[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 91 (Tuesday, July 6, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H5172-H5173]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  H.R. 867, HASAN PRIVATE RELIEF BILL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Holt) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, today the House of Representatives did a good 
deed. The House passed a bill that I had introduced nearly 2 years ago 
known as the Private Relief bill, which will allow Duri Hasan and her 
four daughters who live in Milltown, New Jersey, to fulfill the dream 
that brought them to America.
  Nearly 3 years after the murder of their husband and father in a 
post-9/11 hate crime, Duri, Asna, Anum, Nida and Iqra received welcome 
and overdue news from the House of Representatives. Today, this body 
has helped them take a huge step toward putting the tragedy of 
September 15, 2001, behind them and put them back on track for American 
citizenship. I hope the Senate will move quickly on this.
  I am very thankful to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for 
their support of this bill and for the scores of citizens, activists, 
and religious leaders around the country who have supported this.
  For any of my colleagues who are unfamiliar with the Hasan family, 
let me recall their tragic and heroic story. I think my colleagues will 
agree it is a true American epic filled with hopes and dreams, tragedy 
and hardship, and, thankfully, today, compassion in the form of a 
chance.
  Waqar Hasan came to the United States in 1993 from Pakistan in search 
of a better life for his family. A year later, he brought his wife, 
Durreshahwar, or Duri we know her as, and their four daughters. The 
family settled in Milltown, New Jersey, where they had relatives. Waqar 
supported the family working in a gas station in the area. In the fall 
of 2001, he was in Dallas to establish a convenience store. He planned 
to move his family there after the business got off the ground.
  However, on the night of September 15, 2001, just 4 days after the 
vicious 9/11 attacks, Mark Anthony Stroman walked into Waqar Hasan's 
convenience store in Dallas and shot the 46-year-old father to death. 
When asked by police why he shot Waqar, Stroman expressed no remorse: 
``I did it to retaliate on local Arab Americans or whatever you want to 
call them,'' he said. ``I did what every American wanted to do, but 
didn't.'' Stroman is now on death row.
  Mr. Hasan was very much a victim of the attacks of 9/11, and his 
death was a hate crime if ever there was one.
  Before his death, Waqar had taken steps for him and his family to 
become American citizens. He was in the United States on an immigrant 
visa and was going through the paperwork towards citizenship. When he 
was brutally killed, his family's American future was placed in 
jeopardy. Their visas and green card applications were both dependent 
upon his visa. When he died, their hopes of American citizenship died 
with him. The Hasan family had lost their husband, father, and

[[Page H5173]]

breadwinner in a most horrible way; and now, they were facing the 
threat of deportation.
  Mrs. Hasan and her teenage daughters think of themselves as 
Americans. The daughters are growing up here. Mrs. Hasan and all but 
the youngest daughter hold down jobs to make ends meet. One daughter 
attends Rutgers. Another daughter is studying at Kean College to become 
a teacher. They are the type of hard-working, reverent, patriotic, 
studious, industrious people that we want here in America; and they 
deserve to stay.
  For the past 2\1/2\ years, I have been working with government 
agencies to keep the Hasan family in this country. I have pursued and 
exhausted every possible legal remedy to help the Hasan family stay. My 
Private Relief bill is the Hasan family's last hope of attaining 
permanent legal residency and eventually citizenship. Today, the House 
of Representatives passed that bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I believe that there is no more crucial time to 
demonstrate to Muslims in America and around the world that we are a 
tolerant and sympathetic people. We must seize opportunities to 
showcase America's commitment to the democratic values that we are 
making great sacrifices to promote overseas.
  This bill, of course, does not make everything all right. Duri Hasan 
and her daughters have lost their husband and father. Their lives have 
been given a severe blow. But with this bill, we avoid doing any 
further injury to them. I am very pleased to report the happy news to 
the Hasan family to whom today we here in the House have said, You 
belong here in America with us.

                          ____________________