S. 4771

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4771 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4771

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to require the Secretary 
of Homeland Security to collect a fee for credible fear interviews, and 
for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

June 11, 2026

Mr. Scott of Florida 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 require the Secretary 
of Homeland Security to collect a fee for credible fear interviews, 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 ``Protecting Asylum Integrity Act''.

SEC. 2. CREDIBLE FEAR PROCESSING FEE.

(a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et 
seq.) expressly authorizes the Secretary of Homeland Security 
to prescribe and collect fees for the processing of immigration 
applications, benefits, and claims, including through the 
Immigration Examinations Fee Account established under section 
286(m) of that Act (8 U.S.C. 1356(m)).
(2) The credible fear interview required under section 
235(b)(1) of that Act (8 U.S.C. 1225(b)(1)) is a statutorily 
mandated component of the expedited removal process and serves 
as the threshold step for individuals seeking to pursue asylum 
or other protection claims.
(3) Credible fear screenings impose substantial 
administrative, personnel, and operational costs on U.S. 
Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Department of 
Homeland Security, including costs relating to officer time, 
interpreter services, detention support, and downstream 
processing of positive determinations.
(4) A reasonable user fee for credible fear processing--
(A) is consistent with longstanding congressional 
policy of recovering costs associated with immigration 
claims processing;
(B) promotes fiscal responsibility;
(C) deters the filing of frivolous or meritless 
claims; and
(D) generates revenue that can be used to support 
border security and immigration enforcement activities.
(5) The imposition of such a fee is a budgetary measure 
that will increase Federal revenues.
(b) Credible Fear Processing Fee.--Section 235(b)(1) of the 
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1225(b)(1)) is amended by 
adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
``(H) Fee for credible fear processing.--
``(i) In general.--The Secretary of 
Homeland Security shall assess and collect a 
fee of not less than $100 for each credible 
fear interview conducted under this paragraph. 
Such fee shall be collected before such 
interview is conducted.
``(ii) Adjustment for inflation.--The 
amount of the fee under clause (i) shall be 
adjusted annually, beginning in fiscal year 
2027, for inflation using the Consumer Price 
Index for All Urban Consumers published by the 
Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the same manner 
as civil monetary penalties are adjusted under 
the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation 
Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 1990 (Public 
Law 101-410; 28 U.S.C. 2461 note).
``(iii) Deposit of fees.--Notwithstanding 
any other provision of law, 50 percent of the 
fees collected under this subparagraph shall be 
deposited into the Immigration Examinations Fee 
Account established under section 286(m) and 
shall be available to U.S. Citizenship and 
Immigration Services, without further 
appropriation, for processing and operations. 
The remaining 50 percent of such fees collected 
shall be deposited into the general fund of the 
Treasury.''.
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