H.R.5878

            I 

116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION H. R. 5878 

To promote the adoption of a binding Global Migration Agreement, and 
for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 12, 2020 
Ms. OMAR introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, 
for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 
for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
committee concerned 

A BILL 
To promote the adoption of a binding Global Migration 

Agreement, and for other purposes. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1

tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Global Migration 4

Agreement Act’’. 5

SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6

Congress finds the following: 7

(1) According to the United Nations High Com-8

missioner on Refugees, there are more than 70 mil-9

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2 

•HR 5878 IH

lion displaced people worldwide, which is the highest 1

figure in recorded history. 2

(2) Among those displaced people are approxi-3

mately 41 million internally displaced people (IDPs), 4

approximately 26 million refugees, and another 3.5 5

million asylum seekers. 6

(3) In addition, there are entire classes of vul-7

nerable migrants who are not accounted for by tradi-8

tional definitions of refugees, IDPs, and asylum 9

seekers, including people forced to flee a broader set 10

of factors, including generational poverty, climate 11

change, or some combination of these factors. 12

(4) As a consequence of the insufficient cat-13

egorizations of vulnerable migrants in domestic and 14

international laws and norms, the actual number of 15

forced migrants is not known and has not been 16

tracked. 17

(5) According to the Internal Displacement 18

Monitoring Center, more than 60 percent of the in-19

ternal displacements in the world in 2017 resulted 20

from disasters as opposed to conflict. 21

(6) In 2018, the World Bank estimated that 22

Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast 23

Asia will generate 143 million more climate migrants 24

by 2050. 25

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3 

•HR 5878 IH

(7) The gender, sex, gender identity, and sexual 1

orientation of migrants shape every stage of the mi-2

gration process. Women and members of the 3

LGBTQIA+ community are disproportionately vul-4

nerable to— 5

(A) gender-based violence and impunity for 6

gender-based violence that serve as root causes 7

of migration; 8

(B) legal discrimination that serves as a 9

root cause for forced migration; 10

(C) gender-based and sexual violence dur-11

ing migration; 12

(D) human trafficking during migration; 13

(E) the denial of the right to health as a 14

root cause of forced migration, during migra-15

tion, and upon arrival; 16

(F) the denial of the right to work and to 17

education as a root cause of forced migration, 18

during migration, and upon arrival; and 19

(G) the denial of other human rights as 20

root causes of forced migration, during migra-21

tion, and upon arrival. 22

(8) Identifying the trigger for a given migrant 23

often does not adequately explain the root causes. 24

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4 

•HR 5878 IH

Root causes of forced migration are often complex 1

and multifaceted, and may include— 2

(A) human rights violations; 3

(B) systematic impunity and corruption; 4

(C) climate change; 5

(D) widespread community violence; 6

(E) gender-based violence; and 7

(F) institutional discrimination. 8

(9) Migrants are particularly vulnerable to— 9

(A) human trafficking; 10

(B) violence and extortion from organized 11

crime; 12

(C) violations of the rights to health, edu-13

cation, and work; and 14

(D) violations of the particular human 15

rights of women, the LGBTQIA+ community, 16

racial minorities, ethnic minorities, indigenous 17

people, religious minorities, and other vulner-18

able populations. 19

(10) Migrants who have arrived in either a host 20

country or, in the case of those internally displaced, 21

a host city or community, are particularly vulnerable 22

to— 23

(A) violations of the right to due process; 24

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5 

•HR 5878 IH

(B) the rights to health, education, and 1

work; and 2

(C) violations of the particular human 3

rights of women, the LGBTQIA+ community, 4

racial minorities, ethnic minorities, indigenous 5

people, religious minorities, and other vulner-6

able populations. 7

(11) In the case of internal displacement, there 8

are inadequate resources for the cities, communities, 9

and other localities that take on a disproportionate 10

burden of forced migration. 11

(12) In the case of cross-border migration, 12

there are inadequate resources for the countries that 13

take on a disproportionate burden of forced migra-14

tion. 15

(13) On September 19, 2016, the United Na-16

tions General Assembly unanimously adopted the 17

New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants. 18

(14) Among the provisions of the New York 19

Declaration for Refugees and Migrants was a com-20

mitment to the creation of a Global Compact for 21

Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration. 22

