Letter to President Bush from Church World Service Executive Director Rev. John L. McCullough
March 10, 2006
President George Bush
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Bush:
We are appealing to you on a matter of great urgency for the tens of thousands of innocent refugees and asylum seekers – who are among the most abused and vulnerable people in the world -- seeking safe haven in the United States of America.
Our nation’s refugee resettlement program currently is experiencing a great crisis. U. S. foreign policy and U. S. immigration policy seem to be working at cross purposes, much to the detriment of those awaiting permission to enter the United States and much to the chagrin of Church World Service.
Over the past 60 years, Church World Service has resettled more than 450,000 refugees. To this day, we continue to welcome refugees as one of nine U.S. national voluntary resettlement agencies. The ethnicities of the refugees have changed over the decades but refugees who appeal to the United States of America for admittance continue to be gravely in need of protection and resettlement.
Yet, even as their numbers continue to grow, the fate of thousands of these refugees -- whom the United States already has committed itself to processing for resettlement – and of hundreds of asylum seekers hangs in the balance, through no fault of their own.
The culprit is an extremely broad interpretation of the Immigration and Nationality Act’s “material support” bar on admission of certain refugees.
These are refugees who have provided some sort of “material support” to groups of as few as two individuals in armed opposition to the sitting government in their home countries. There are thousands of examples of innocent refugees caught in this situation.
Some 9,500 refugees from Burma who provided material support to pro-democracy movements that oppose Burma’s repressive regime now find their resettlement to the United States on hold.
Colombian refugees who provided food, money, or shelter to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to save their lives and those of their family members now find themselves blocked from admission to the United States. They are being penalized for the very ways in which they were victimized.
Montagnards who assisted members of the United States Special Forces in Vietnam and members of the Northern Alliance who fought side-by-side with U.S. troops are also included in the “material support” bar to admission.
We understand that the White House is in dialogue with all government agencies involved in the refugee admissions program and we sincerely appreciate the attention this matter is being given at the highest levels. We ask that you use your good office to effect a speedy solution to the problem for the sake of these refugees and so that the United States is able to meet the goal your Administration set to resettle 70,000 refugees in FY 2006.
The solutions we endorse include waivers for those who have provided “material assistance” under duress (defined as violence or the threat of violence); waivers for those who inadvertently provided material assistance (defined as those who were unaware of the relationship to insurgents); and/or waivers for those who provided an insignificant amount of material assistance (defined as small amounts of food, clothing or money), along with waivers for such compelling populations as refugees from Burma, Colombians, Hmong and Montagnards.
We ask that you direct Secretary Michael Chertoff to instruct the Department of Homeland Security to immediately develop a waiver provision so that deserving refugees are not subjected to delayed admission.
Mr. President, please do all that you can to protect our nation’s well-deserved reputation as a compassionate, welcoming nation on whose shores the great hope of safety and security has become a reality for so many of the world’s refugees and asylum seekers.
When Church World Service reaches out to these vulnerable people we are not just upholding the American tradition of lending a helping hand to those in crisis. We are witnessing to the gospel mandate to “welcome the stranger.”
In this endeavor we ask your immediate and vigorous intercession with all agencies involved so that the innocent persecuted peoples of the world can continue to look to the United States as a safe and welcoming place where they can begin again.
Sincerely,
Rev. John L. McCullough
Executive Director
Church World Service