On September 21, the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship heard testimony on the global problem of refugees and U.S. assistance efforts.
Outlining the extent of the worldwide refugee crisis, Chair Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) stated, “According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, there were about 9.7 million refugees worldwide at the end of 2003, down from 10.5 million at the end of 2002. The U.S. Committee for Refugee’s World Refugees Survey estimates that of the world’s refugee population, more than 7 million refugees have been restricted to camps for 10 years or more. While the overall decrease in the world’s refugee population is promising, the numbers remain staggering.” Sen. Chambliss highlighted the role of U.S. aid to refugees, noting that “it is U.S. policy to admit half the refugees identified by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees each year.” Acknowledging that “permanent resettlement is not the best option for every refugee,” Sen. Chambliss stressed the need to “look at creative, new solutions to deal with refugees in the countries to which they first flee.”
Ranking Member Edward Kennedy (D-MA) declared that “more and more refugees are silent witness to the cruelties that stain our age.” He affirmed that, “America has a proud history as a haven for refugees and we must continue to live up to it.” Referring to the condition of refugees who remain in camps for more than ten years, Sen. Kennedy said that these people not only are “deprived of their basic rights under the Refugee Convention including the right to work, to travel, and to have an education,” they also “may be susceptible to influence by terrorist groups who want to do us harm.” He stated, “Especially in the post-September 11th world, we cannot let refugee youth waste years of their lives in harsh camps.”
Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) of the Department of Homeland Security Edward Aguirre described his own experience forty-two years ago when he arrived in the U.S. as a young refugee from Cuba, and he thanked “those organizations that continue to provide a warm welcome to refugees today.” Mr. Aguirre highlighted the FY2004 increase in refugee admissions compared to the previous two years and he cited “the need to balance national security concerns with humanitarian objectives” as a major new challenge. He said that USCIS is developing a “cadre of specially trained officers, funded through the examinations fee account, who will improve the quality of refugee adjudications, enhance our ability to combat fraud and screen for national security risks, and fulfill the humanitarian objectives of the refugee program.”
Testifying on behalf of the Department of State, Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration Arthur Dewey underlined the recent changes in refugee processing: “From the mid-1970s until the mid-1990s at least three-quarters of refugees coming to the United States were from two principal locations the former Soviet Union or Southeast Asia…Now we process refugees a few hundred or a few thousand at a time in about 46 locations and representing 60 different nationalities. Some of these widely scattered places are remote; some are dangerous.” Mr. Dewey stressed the resulting increase in costs and said that the department does not have adequate funds to meet the admissions potential for FY2005. Summarizing recent initiatives, he said that the department has enlarged its staff, expanded the Family Reunification program, ordered a “comprehensive study of refugee admissions,” and “expanded the concept of ‘rescue’ to include refugees who have been living in protracted unresolved situations.” In this regard he noted, “We will continue to seek out vulnerable people especially women and children who have waited years or even decades for rescue.” Mr. Dewey also mentioned the goal to increase “the number of countries involved in resettling refugees.”
Charles Kuck, adjunct professor of law, University of Georgia School of Law, called upon the subcommittee to “remember that the U.S. refugee program actually saves lives.” Calling the present immigration system “dysfunctional,” Mr. Kuck offered specific recommendations, including:
Mr. Kuck also stated that Congress should “vote to increase the cap on coercive family planning cases, currently limited to 1,000 per annum.”
Mark Franken, chair of Refugee Council USA, urged the subcommittee to “press the Administration to implement” requirements in the FY2004 Consolidated Appropriations bill (P.L. 108-199), which give priority to “female head-of-households, unaccompanied children, long-stayers, and urban refugees outside of traditional camp settlements for resettlement, and [make] the P-3 family reunification category available to all nationalities.” Mr. Franken also suggested that the presidential refugee determination for FY2005 be kept at the pre-9/11 goal of 90,000 and that the president’s FY2006 budget include “at least $982 million for the Migration and Refugee Assistance account.”
The problem of “warehousing,” keeping refugees confined to camps, was addressed by Livinia Limón, executive director of the U.S. Committee of Refugees. Stating that “the warehousing of refugees and denial of basic human rights is wrong, both legally and morally,” Ms. Limon proposed a Senate resolution “calling for the end of refugee warehousing,” and a congressionally mandated “pilot program that would 1) develop a plan for the strategic use of funding to motivate the granting of Convention rights to refugees, such as reimbursement schemes for expenses incurred by host governments, and 2) develop alternative models of assisting refugees outside traditional camp settings in a manner compatible with the exercise of Convention rights.”
