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Bishops ask Bush to reconsider refugee policy
By Jan Nunley
2002-229
10/9/2002
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[Episcopal News Service]
Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold has joined Bishop Wilton Gregory of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in asking the Bush administration to reconsider a plan to lower the number of refugees allowed to enter the United States to its lowest level in more than two decades.
In a letter directed to Bush's national security advisor, Condoleezza Rice, the bishops said the lowered number 'represents a reversal of our longstanding national policy of welcoming and rescuing persecuted persons. We believe that in spite of the events of last September and the new security concerns that have resulted from that tragedy , we should not become a less hospitable nation, particularly for the millions worldwide who are in their own way victims of terror.'
'We ask that you urge the President to renew our commitment to the world's refugees and to press for a generous refugee admissions program,' the letter, dated September 25, stated. 'We would also appreciate an opportunity to meet with you to review the current refugee crisis and to explain more fully our plans for reinvigorating the program.'
President George W. Bush is expected to sign an administrative order reducing the number of refugees admitted to the U.S. from 70,000 to 50,000 a year, ensuring a longer wait for families awaiting the arrival of relatives languishing in refugee camps. The other 20,000 slots would remain unused in an 'unallocated reserve.'
Security screening procedures imposed after September 11 delayed or halted more than 20,000 'travel ready' refugees, and more than 30,000 have received approval to enter but are stuck in refugee camps from Kenya to Croatia.
A State Department proposal released last month recommended the smaller cap as part of new border security measures. 'The extraordinary events of the past year have taken us in the opposite direction,'' the report said. 'The global security environment for processing has changed dramatically; homeland security concerns have become paramount. While the administration continues to strongly support a generous and healthy refugee admissions program, we must first recover from the setbacks.''
Congressional leaders tried unsuccessfully to lobby Bush to reconsider the proposed quota. In the past decade, the United States has cut the number of refugees from 131,000 to 68,000 in 2001. In 2002, only 27,000 new refugees have entered the United States.
Victims of war, genocide, or religious or political persecution, officially classified as refugees, have entered the United States since World War II and are placed with sponsors, generally non-profit groups such as resettlement agencies.
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