[Senate Hearing 110-753]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                                                        S. Hrg. 110-753
 
                                [ERRATA] 
    THE ``MATERIAL SUPPORT'' BAR: DENYING REFUGE TO THE PERSECUTED? 

=======================================================================

                                HEARING

                               before the

                SUBCOMMITTEE ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE LAW

                                 of the

                       COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
                          UNITED STATES SENATE

                       ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS

                             FIRST SESSION

                               __________

                           SEPTEMBER 19, 2007

                               __________

                          Serial No. J-110-56

                               __________

         Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary

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Delete the Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs and insert the 
  Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law on the backs title 
  page...........................................................
Delete page IV of content and replace with the new page IV.......
Delete pages 153 thru 158 and renumber pages.....................
Replace page 161 with the follow page 155........................

                Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law

                 RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois, Chairman
EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts     TOM COBURN, Oklahoma
JOSEPH R. BIDEN, Jr., Delaware       JON KYL, Arizona
RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin       LINDSEY O. GRAHAM, South Carolina
BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland         JOHN CORNYN, Texas
SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island     SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas
                      Joseph Zogby, Chief Counsel
                 Brooke Bacak, Republican Chief Counsel


                                  IV

Land, Richard, President, Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, 
  Southern Baptist Convention, statement.........................   116
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, Legislative Affairs 
  Office, Washington, D.C., statement............................   121
Mariana, Colombian Refugee, statement............................   125
National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), Washington, D.C., 
  statement......................................................   127
National Immigrant Justice Center, Chicago, Illinois, statement..   130
Parkins, C. Richard, Director, Episcopal Migration Ministries, 
  New York, New York, statement..................................   136
Physicians for Human Rights, Cambridge, Massachusetts, statement.   138
Rosenzweig, Paul, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, U.S. 
  Department of Homeland Security, Washington, D.C., statement...   143
Scharfen, Jonathan R., Deputy Director, Citizenship and 
  Immigration Services, Department of Homeland Security, 
  Washington, D.C., statement....................................   148
Steinberg, Naomi, Depuity Director, Southeast Asia Resource 
  Action Center (SEARAC), Washington, D.C., statement............   153
Wah, Paw, Refugee, video text....................................   155
Washington Post, March 5, 2007, article..........................   156
UNHCR, The UN Refugee Agency, Geneva, Switzerland, statement.....   158
Wenski, Bishop Thomas G., Diocese of Orlando, and Chairman, 
  International Policy Committee, U.S. Conference of Catholic 
  Bishops, Orlando, Florida, statement...........................   166
World Relief, Baltimore, Maryland, statement.....................   172


               Transcript of Viedo played during Hearing

    The Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Human Rights 
and the Law

   ``The `Material Support' Bar: Denying Refuge to the Persecuted? ''

    Tham Hin ``Temporary Shelter''--10,000 Karen refugees in less than 
1 square kilometer. They cannot leave the compund. They have lived here 
for ten years with no hope of going home.

    ``My name is Paw Wah. I'm 15 years old.''

    ``The Burmese soldiers came and burned our village. We fled to 
Thailand and ended up in the Tham Hin camp. I was five years old then. 
It's very crowded so a lot of people get sick. I live with my mother 
and father and four siblings.

    My father fought against the Burmese army. He stepped on a mine and 
lost hie eyesight.''

    Pah Wah's Mother: ``I encourage my daughters to listen to my advice 
but she's always got her activities, always busy.''

    Pah Wah: ``I'd rather be doing something. I get very bored sitting 
at home. I get up at 5 am, cook, wash and rest. I go to school, weave.

    When I grow up, I don't want to live like this. We have applied to 
resettle in America.

    If we resettle, we can get more education--maybe have better 
conditions to live in.''

    Paw Wah's Mother: ``She's doing well in school. She says she wants 
to be a doctor. . . or a female boxer.''

                                 Text:

    Paw Wah applied for resettlement in the United States. Her 
application was denied because her father had been a member of the 
Karen National Union (KNU), a prodemocracy group that fought against 
the military dictatorship in Burma.

    Thousands of refugees and asylum seekers have been denied refuge in 
the United States for providing ``materal support'' to armed groups, 
even though many provided minimal support and did so under duress.
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