Speech #1040204687

Mr. President. I want to emphasize that the bill provides very clearly an opportunity for every single person. every single person without documents. or with fraudulent documentsplease hear thisfraudulent documents or proper. documents allow every person to seek asylum. A specially trained asylum officer will hear his or her case. This is the key. I want my friend from Vermont to share with me in the debate as we do this. which he will in fairness. A specially trained asylum officer will hear his or her case. and if the alien is found to have a "credible fear of persecution." he or she will be provided a fullfullasylum hearing. However. if he or she does not have such a credible claim. he or she will be subject to the summary exclusion procedures as will all persons who enter without documents or with fraudulent documents. There is discussion about persons not being permitted to apply for asylum if they do not travel directly from the country in which they allegedly have a fear of persecution. This is always a difficult situation because we find people who will leave the country where they are being persecuted legitimately. or. if they are just simply using an inappropriate way to get here. they will go to one. or two. or three other countries all of which might be democracies. all of which would be free countries. all of which would be giving the precious refuge of a refugee or an aslyee. The only difference between a refugee and an aslyee Is a refugee is over in the home country and an aslyee is here. They are absolutely the same. But the term is used "aslyee" when they are here. and "refugee" when they are there. So the United States cannot be expected to provide asylum. I am not talking about asylum. I am talking about people who are fleeing persecution or have a wellfounded fear of persecution based on race. religion. national origin. or membership in a social or political organization. That is an aslyee. That is a refugee. That is the definition under the law of the United States of America and the United Nations. We will always provide asylum. There are some great asyleereceiving countries in the world. Two of them have completely revised their asylum laws because of the absolute gimmickry that is taking place. One is my native land. my original native land. Holland. the most open country in the world. a country that gave solace and comfort to fleeing Jews 500 years ago and to those fleeing Nazi Germany. They have now changed their asylum laws the same as we are doing in order to avoid gimmickry. The other country is Germany. After the war. the horror of the war. and the imprint of the Nazis upon the German people. who were appalledI believe this because I lived among them for 2 years--appalled at the Nazi regime. real Germans are appalled by that. They realized that. because of what they had done during the war. they made the broadest. most extensive asylum laws in the world because they had to. people were watching them after the war. And being the most generous country. they have had now to simply shut down the process because of gimmickry. So it is important to know that those who come from a safe country where they could have obtained asylumnormally someone who is fleeing.