Speech #1040204776

President. with regard to the LeahySimon amendment. let me say that this amendment is an improvement of the amendment that Senator LEAHY offered in the Judiciary Committee. because it will permit for special summary exclusion procedures in extraordinary migration -situations. The amendment will remove summary exclusion procedures where they could be problematic. In partir7ular. the amendment removes the summary exclusion procedures for asylum applicants. Those would rcoquire that INS officers at points of entry make threshold determinations of how an alien traveled to the United States and whether someone claiming asylum has a credible fear of persecution. This would present a burden to our INS officers at borders. who would now have to become experts in asylum law and would have to perform additional bureaucratic functions. I am also concerned about the harsh consequences that could result to asylum applicants who do have a valid claim but who may not speak English. may not have the necessary proof of their claim with them. and that sort of thing. I also note that the INS has had success with reducing frivolous asylum claims. T1is provision seems unnecessary at this Uime and could create burdens on INS border agents. who should be focussing on other matters. This amendment also deletes provisions of the bill providing that an alien using fraudulent documents for entry is excludable and ineligible for withholding of deportation. Many asylum applicants fleeing persecution may have to destroy their documents for various reasons and may have to present fraudulent documents. The bill does provide for an exception for those who have a valid asylum claim. Accordingly. I do not think those provisions of the bill are as problematic. but I think that on the whole the provisions of the amendment are meritorious and I support the amendment. I realize that the terrorism bill that came out of conference included summary exclusion provisions for asylum applicants. That provision was primarily driven by some House Members and. although I did not think it belonged in the terrorism bill. I knew that we would deal with this here on the immigration bill. Accordingly. I do not think it is inconsistent for those who supported the terrorism bill to support the Leahy asylum amendment.