ERLC opposes asylum changes in terrorist bill

By Tom Strode - Apr 15, 2005

The ERLC is opposed to new legislative language that could hinder refugees fleeing to the United States from religious and political oppression.

The ERLC has joined a coalition of organizations opposing provisions in the REAL ID Act, H.R. 418, that would change federal law regarding asylum for refugees. The bill is intended to strengthen safeguards against terrorist entry into this country, but the revisions to asylum law in section 101 will not provide greater protection for Americans, according to the ERLC.

The changes are “well-meaning attempts” to protect Americans from terrorist attacks, but they “will not keep out an organized, well-financed terrorist,” ERLC Vice President Barrett Duke said at an April 12 Capitol Hill news conference, according to a text of his statement. “They will only deny protection to people who have nowhere else to turn, who believe that the United States is a haven of peace for the oppressed, downtrodden and persecuted people of the world.

“The changes being proposed are ill conceived in large measure because they make the wrong assumptions about the groups of people they are addressing,” said Duke, the ERLC’s VP for public policy and research. “The changes assume that the terrorists we are worried about are ignorant, ill prepared and disorganized—all of which are deadly mischaracterizations—and that the people we want to help are clear headed, well prepared and well acquainted with our asylum system—all of which are too often not the case.”

The U.S. House of Representatives already has passed the measure and sent it to the Senate. The House voted 261-161 for the bill Feb. 10.

The ERLC does not oppose other portions of the bill, only the asylum section.

A summary critique of section 101 includes the following among the asylum provisions in the REAL ID Act that are disconcerting to the organizations: (1) It requires “insurmountable burdens of proof” for refugees to document they have been victims of persecution; (2) it mandates refugees prove the “central” motive of those who persecuted them; (3) it eliminates judicial review of refugees’ cases.

A detailed analysis of section 101 of the legislation is available at
http://www.jubileecampaign.org/home/index.php .

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