Senators: Homeland Security Wrongfully Turning Away Asylum Seekers

An increasing number of Colombians are being kidnapped or killed after they have been denied visas to America, a community leader in Jackson Heights, Orlando Tobon, said. The root of the problem, he said, is that for about two years, "the government has not been giving political asylum to almost anyone."

Most Colombian applicants are now disqualified because they have made material gifts to guerrilla organizations, even if they claim the gifts were made under duress.

This and other policies were instituted under the USA Patriot Act and the Real ID Act to protect Americans from terrorists. Critics charge that the government is using overly broad interpretations of the laws.

Senators Kennedy and Lieberman yesterday sent a letter to the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, saying the department is wrongfully turning away refugees and asylum seekers who have been victims of terrorism or oppressed by brutal regimes.

Inadmissibility provisions were created to bar "persons who give aid to terrorists, not to bar legitimate refugees who provided support under threat to their lives, the lives of their families, or to their livelihoods," the senators wrote. They urged Mr. Chertoff to "revisit its implementation and application of the material support bar."

By implementing the bar, tens of thousands of refugees the Department of State identified for resettlement in America could be denied admittance this year, the United Nations High Commission of Refugees said.

Two groups that are particularly affected are Colombians and Burmese. In Colombia, many would-be refugees "have been coerced under extreme duress to make payments to armed groups on the State Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations," the Refugee Council USA, a nonprofit organization, said. The UNHCR estimates that at least 70% of Colombians who would otherwise be eligible for refugee status have made such payments.

"This problem has nearly shut down the U.S. refugee admissions program for Colombians," the Refugee Council reported.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, Joanna Gonzalez, said the director had received the letter and would respond to the senators' questions.