In advance of the Committee on the Judiciary’s Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship and Committee on Foreign Affairs’ Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Joint Hearing on “Oversight of the Trump Administration’s Muslim Ban”, Amnesty International USA submitted this statement for the record.
Amnesty International calls on the US to:
- Reaffirm its commitment to sharing responsibility for refugee protection by admitting more refugees, abandoning policies that undermine resettlement, and adhering to the principle of nondiscrimination in refugee protection.
Additionally, Amnesty International calls on Congress to:
- Push the Administration to commit to resettling 95,000 refugees in the Presidential Determination for FY 2020 and reverse policies that hinder resettlement to the US.
- Ensure processing of resettlement cases is timely and ensure that all refugees are considered fairly and fully and without discrimination for resettlement to the US.
- Pass the No Ban Act, amending it to outlaw the third-country transit ban on asylum (the asylum interim final rule).
- Congress should pass the Guaranteed Refugee Admission Ceiling Enhancement Act, otherwise known as the GRACE Act (H.R. 2146/S. 1088).
- Continue to conduct robust oversight of border and asylum policies motivated by xenophobia and religious animus.
The US government has the power to change the lives of the refugees with whom Amnesty International met, and the many more whose story goes untold. Amnesty International urges the US government to reaffirm its commitment to resettling the world’s most vulnerable refugees without discrimination.
Contact Ryan Mace, refugee specialist at AIUSA, at [email protected], with any questions.