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HR 4650
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Safe Return Act

To amend the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 to establish a repatriation grant program.

Introduced Jul 23, 2025

Latest action (Jul 23, 2025) Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Referred to
Foreign Affairs Committee
Policy area
International Affairs

Summary
  • The bill converts the State Department's repatriation loan program to a grant program for U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and third-country nationals needing assistance to return to the United States.
  • Destitute U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents can now receive grants instead of loans for repatriation assistance.
  • The bill removes loan-specific provisions and requirements, such as repayment terms and written loan agreements.
  • The Secretary of State must update the Foreign Affairs Manual to reflect the change from loans to grants.

AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.

Sponsor (1)
2 cosponsors

Actions (2)
  1. Jul 23, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. · house
  2. Jul 23, 2025 Introduced in House

Text versions (1)
  • Introduced in House · Jul 23, 2025

Only one text version is on file, so there’s no earlier version to compare against yet.

Full text

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

July 23, 2025

Mr. Espaillat (for himself, Ms. Velazquez, and Mr. Nadler) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

A BILL

To amend the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 to establish a repatriation grant program.

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 “Safe Return Act”.

SEC. 2. REPATRIATION GRANT PROGRAM.

(a) In General.—Section 4 of the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2671) is amended—

(1) in subsection (b)(2)—

(A) in subparagraph (A), by amending clause (ii) to read as follows:

“(ii) private United States citizens, lawful permanent residents of the United States, or third-country nationals, on a grant basis, to the maximum extent practicable;”;

(B) in subparagraph (B)—

(i) by striking “loans” and inserting “grants”;

(ii) by inserting “and destitute lawful permanent residents of the United States” after “destitute citizens of the United States”; and

(iii) by adding at the end before the semicolon the following: “and lawful permanent residents”; and

(2) in subsection (d)—

(A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking “loan” and inserting “grant”;

(B) in paragraph (1)—

(i) by striking “borrower” and inserting “grantee”; and

(ii) by adding “and” at the end;

(C) in paragraph (2), by striking “a written loan agreement” and all that follows and inserting “a written grant agreement.”; and

(D) by striking paragraphs (3) through (11).

(b) Update to Foreign Affairs Manual.—The Secretary of State shall update the “Repatriation Loans” section of the Foreign Affairs Manual to reflect the amendments made by subsection (a). <all>

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