USA Act of 2023
Latest action. Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Updated Standards for Asylum Act of 2023 or the USA Act of 2023
This bill modifies standards and requirements related to individuals seeking asylum.
For an individual to establish a credible fear of persecution, the bill requires it to be more probable than not that the statements in support of the claim are true.
The bill also imposes certain rules relating to credible fear interviews, including requirements for recordings and interpreters. For example, the Department of Homeland Security must establish procedures to ensure that individuals subject to expedited removal are questioned in a uniform manner and that the questions and answers are recorded in a uniform fashion.
The bill also bars an individual from seeking asylum if that individual may be safely removed to a third country (i.e., not the individual's country of nationality), whereas currently this bar only applies if such removal is to a third country pursuant to an agreement with the United States.
If an individual is granted asylum because of fear of persecution in a country, the individual shall be deemed to have renounced asylum status by returning to that country, if there has been no change in the country's conditions.
Any individual who knowingly and willfully makes materially false statements or uses fraudulent documents in asylum-related proceedings shall be fined or imprisoned up to 10 years, or both.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on May 11, 2023. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on May 11, 2023: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 118th Congress (2023-24), 274 of the 16,565 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 1.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
John Carter (R-TX) introduced it on May 11, 2023. No cosponsors are recorded.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on May 11, 2023, 1218 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 1218 days ago, on May 11, 2023.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 118th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2025 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers