9/11 Used as Smokescreen to Push Cruel Plan to Restrict Asylum

9/11 Used as Smokescreen to Push Cruel Plan to Restrict Asylum

WASHINGTON, DC - Democratic Chief Deputy Whip Diana DeGette (D-CO) criticized a Republican immigration plan as an effort to use the tragic events of 9/11 to justify unrelated limitations on refugees' ability to seek asylum in the United States.

"The Republican Leadership is hiding behind the smokescreen of the 9/11 terrorist attacks to justify closing the door to refugees seeking political asylum in our nation. The fact is that these changes would have done nothing to stop the terrorists who carried out the attacks on 9/11 from getting into our country and will not make our nation safer today," said Rep. DeGette. "Most of the provisions in this plan do not even address homeland security issues. Instead, it is a backdoor effort to impose unpopular immigration restrictions on people who are trying to escape torture, religious persecution or vicious discrimination in their home lands."

The proposal would create onerous new obstacles to asylum seekers attempting to escape religious, political, racial or other persecution in their home countries. It would also make immigrants already in the United States much more vulnerable to deportation to their former homeland.

The plan also includes changes to driver's license standards only recently enacted by the passage of the 9/11 Commission reforms. The Bush Administration, however, failed to fund implementation of these reforms in its 2006 Budget.

"Just two months ago, Congress passed the 9/11 Commission reforms that included new security standards for driver's licenses. Because these reforms have not been funded by the Bush Administration, our government cannot act upon them," said Rep. DeGette. "It undermines the commission and our security for Congress to rush to change these standards before they have even been implemented."

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/co01_degette/050210.html