Congress Eases Asylum Rules
That Shut Out Terror Victims And U.S. Allies Like The Hmong, The Montagnards, And Refugees From Iraq And Afghanistan

WASHINGTON (Friday, Dec. 21) – Reforms to allow thousands of persecuted refugees to seek U.S. asylum -- refugees who have been barred because they were members of armed groups that were allied with or supported by the United States or who were forced to offer food, shelter or other services to designated terrorist groups -- are headed to the President for signing.

The changes were included in the annual budget bill for the State Department and for foreign operations, which is part of the omnibus appropriations bill approved this week by the Senate and the House.  The "material support" reforms were authored by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee panel that wrote the State Department budget sections of the bill.  Leahy's reforms initially passed the Senate in September.  The Leahy provisions were modified by an amendment negotiated earlier by Leahy and Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.).  The reforms include a carve-out for Vietnam-era allies such as the Hmong tribesman of Laos and the Montagnards of Vietnam, and for child soldiers and others whose affiliation with proscribed organizations was involuntary.

"The illogical rules that now apply are an affront to our values and our honor,” said Leahy.  “Many of these people were our allies.  They were there for us when we needed them, and we should not turn our backs when they need the safety of our shores.  This reform is a step in the right direction, to bring our law more in line with our values.”

Overbroad changes in the law made in the PATRIOT and REAL ID Acts have been used to bar refugees and asylum seekers who were either members of groups that fought on the side of the United States -- such as the Hmong, the Montagnards, and the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan -- or who were the victims of terrorist groups and forced to provide goods or services.  Leahy said, “It is unconscionable that a woman, forced at knifepoint to cook or carry water for a terrorist group, is then denied entry to the United States as a refugee for having provided ‘material support.’  That is not what the law intended, and my amendment will fix it.”

Leahy noted that these overly broad restrictions have kept thousands of refugees and hundreds of asylum seekers in limbo.  Bush Administration officials belatedly have acknowledged that they have been slow to deal with this problem and that the law needs to be changed.  Meanwhile an additional problem has been looming: Iraqi refugees, thousands of whom the President agrees should be admitted to the United States, but many of whom have been barred from admission until the law was fixed.  

Leahy's reforms themselves will not raise the number of refugees admitted to the United States, which is determined by the numerical limit the President sets each year and by the amount Congress appropriates for refugee admissions.

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