(15) On December 19, 2018, the United Na-23

tions General Assembly adopted the Global Compact 24

for Migration that emerged from a two-year process, 25

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6 

•HR 5878 IH

with 152 countries voting in favor, 12 abstaining, 24 1

not voting, and 5 voting against. 2

(16) The United States was among the coun-3

tries that voted against the Global Migration Com-4

pact, issuing a statement that said the Compact was 5

‘‘an effort by the United Nations to advance global 6

governance at the expense of the sovereign right of 7

States’’. 8

(17) The United States has demonstrated its 9

commitment to maintaining its historic leadership in 10

the field of global migration by remaining the top 11

funder of the United Nations High Commission on 12

Refugees and the International Organization for Mi-13

gration. 14

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 15

It is the sense of Congress that— 16

(1) the leadership of the United States is para-17

mount to addressing the global forced displacement 18

crisis; 19

(2) in order for the United States to restore its 20

global leadership on the issue of migration, it must 21

reaffirm its commitments in both the domestic and 22

international arena, including by restoring refugee 23

resettlement to adequate levels, affirming and codi-24

fying the rights of asylum seekers, and adequately 25

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7 

•HR 5878 IH

funding the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and 1

Migration of the Department of State; 2

(3) as a first step in taking leadership on the 3

issue of global migration, the United States should 4

sign the existing Global Compact for Migration; 5

(4) as an additional measure to restore Amer-6

ican leadership on global migration issues, the 7

United States should work in bilateral and multilat-8

eral relationships with North American, Central 9

American, and Caribbean Governments to develop a 10

regional migration agreement rooted in the prin-11

ciples outlined in the Global Compact for Migration 12

to be used as a model for the Agreement required 13

by section 4 of this Act; 14

(5) the effects of climate change on displace-15

ment, including both displacement from ‘‘sudden 16

onset’’ natural disasters as well as the increasing 17

scarcity of resources, represent an urgent concern 18

for the United States; 19

(6) countries with less capacity but greater 20

proximity to countries of origin for refugees and asy-21

lum seekers, such as Lebanon, Jordan, Niger, and 22

Colombia, have taken on a disproportionate burden 23

of the global forced displacement crisis; and 24

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8 

•HR 5878 IH

(7) a global migration system with substantial 1

multilateral buy-in is necessary to adequately ad-2

dress the increasing levels of forced migration, and 3

significant institution-building is needed in order to 4

provide adequate protection for migrants at risk. 5

SEC. 4. GLOBAL MIGRATION AGREEMENT. 6

(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State, the 7

United States Permanent Representative to the United 8

Nations, and other officials of the Department of State 9

shall use the voice, vote, and influence of United States 10

in bilateral relationships and multilateral organizations to 11

promote the adoption of a binding Global Migration 12

Agreement that should— 13

(1) address the root causes of migration, the 14

vulnerabilities faced by migrants, and integration of 15

migrants into their new countries; 16

(2) centralize the human rights of migrants, in-17

cluding their rights to health; 18

(3) recognize the particular vulnerabilities of 19

marginalized groups; including women; members of 20

the LGBTQIA+ community; racial, ethnic, and reli-21

gious minorities; and indigenous people; 22

(4) establish clear, ambitious quantitative and 23

qualitative benchmarks according to each country’s 24

capacity and need; 25

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9 

•HR 5878 IH

(5) provide global funding for crisis response in-1

volving migrants at risk, whether their migration is 2

internal or cross-border; 3

(6) establish clear reporting requirements for 4

countries on their progress in achieving the bench-5

marks specified in this subsection; 6

(7) establish mechanisms for support, including 7

funding, for countries and localities taking on a dis-8

proportionate burden of forced migration; 9

(8) expand and revise existing categorizations 10

and definitions of migrants to incorporate classes of 11

vulnerable migrants who are currently unprotected 12

by international norms and laws; and 13

(9) establish clear consensus on the due process 14

rights of migrants, regardless of their motivations 15

for migrating. 16

(b) REPORTS.—Not later than 180 days after the 17

date of the enactment of this Act and every 180 days 18

thereafter, the Secretary of State shall submit to the Com-19

mittee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives 20

and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate 21

a report on progress made toward adopting the Global Mi-22

gration Agreement described in subsection (a). 23

Æ 

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