Asylum Reform and Loophole Closure Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3488 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 3488

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to modify eligibility for 
                    asylum, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           December 16, 2025

  Mr. Cotton introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to modify eligibility for 
                    asylum, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Asylum Reform and Loophole Closure 
Act''.

SEC. 2. MODIFICATION OF ASYLUM ELIGIBILITY.

    (a) In General.--Section 208 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 
(8 U.S.C. 1158) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(2)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (A)--
                            (i) by striking ``if the Attorney General 
                        determines that'' and inserting ``if the 
                        Attorney General or the Secretary of Homeland 
                        Security determines that--'';
                            (ii) by striking ``the alien may be'' and 
                        inserting the following:
                            ``(i) the alien may be'';
                            (iii) by inserting ``or the Secretary of 
                        Homeland Security'' before ``finds that'';
                            (iv) by striking the period at the end and 
                        inserting ``; or''; and
                            (v) adding at the end the following:
                            ``(ii) the alien entered, attempted to 
                        enter, or arrived in the United States after 
                        transiting through at least one country outside 
                        the alien's country of nationality (or, in the 
                        case of an alien having no nationality, the 
                        country of the alien's last habitual residence) 
                        en route to the United States, unless the alien 
                        demonstrates that he or she applied for 
                        protection from persecution or torture in each 
                        such country through which the alien so 
                        transited, and the alien received a final 
                        judgement denying the alien protection in such 
                        country.'';
                    (B) by striking subparagraphs (B) and (D);
                    (C) by redesignating subparagraphs (C) and (E) as 
                subparagraphs (B) and (C), respectively;
                    (D) in subparagraph (B), as redesignated, by 
                striking ``Subject to subparagraph (D), paragraph (1)'' 
                and inserting ``Paragraph (1)''; and
                    (E) in subparagraph (C), as redesignated, by 
                striking ``Subparagraphs (A) and (B)'' and inserting 
                ``Subparagraph (A)''.
    (b) Permanent Ineligibility for Illegal Entry or Visa Fraud.--
Section 208(b)(2)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
1158(b)(2)(A)) is amended--
            (1) in clause (v), by striking ``; or'' and inserting a 
        semicolon;
            (2) in clause (vi), by striking the period at the end and 
        inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
                            ``(vii) the alien--
                                    ``(I) has committed, or attempted 
                                to commit, unlawful entry in violation 
                                of section 275; or
                                    ``(II) has attempted to enter or 
                                has obtained entry to the United States 
                                by a willfully false or misleading 
                                representation or the willful 
                                concealment of a material fact, 
                                including by attempting to obtain or 
                                obtaining a fraudulent visa.''.
    (c) Higher Standard for Establishing Credible Fear of 
Persecution.--Section 235(b)(1)(B)(v) of the Immigration and 
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1225(b)(1)(B)(v)) is amended by striking 
``there is a significant possibility'' and inserting ``it is more 
likely than not''.
    (d) Permissible Period of Family Detention.--During expedited 
removal or asylum proceedings under section 235 of the Immigration and 
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1225), a child may be detained together with 
his or her parent for a period of not more than 180 days.
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