Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Introduced in House
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Congressional oversight committees, State Department refugee staff, USCIS refugee officers
Positive-direction: Congressional oversight committees
Negative-direction: State Department refugee staff, USCIS refugee officers
Community refugee sponsors, Private refugee sponsors
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology