§2. Admission of refugees
This section revises the refugee admissions process under INA §207(a) (8 U.S.C. 1157(a)) by replacing the prior President-determined annual ceiling (with no specified minimum) with a new formula of not fewer than 125,000 refugees justified by humanitarian concerns or the national interest, plus an additional number admitted through community or private sponsorship providing initial reception and placement services; establishes a default ceiling of 125,000 if no presidential determination is made before the fiscal year begins; and requires federal officers responsible for refugee admissions or resettlement to treat such determinations as numerical goals.
The section further (1) requires the President, in making determinations, to consider the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' (UNHCR) most recent projected global resettlement needs; (2) mandates regional allocations reflecting UNHCR projections for the following calendar year, an assessment justifying regional priorities, or both, including an unallocated reserve usable by the Secretary of State after committee notification; and (3) adds new subsections (g) and (h) requiring quarterly reports to the Senate and House Judiciary Committees (with subsection (g) reports also published publicly) on admissions numbers and percentages (quarterly, cumulative, projected, and regional), enhanced security checks by nationality, and circuit ride processing details (e.g., officer deployments, interviews by location and type, video teleconferencing use, and scheduled rides).