Speech #1010044721

Unwrapped. this bill will be seen to make unfair. unnecessary. and unprecedented changes in the law. Proponents of H.R. 2022 are asking Members to do something they have never done before. They ask us to endorse their selection of several categories of refugees for preferential treatment. They ask you to make that commitment the law of the land. To make it U.S. policy. Such preferential treatment in law is unprecedented and unfair. It is unfair to those among the millions of African refugees who may seek asylum in the United States. It says to them that U.S. refugee policy will discriminate among which refugees to accept first worldwide. It is unfair to the hundreds of thousands of Central and South American refugees who would seek asylum in this country. It says to them that U.S. refugee policy is political and Hispanics dont yet have enough political clout to force open the door for their brothers and sisters. It is unfair to the individual man. woman. or child anywhere in the world who is fleeing persecution and seeks asylum in the United States. It says to that man. that woman. that child. "While you may have lived in daily fear of persecution. you must wait." The U.S. Congress. the House of Representatives. would say that certain other groups of people. groups of people that may or may not be similarly persecuted. are to be brought to the head of the line and given assistance first to the United States. It says to the individual Filipino refugee who has family here in the United States. "You must continue to wait 10 years for approval." It offers no explanation why preference and immediate entry is to be granted to others. many of whom have no family in the United States. American citizens have a right to expect that their national refugee policy will be consistent and even handed. that it will treat all refugees fairly. H.R. 2022 does not meet this test. It is not consistent with the even handed approach adopted by the Congress in the 1980 Refugee Act. It makes preferential treatment for some a matter of public policy. I know of no way that I could explain such a policy to a black or Hispanic constituent who might come to me with a specific case of a family member or friend suffering persecution in another country.