Friday, October 22, 2004
Refugees at Risk
From an email from a college friend now in law school:
I wanted to pass on some information about a disturbing bill that Congress is currently considering. The House version of the "9/11 Bill" contains some provisions that would have horrible consequences for immigrants, particularly aslyum-seekers. These provisions, which are not included in the Senate version of the bill, go far beyond the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. If the House version is passed it would decrease legal protections for asylum-seekers and increase the chances that people fleeing torture or other persecution would be sent back to the countries from which they have fled.
Please go to the Human Rights First website and TAKE ACTION by sending Senators and Representatives considering the bill an email (already written, you just sign it!) noting your opposition to House provisions!
___________________________________________________________________________
Here is (a lot) more info from Farrin (she's going to make a great lawyer!!! The kind I would want to be!).
Expedites Removal: Deportation without a Hearing
The bill will require deportation without an immigration court hearing of non-citizens who have been in the U.S. for up to five years if they were not formally admitted by immigration authorities. The power to issue these deportation orders, which ordinarily is reserved to trained immigration judges -- will be entrusted to Border Patrol and other immigration enforcement officers. This could result in the summary deportation of people at risk of serious harm if deported, including battered women, children, victims of human trafficking, and Cuban nationals, who currently have the right to present their claims before an immigration judge. The provision will lead to the separation of families, the deportation of individuals who may have a right to remain in the U.S. because of existing family ties, and more cases of improper deportation of refugees who may face persecution upon return, something that Human Rights First has documented under existing expedited procedures. The bill also does not provide a way for people who fear they will be tortured if returned home to request protection they are entitled to under the Convention Against Torture, which the United States has ratified and is obligated to follow.
Adds Hurdles for Asylum Seekers
This section allows genuine refugees to be denied asylum if the State Department fails to document the problems they face, if a prior statement is viewed as inconsistent, if they do not submit corroborating evidence, and if they cannot prove the central reason they were targeted by persecutors.
Refugees often have to flee their countries under conditions that make it difficult, if not impossible, to bring corroborating evidence of their persecution. For instance, the U.S. government and human rights groups have documented how the homes and villages of refugees from the Darfur region of Sudan have been attacked and burned, forcing them to flee for their lives without their belongings. But this bill would allow an otherwise credible asylum seeker to be denied asylum if he cannot provide corroborating documents that an adjudicator thinks he should be able to submit.
Under this provision, refugees can also be denied asylum based on their demeanor or an alleged lack of consistency with a prior statement. The demeanor of a person who has suffered torture or persecution has repeatedly been found to be a poor indicator of credibility. That's not surprising, since victims of trauma often have a flat affect, and have difficulty in making eye contact or discussing the details of abuse. Reliance on demeanor is entirely inappropriate given cultural differences and the impact of torture. The provision could also allow asylum to be denied based on unreliable airport statements prepared when genuine refugees are most unlikely to volunteer information about their fears. A traumatized rape survivor is, for instance, very unlikely to volunteer to an armed border patrol officer that she was raped in her home country.
The bill also places a heightened and unrealistic burden on victims of persecution who are falsely accused of supporting guerilla, militant, or terrorist groups requiring them to show that the central reason for their persecution is their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group. So for instance, a refugee from Darfur whose family was killed and home destroyed after the Sudanese government or Janjaweed militia falsely accused him of supporting the rebel militia could be denied asylum if his persecutors targeted him both because of his race and because of their desire to take his land. Ironically, this provision will actually give a presumption of credibility to repressive regimes around the world who persecute or torture racial or ethnic minorities by accusing them of support for opposition groups.
Deprives Asylum Seekers and Torture Victims of Judicial Review
This section will eliminate stays of removal when a case is being reviewed by a federal court. This means that people in danger of torture or other persecution can be returned to the country that will harm them while their cases are pending before a federal court. The federal court may rule that the person is a refugee who will face persecution if returned, but the refugee may already be back in the hands of her persecutors because the U.S. did not stay her deportation.
Deportation to Torture or Indefinite Detention
The return by the United States of a refugee who is entitled to protection would be a direct violation of our obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention and its Protocol. The return of a person who is likely to face torture would also be a direct violation of U.S. obligations under the Convention Against Torture.
Deportation to Places With No Functioning Government
Section 3033 would allow the U.S. to deport people to places that do not have functioning governments, making these people easy targets for grave human rights abuses. For instance, the provision would allow the U.S. government to send people back to countries like Somalia, where the lack of a functioning government has made conditions so dangerous that the U.S. government will not send its own employees there. Some of those who will be deported are people who have lived in the United States since they were children.
This provision will also allow U.S. immigration officers to deport people to other countries without notice during their immigration court hearings. As a result these people will be deprived of the chance to raise any fears of torture or persecution in these third countries, leading to violations of the Refugee and Torture Conventions.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Refugees I Know
I also just got an email from Hakizimana, a young Burundi client of mine in Egypt. He has been referred by UNHCR to the US for resettlement! Earlier this summer, Mahmoud and Abdihakim, two Somali refugees, were as well. However, the process takes foreva, with lots of waiting and red tape.
Already, two Sudanese interpreters from our office are in the US--one in Utah, the other in Virginia. There is also the possibility that a Sudanese client of mine (my first!) may be in Minnesota, where he brother was already resettled. And a Sudanese friend is in the east of Canada. It makes me so happy to think that they will get a chance at a better life in the West. Living in Egypt, even with refugee status, gives them little opportunity for education or work...
