S 643 · 96th Congress · Immigration

Refugee Act of 1979

Introduced 1979-03-13· Sponsored by Sen. Kennedy, Edward M. [D-MA]· Senate

Bill Progress

1
Introduced
2
Committee
Senate Vote
4
House
Enacted
Latest: Public Law 96-212.(1980-03-17)

Recorded Votes

PassedHouse · 1980-03-04
Yea 207Nay 192
PassedHouse · 1980-03-04
Yea 207Nay 192

Plain Language Summary

[AI summary unavailable — showing source text] Refugee Act of 1979 - Title I: Purpose - Declares the purpose of this Act to be to provide a permanent and systematic procedure for the admission to this country of refugees of special concern to the United States, and to provide comprehensive and uniform provisions for temporary and transitional assistance to those refugees who are admitted. Title II: Admission of Refugees - Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to define "refugee" as any person who is outside his country of nationality (or in the case of a person having no nationality, is outside any country in which he last habitually resided), and who is unable or unwilling to return to such country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. Provides for up to 50,000 annual refugee admissions, with allocations to groups of refugees as determined by the President to be of special concern to the United States. Directs the President to report annually to the Judiciary Committees of the House and Senate regarding the forseeable numbers of refugees in need of resettlement during the coming fiscal year, and the …

Summarized by Claude AI · Non-partisan · For informational purposes only

Cosponsors (14)

11 Democrats3 Republicans