Despite evidence of
enormous levels of fraud, the Obama Administration eases asylum/refugee
application processes for questionable applicants out of Middle East hot spots.
On the heels of a public
revelation that a federal government report exists showing that as many as 70%
of all asylum claims are fraudulent, the Obama Administration has released
details of their plans to ignore that report and go forward with rule changes
which make it easier to qualify for asylum in the United States. Details of the
proposed rule changes relating to asylum appear in the article, below. It is
interesting to note that, although this government report on asylum fraud was
completed almost 5 years ago, it was not made “available” until now.
In light of this
information, the question needs to be asked: Is there no shame among those in
the Administration who, in the face of the reported outrageously high level of
fraud, would make it even easier to qualify for this important benefit?
As one who, for six years,
oversaw the processing of tens of thousands of Soviet, Iraqi, and Iranian
Refugees, it is my opinion that this decision is indeed a threat to our
national security.
Ben Ferro
benferro@insideins.com
Obama Administration Will Ease
Rules For Refugees, Asylum Seekers
The new definition of what
it means to provide “material support” to terrorists comes after years of
complaints from human rights advocates that the old rules led to the exclusion
of vulnerable refugees who pose no harm.
Among those turned away in
recent months were a Syrian refugee who paid an opposition group to gain safe
passage out of Syria and a farmer who paid tolls to a resistance group to cross a bridge to
take his food to market, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
The new rules exempt people
with no tangible connection to terrorism who nevertheless provided material
support, as long as it was insignificant in amount or rendered incidentally in
the course of everyday interactions or under significant pressure. The
exemptions were published Wednesday in the Federal Register.
Laws passed in the wake of
the Sept. 11, 2001 ,
attacks barred admission of those who provided support to terrorists, and
critics said the laws were so broadly applied that they led to the unfair
exclusion of tens of thousands of refugees.
“It resulted in deserving
refugees and asylees being barred from the United States for actions so tangential and minimal that no
rational person would consider them supporters of terrorist activities,” said
Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“These changes help return our nation to its historic role as a welcoming
sanctuary to the world’s most vulnerable populations.”
The U.S. granted asylum to almost 12,000 people in 2012, out
of 44,000 who sought it, according to Justice Department statistics.
As about 2.4 million
refugees of the conflict in Syria have made their way to Lebanon , Jordan , Turkey , Iraq and Egypt , human rights groups are pushing the U.S. to resettle at least 15,000 people a year.
“Several of the scenarios
covered by these exemptions should not have been treated as ‘terrorist
activity’ in the first place,” said Anwen Hughes, an asylum expert at the
advocacy group Human Rights First. “We welcome these announcements for the
practical relief they will provide to many refugees, but regret that the
administration has not taken this opportunity to adopt a more sensible
interpretation of the underlying statute, which is being applied to bar thousands
of refugees from protection in the United States .”
Reprinted from an article by Christi Parsons, The
Los Angeles Times
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