New Policies Allow Innocent Victims of Terrorism Chance for Refuge, Says Becket FundSep 20, 2007 New language in the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill will correct policies that "confused victims of terrorism with terrorists" and prevented innocent refugees in need of protection from seeking asylum in the United States, according to a statement of support submitted on September 18 by The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law. The 2001 PATRIOT Act permitted overbroad applications of the “material support to terrorist organizations” bar to refugee status. Terrorist organizations have compelled certain asylum seekers to pay ransoms, provide services, and conscript to their militias. In particular, religious minorities such as the Assyrian Christians, the Chaldeans, the Hmong (Southeast Asia), the Mandaens (Iraq/Iran), the Montagnards (Vietnam) and the Yezidi (Iraq) are targeted by terrorist organizations because of their vulnerability in society. In the past, the United States has barred these persecuted peoples from seeking refuge within its borders because they had provided "material support" to terrorist organizations. The new policy recognizes the torturous choice these refuge seekers face, and allows those who pose no danger to the United States to escape persecution and resettle within the U.S. The letter sent by the Becket Fund expresses support for the new language: "U.S. security policies in the war on terror have helped to protect Americans from terrorist threats, but we must remember what is threatened - the very concept of freedom. The civil liberties for which we are fighting should thus be central to our foreign policy. Through this legislation's establishment of a more accurate and efficient system for determining refugee status, the United States government declares that in fighting terrorism, America has remembered one of the cornerstones of any free society - the right to religious expression without fear of terror."
To read the entire letter, click here.
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