Senators Leahy (D-VT) and Levin (D-MI) introduced the Refugee Protection Act of 2010 (S. 3113) on Monday.  The new bill seeks to ensure that legitimate refugees and asylum seekers are protected by the United States.  Key provisions of the bill:

Increased Protections for Asylum Seekers:

• Eliminates the requirement that asylum applicants file their claim within one year of arrival.
• Protects particularly vulnerable asylum seekers by ensuring they can pursue a claim even where their persecution was not socially visible.
• Ensures fair process by requiring an immigration judge to give notice and an opportunity to respond when the judge requires corroborating evidence of the asylum claim.
• Gives an applicant the opportunity to explain and clarify inconsistencies in a claim.
• Enables minors who seek asylum to have an initial interview with an asylum officer in a non-adversarial setting.
• Allows the Attorney General to appoint counsel where fair resolution or effective adjudication of the proceedings would be served by appointment of counsel.

Reforms to the Expedited Removal Process:

• Requires the referral of asylum seekers to an asylum officer for a credible fear interview, and, if credible fear is found, for an asylum interview. 
• Authorizes the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom to conduct a new study on the effects of expedited removal authority on asylum seekers.

Parole of Asylum Seekers:

• Codifies the current DHS policy that asylum seekers be considered for release (“parole”) and requires DHS to issue regulations establishing criteria for parole.
• Establishes a nation-wide, secure “alternatives to detention” program.
• Requires changes in the immigration detention system to ensure asylum seekers and others have access to counsel, medical care, religious practice, and visits from family.

Terrorism Bar to Admissibility:

• Modifies definitions in the statute to ensure that innocent asylum seekers and refugees are not unfairly denied protection as a result of the material support and terrorism bars in the law, while ensuring that those with legitimate ties to terrorist activity will continue to be denied entry to the United States.

Protection for Refugees and Asylees:

• Eliminates the one year waiting period for refugees and asylees to apply for a green card. 
• Allows certain children and family members of refugees to be considered as derivative applicants for refugee status.  All such applicants must pass standard security checks. 
• Authorizes the Secretary of State to designate certain groups as eligible for expedited adjudication as refugees. 
• Prevents newly resettled refugees from slipping into poverty by adjusting the per capita refugee resettlement grant level annually for inflation and the cost of living. 

The bill was praised by immigrant advocacy groups such as the National Immigration Forum, the International Rescue Committee, and the ACLU.