Intelligence Bill won't harm refugees

Human Rights First -- Media Alert

For Immediate Release: December 7, 2004

Contact: Tioka Tokedira (212) 845 5246

Intelligence Bill Agreement Strikes Provisions that Harm
Refugees

House and Senate Ready to Act on 9/11 Commission Recommendations

On Monday, December 6, House and Senate negotiators reached
final agreement on the "Intelligence Reform and Terrorism
Prevention Act of 2004". This legislation will enact most of the
recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.

The House-Senate compromise struck a number of misguided
provisions from the House-passed version that would have harmed
refugees and resulted in sending people back to face torture.
These provisions had not been recommended by the 9/11
Commission. The congressional leadership of both parties and the
White House opposed efforts to include the anti-refugee
provisions in the final legislation.

"These provisions would have put the lives of refugees at real
risk," said Cory Smith, Legislative Counsel for Human Rights
First. "The fact that they were dropped is a victory for
America's commitment to protecting the persecuted."

Among the bipartisan group of Members of Congress who played a
key role in opposing the anti-refugee provisions were Senators
Susan Collins (R-ME), Joe Lieberman (D-CT), Richard Durbin
(D-IL), and Sam Brownback (R-KS), and Representatives Jane
Harman (D-CA), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), and Chris Smith (R-NJ).
"This dedicated and determined group of Congressional leaders,
joined by several of their colleagues, understand that victims
of persecution and torture are our ideological allies in the
struggle against terrorism. They deserve tremendous credit for
recognizing that provisions targeting refugees have no place in
a bill to enhance our security," Smith added.

Lawmakers who pressed to include the draconian asylum provisions
have vowed to resurrect them next year. "We remain very
concerned that certain House Members will continue their efforts
next year to advance provisions that target refugees and torture
survivors," Smith noted. "We intend to keep a close eye on that
beginning in January, and will again be ready to mobilize
friends on Capitol Hill and others concerned about refugees to
fight any new attempts to pass such legislation."

The final agreement does include a requirement that the General
Accounting Office (GAO), Congress' investigative arm, conduct a
study and report, "to evaluate the extent to which weaknesses in
the United States asylum system and withholding of removal
system have been or could be exploited by aliens connected to,
charged in connection with, or tied to terrorist activity."

Background

On October 8, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 10, the
"9/11 Recommendations Implementation Act", which included
harmful anti-refugee provisions that were not recommended by the
9/11 Commission. The Senate version of the bill did not include
these harmful provisions. Later that month the Senate and House
met in a conference to try to reconcile their different versions
of the legislation.

On November 20, House and Senate conferees first reached a
compromise agreement, but later the same day the deal fell apart
when key House Republicans would not agree to the deal - despite
its support from the White House and House Speaker, among
others. While disagreement over the provisions of the bill
concerning the structure of the intelligence community played a
central role in the failure to reach an agreement, the
insistence of some Members - led by House Judiciary Committee
Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) -- on including several
anti-refugee provisions also was an important factor in the
breakdown.

Leaders from both parties resisted efforts to include these
provisions, which would have allowed non-citizens - including
those who are likely to face torture - to be deported without an
immigration court hearing; made it much more difficult for
genuine refugees to prove their asylum cases; and deprived
victims of torture and other persecution of meaningful judicial
review. Congressional leaders then took the unusual step of
returning to Washington on December 6 to try one final time to
enact the 9/11 legislation - an effort that proved successful
after agreement on the core intelligence reform issues and
decision to drop the objectionable anti-refugee provisions.

For more information on this legislation, the specific
anti-refugee provisions included in the original House bill, and
the bipartisan opposition to them:
http://action.humanrightsfirst.org/ct/21wVaMs1DpVI/

More on Asylum
http://action.humanrightsfirst.org/ct/MpwVaMs1DpVg/

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