Speech #1040109929

The system is easy to exploit. By simply stepping off a plane and proclaiming the magic words "political asylum." an individual gains special status that enables him to stay in the United States until his claim is verified. The lengthy and cumbersome process of reviewing asylum cases is filled with opportunities for an individual. with no legitimate claim of political asylum. to slip away and become part of our Nations everincreasing population of illegal immigrants. New Jersey has become a major center for illegal immigrants. The INS ranks my State sixth in the Nation in the number of illegal immigrants. Of the thousands of people who arrive each year in the New YorkNew Jersey area seeking political asylum. only 1.6 percent are actually detained until the outcome of their claim is determined. The sheer volume of asylum claims and the severe shortage of detention facilities. has forced the Immigration and Naturalization Service to release a vast majority of those awaiting adjudication of their claim of political asylum. They are set freereleased on their own recognizance and told to return on a specified date for a hearing. At least onethird of those set free will never be seen again. They simply disappear. joining the ranks of the illegal immigrant population in our area. Of all the political asylum claims. only 10 to 15 percent are found to be legitimate by the INS and are granted permission to remain in the United States. The others are ordered back to their homeland. But when the time comes to report for deportation. the vast majoritymore than 90 percentdo not show up. And in all likelihood will never be found. They too have joined the illegal immigrant population. The backlog of pending asylum applications has swelled to almost 450.000 cases. leading to extensive delays. Those unfortunate individuals with legitimate claims of political as asylum are forced to spend months and even years in this country living with the uncertainty of not knowing whether they will be forced to return to their homeland. The facts leave little doubt that the current system of political asylum is out of control.