We have had. no doubt. serious problems and abuses with our asylum system. In the past. too many nonmeritorious claims have been filed. and the result has been a massive backlog of pending claims that has prevented or delayed more legitimate claims from being processed. I do not believe. however. that sort of abuse is adequate justification to place countless obstacles in front of those who have legitimate asylum claims. Moreover. before we consider passing any heavyhanded reforms. we should remember that the Clinton administration has made tremendous progress in reforming the asylum system in just the past year or so. As a result of these new reforms. in the past year alone. new asylum claims have been cut in half and INS has more then doubled their productivity in terms of processing new claims. Mr. President. these promising reforms are in their infancy and we should be very careful not to mandate any new restrictions that will impede the progress INS is now making and prevent legitimate claims from being considered in as expedited fashion as possible. The summary exclusion provisions in this legislation are unnecessarily harsh and make little sense. This provision states that if you are living in a country where you are being persecuted. if the regime you are living under is oppressive. and you are forced to falsify your papers in order to gain safe passage to the United States--this legislation says that you are unwelcome in the United States. It literally shuts the door on thousands of asylum seekers who find themselves in this position. Mr. President. I do not understand what the authors of this language could possibly be thinking. Often we hear the wellpublicized cases of persons seeking asylum in this country. whether it is Fidel Castros daughter or members of the Cuban national baseball team. But most people who are seeking asylum arent relatives of celebrities. or famous national athletes. Often. they are working people. who are being imprisoned and often tortured for their religious or political views. How can we expect these people to walk into a government agency in their home country and obtain the necessary paperwork to leave that country?
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asylum claims seeking asylum asylum seekers