[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 65 (Monday, May 5, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5730-S5731]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
By Mr. REID:
S. 986. A bill to designate Colombia under section 244 of the
Immigration and Nationality Act in order to make nationals of Colombia
eligible for temporary protected status under such section; to the
Committee on the Judiciary.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, amid all the discussions about
reconstruction in Afghanistan and Iraq, it is easy for us
[[Page S5731]]
to lose sight of other humanitarian crises. One particularly pressing
yet overlooked crisis is taking place right here in this hemisphere.
For almost 40 years, an internal conflict has ravaged Colombia. Rebel
and paramilitary groups designated as terrorist organizations by the
State Department have committed thousands of kidnapings, executions and
other brutalities. With an estimated combined force of 25,000
insurgents, they have disrupted life throughout the country and have
displaced nearly 2 million people, creating the third largest internal
refugee crisis in the world. The Colombian people are doing everything
in their power to fight the rebels and rein in the paramilitaries, but
the conflict shows no signs of ending anytime soon.
We should continue to help Colombia battle the terrorists in its
midst. In the meantime, however, it would be unconscionable for us to
forcibly deport law-abiding nationals currently residing in the United
States, thereby placing them in danger of being tortured, kidnaped, or
even murdered upon their return to their war-torn homeland. The bill I
am introducing today will grant many of these people temporary
protected status from deportation until it is safe for them to return
to Colombia. The bill will not grant amnesty to any illegal aliens, nor
will it place any immigrants on the path to citizenship. It is a purely
humanitarian act that enjoys plenty of precedent--refugees from several
Central American and African nations have benefited from temporary
protected status in the wake of natural disasters and political
turmoil. Immigration laws state that this protection covers only
extraordinary circumstances, but we must not hesitate to invoke it when
those circumstances arise. Extending temporary protected status to
Colombians is the right thing to do, and I urge my colleagues to
support this bill.
I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the
Record.
There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the
Record, as follows:
S. 986
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Colombian Temporary
Protected Status Act of 2003''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that--
(1) Colombia has been embroiled in a 38-year internal
conflict, resulting in the death of tens of thousands of
civilians and combatants;
(2) the 2 main armed anti-government rebel groups, the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas
Revolucionarias de Colombia, or FARC) and the National
Liberation Army (Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional, or ELN),
have engaged in military activities in 700 of 1,098
municipalities in Colombia, and in recent years have
influenced local governments in as much as 40 percent to 50
percent of Colombian territory;
(3) the FARC and ELN not only attack police and military
forces but also regularly attack civilian populations, commit
massacres and extrajudicial killings, collect war taxes,
compel citizens into their ranks, force farmers to grow
illicit crops, and regulate travel, commerce, and other
activities;
(4) paramilitary groups such as the United Self-Defense
Groups of Colombia (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia or AUC),
originally established to protect rural landowners, have
grown dramatically in recent years to become a major national
military force in Colombia;
(5) paramilitary groups are responsible, according to human
rights groups, for the greatest number of extrajudicial
killings and forced disappearances in Colombia since 1995;
(6) the FARC, ELN, and AUC, all designated by the State
Department as foreign terrorist organizations, have an
estimated combined force of 25,000 combatants;
(7) the Government of Colombia, particularly during the
administration of President Andres Pastrana, has afforded
armed rebel groups numerous opportunities to negotiate a
peace agreement, including the extraordinary step in November
1998 of creating a safe haven for the FARC by withdrawing its
security forces from 5 municipalities covering some 16,000 to
17,000 square miles;
(8) despite having been given the opportunity to seek
peace, the FARC instead used the safe haven to enhance its
military capability to further its violent campaign against
the government and people of Colombia;
(9) while President Pastrana and the Colombian government
negotiated in good faith, the FARC proceeded to kidnap
political officials;
(10) in February 2002, the FARC's actions forced President
Pastrana to withdraw from the peace process and begin the
process of retaking the safe zone he had previously ceded to
the FARC and other rebel groups;
(11) after the election of Alvaro Uribe as Colombia's
President, the FARC began targeting mayors with letters
declaring that they had 24 hours to leave or would be
considered ``military targets'';
(12) although before the recent Presidential election the
violence had been mostly contained in rural areas, it has now
spread to the urban areas, with cities such as Medellin
experiencing an average of 13 killings a day;
(13) an average of 2.8 rebel bombs go off every day in
Colombia while bomb squads disarm another 5;
(14) the middle and upper classes have been targeted for
kidnaping, with an average of 3,250 Colombians being kidnaped
each year since 1998;
(15) between 1,500,000 and 2,000,000 people have been
forced to leave their homes, representing the third largest
internal refugee crisis in the world; and
(16) between 1,500 and 2,500 Colombians were massacred in
contested rural areas in 2001.
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that, in view of the recent
escalation of the current civil war in Colombia, Colombia
qualifies for designation under section 244(b)(1)(A) of the
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a(b)(1)(A)),
pursuant to which Colombian nationals would be eligible for
temporary protected status in the United States.
SEC. 4. DESIGNATION FOR PURPOSES OF GRANTING TEMPORARY
PROTECTED STATUS TO COLOMBIANS.
(a) Designation.--
(1) In general.--For purposes of section 244 of the
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a), Colombia
shall be treated as if it had been designated under
subsection (b) of that section, subject to the provisions of
this section.
(2) Period of designation.--The initial period of such
designation shall begin on the date of enactment of this Act
and shall remain in effect for 1 year.
(b) Aliens Eligible.--In applying section 244 of the
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a) pursuant to
the designation made under this section, subject to section
244(c)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C.
1254a(c)(3)), an alien who is a national of Colombia meets
the requirements of section 244(c)(1) of that Act (8 U.S.C.
1254a(c)(1)) only if--
(1) the alien has been continuously physically present in
the United States since the date of enactment of this Act;
(2) the alien is admissible as an immigrant, except as
otherwise provided under section 244(c)(2)(A) of the
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a(c)(2)(A)),
and is not ineligible for temporary protected status under
section 244(c)(2)(B) of that Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a(c)(2)(B));
and
(3) the alien registers for temporary protected status in a
manner that the Secretary of Homeland Security shall
establish.
(c) Consent to Travel Abroad.--The Secretary of Homeland
Security shall give the prior consent to travel abroad
described in section 244(f)(3) of the Immigration and
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a(f)(3)) to an alien who is
granted temporary protected status pursuant to the
designation made under this section, if the alien establishes
to the satisfaction of the Secretary of Homeland Security
that emergency and extenuating circumstances beyond the
control of the alien require the alien to depart for a brief,
temporary trip abroad. An alien returning to the United
States in accordance with such an authorization shall be
treated the same as any other returning alien provided
temporary protected status under section 244 of the
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a).
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