Speech #1040181189

Mr. President. this is the first anniversary of a major initiative by the Immigration and Naturalization Service to reduce illegal immigration by cracking down on fraudulent asylum claims. One year ago. INS Commissioner Doris Meissner put new regulations into effect which have more than doubled the number of asylum officers. increased the number of immigration judges and streamlined the asylum application process. The results have been dramatic. In 1 year. there has been a 57 percent reduction in new asylum applications. Clearly. there has been a reduction in the filing of fraudulent claims. In addition. 84 percent of new asylum claims are now heard by INS within 60 days. This initiative is a major success story in the Clinton administrations ongoing effort to combat illegal immigration. In coming weeks. the Senate Judiciary Committee will recommend comprehensive immigration reforms. A large part of these reforms focus on the need to reduce illegal immigration. including steps to deal with abuse of the right of asylum. As the INS has shown. asylum abuse can be remediedwithout denying true refugees the right to apply for asylum. They deserve adequate time to learn how to apply for asylum. overcome their fear of authority. and obtain help with their applications. We must avoid unfair restrictions that result in real harm to true refugees. I ask unanimous consent that recent articles on the major progress against asylum abuse be printed in the RECORD.