[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 98 (Friday, June 26, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1580]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2010

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                               speech of

                          HON. JERROLD NADLER

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 24, 2009

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration of the bill (H.R. 2892) 
     making appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security 
     for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2010, and for other 
     purposes:

  Mr. NADLER of New York. Madam Chair, I rise in support of H.R. 2892, 
the Homeland Security Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2010.
  While the bill provides vitally necessary funds to secure our 
nation's safety, it also contains a troubling provision regarding 
people who are currently detained at the Guantanamo Bay facility. This 
provision would prohibit the use of any funds in the bill to provide 
any immigration benefits to any Guantanamo detainee. Examples provided 
by the bill of such benefits include ``a visa, admission into the 
United States, parole into the United States, or classification as a 
refugee or applicant for asylum.'' The language does include the 
proviso that nothing in this provision prohibits detainees from being 
brought into the United States for prosecution.
  Now, I want to prosecute and punish anyone who has sought to harm the 
United States or is responsible for attacks on the United States and 
its people. But, we do not know that everyone in Guantanamo fits into 
this category. There are likely people still imprisoned at Guantanamo 
today who are there, not because they are a threat, but because our 
government can not figure out what to do with them. As you know, the 
Bush Administration already released many people from Guantanamo who 
were wrongly detained there and our courts have ordered the release of 
others who apparently were not linked to any terrorist organization and 
pose no threat to the United States. There were, and possibly still 
are, innocent people being detained by our government at Guantanamo 
Bay.
  It is shameful for our country to deny a visa to an innocent person 
who we have determined is no threat to the United States, who the 
United States wrongly imprisoned for years, who may be prosecuted if 
returned to his own country, and who the United States may not be able 
to send to any other country. Frankly, if they are innocent of any 
crime and pose no threat to the United States, they should be allowed 
to come to the United States. In addition, I do not see how we can deny 
them asylum if we determine they have a legitimate fear of persecution 
if sent anywhere else.
  Because the Homeland Security bill provides such critical funding to 
first responders all over the country, and especially to my city of New 
York, I can not justify voting against it. Funding for these services 
is desperately needed.
  However, I want to warn my colleagues about the dangers of 
reflexively adding provisions to every appropriations bill that may end 
up further harming innocent people who were mistakenly imprisoned by 
our government. If you want to make a political point that you oppose 
terrorists, fine. But, you have to allow for the fact that until we 
know for sure that all of the people remaining at Guantanamo are 
terrorists, it is not right to punish everyone who is there just to 
make a political point. We have a moral obligation to do better. 

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