Durbin Chairs Hearing on 'Material Support' Bar

Press Release

Durbin Chairs Hearing on 'Material Support' Bar

United States Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today chaired a hearing examining the controversial provision of U.S. immigration law known as the "material support" bar. The material support bar allows the government to deny asylum and refugee claims from anyone who has provided anything from small financial payments to meals and shelter to "terrorist organizations." Unfortunately the bar often applies to victims of human rights abuses or to people forced or coerced into aiding these groups.

"Over the last 30 years, the United States has resettled over 2.6 million refugees from around the world," Durbin said. "However, current law is barring some individuals from finding safe haven in America. Children kidnapped and forced to fight for militias; nurses made, at gun point, to provide medical support to rebels; and families forced to dig graves for paramilitaries all are being denied asylum for giving ‘material support' to terrorist organizations. We need to do better."

The hearing, in the Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law, focused on the government's implementation of the material support bar, including the case of a Columbian nurse who was forced to provide medical aid to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia, or FARC guerrillas. The nurse has been denied asylum in the United States because the government considers medical care to be material support.

The terms of the "material support" bar are defined very broadly and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has applied them in a sweeping manner. Pro-democracy groups have been included, in addition to groups who have fought side-by-side with US forces in past conflicts.

Testifying at the hearing were representatives for the Department of Homeland Security, Human Rights First, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and "Mariana" - the Columbian nurse forced to treat FARC forces.

"In 1997, I was giving a presentation with a doctor for a health campaign," Mariana testified. "During the talk, an audience member collapsed, so the doctor and I attended to him while the other attendees left. But the fallen man suddenly began to laugh, and two other men came over, identified themselves as FARC members, kidnapped and physically assaulted while forcing me to treat guerrilla forces. This went on for months." Because of the risk to her and her family, "Mariana", whose real name was disguised to protect her identity, testified from behind a screen.

Senator Durbin became the Chairman of the first ever congressional committee dealing specifically with human rights this January. The Senate Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law has jurisdiction over all human rights law and polices, including genocide, human trafficking, war crimes and torture. The Subcommittee's first hearing, this February, was on the genocide in Darfur and it has also held hearings on human trafficking and child soldiers.

The "material support" bar was raised in April's hearing on child soldiers. Because of the unique nature of this issue and the groups of people affected by the bar, Durbin agreed to hold a hearing devoted entirely to bar.

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