From an email from a college friend now in law school:
I wanted to pass on some information about a disturbing bill that Congress is currently considering. The House version of the "9/11 Bill" contains some provisions that would have horrible consequences for immigrants, particularly aslyum-seekers. These provisions, which are not included in the Senate version of the bill, go far beyond the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. If the House version is passed it would decrease legal protections for asylum-seekers and increase the chances that people fleeing torture or other persecution would be sent back to the countries from which they have fled.
Please go to the Human Rights First website and TAKE ACTION by sending Senators and Representatives considering the bill an email (already written, you just sign it!) noting your opposition to House provisions!
___________________________________________________________________________
Here is (a lot) more info from Farrin (she's going to make a great lawyer!!! The kind I would want to be!).
Expedites Removal: Deportation without a Hearing
The bill will require deportation without an immigration court hearing of non-citizens who have been in the U.S. for up to five years if they were not formally admitted by immigration authorities. The power to issue these deportation orders, which ordinarily is reserved to trained immigration judges -- will be entrusted to Border Patrol and other immigration enforcement officers. This could result in the summary deportation of people at risk of serious harm if deported, including battered women, children, victims of human trafficking, and Cuban nationals, who currently have the right to present their claims before an immigration judge. The provision will lead to the separation of families, the deportation of individuals who may have a right to remain in the U.S. because of existing family ties, and more cases of improper deportation of refugees who may face persecution upon return, something that Human Rights First has documented under existing expedited procedures. The bill also does not provide a way for people who fear they will be tortured if returned home to request protection they are entitled to under the Convention Against Torture, which the United States has ratified and is obligated to follow.
Adds Hurdles for Asylum Seekers
This section allows genuine refugees to be denied asylum if the State Department fails to document the problems they face, if a prior statement is viewed as inconsistent, if they do not submit corroborating evidence, and if they cannot prove the central reason they were targeted by persecutors.
Refugees often have to flee their countries under conditions that make it difficult, if not impossible, to bring corroborating evidence of their persecution. For instance, the U.S. government and human rights groups have documented how the homes and villages of refugees from the Darfur region of Sudan have been attacked and burned, forcing them to flee for their lives without their belongings. But this bill would allow an otherwise credible asylum seeker to be denied asylum if he cannot provide corroborating documents that an adjudicator thinks he should be able to submit.
Under this provision, refugees can also be denied asylum based on their demeanor or an alleged lack of consistency with a prior statement. The demeanor of a person who has suffered torture or persecution has repeatedly been found to be a poor indicator of credibility. That's not surprising, since victims of trauma often have a flat affect, and have difficulty in making eye contact or discussing the details of abuse. Reliance on demeanor is entirely inappropriate given cultural differences and the impact of torture. The provision could also allow asylum to be denied based on unreliable airport statements prepared when genuine refugees are most unlikely to volunteer information about their fears. A traumatized rape survivor is, for instance, very unlikely to volunteer to an armed border patrol officer that she was raped in her home country.
The bill also places a heightened and unrealistic burden on victims of persecution who are falsely accused of supporting guerilla, militant, or terrorist groups requiring them to show that the central reason for their persecution is their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group. So for instance, a refugee from Darfur whose family was killed and home destroyed after the Sudanese government or Janjaweed militia falsely accused him of supporting the rebel militia could be denied asylum if his persecutors targeted him both because of his race and because of their desire to take his land. Ironically, this provision will actually give a presumption of credibility to repressive regimes around the world who persecute or torture racial or ethnic minorities by accusing them of support for opposition groups.
Deprives Asylum Seekers and Torture Victims of Judicial Review
This section will eliminate stays of removal when a case is being reviewed by a federal court. This means that people in danger of torture or other persecution can be returned to the country that will harm them while their cases are pending before a federal court. The federal court may rule that the person is a refugee who will face persecution if returned, but the refugee may already be back in the hands of her persecutors because the U.S. did not stay her deportation.
Deportation to Torture or Indefinite Detention
The return by the United States of a refugee who is entitled to protection would be a direct violation of our obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention and its Protocol. The return of a person who is likely to face torture would also be a direct violation of U.S. obligations under the Convention Against Torture.
Deportation to Places With No Functioning Government
Section 3033 would allow the U.S. to deport people to places that do not have functioning governments, making these people easy targets for grave human rights abuses. For instance, the provision would allow the U.S. government to send people back to countries like Somalia, where the lack of a functioning government has made conditions so dangerous that the U.S. government will not send its own employees there. Some of those who will be deported are people who have lived in the United States since they were children.
This provision will also allow U.S. immigration officers to deport people to other countries without notice during their immigration court hearings. As a result these people will be deprived of the chance to raise any fears of torture or persecution in these third countries, leading to violations of the Refugee and Torture Conventions.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Refugees I Know
I also just got an email from Hakizimana, a young Burundi client of mine in Egypt. He has been referred by UNHCR to the US for resettlement! Earlier this summer, Mahmoud and Abdihakim, two Somali refugees, were as well. However, the process takes foreva, with lots of waiting and red tape.
Already, two Sudanese interpreters from our office are in the US--one in Utah, the other in Virginia. There is also the possibility that a Sudanese client of mine (my first!) may be in Minnesota, where he brother was already resettled. And a Sudanese friend is in the east of Canada. It makes me so happy to think that they will get a chance at a better life in the West. Living in Egypt, even with refugee status, gives them little opportunity for education or work...
