[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 109 (Monday, July 20, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7702-S7703]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. DURBIN (for himself and Mr. Coburn):
  S. 1472. A bill to establish a section within the Criminal Division 
of the Department of Justice to enforce human rights laws, to make 
technical and conforming amendments to criminal and immigration laws 
pertaining to human rights violations, and for other purposes; to the 
Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about the Human 
Rights Enforcement Act of 2009, which I am introducing today. This 
narrowly-tailored, bipartisan legislation would make it easier for the 
Justice Department to hold accountable human rights abusers who seek 
safe haven in our country.
  I would like to thank the lead Republican cosponsor of the Human 
Rights Enforcement Act, Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma. This bill is a 
product of the Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Human Rights and 
the Law. I am the chairman of this subcommittee and Senator Coburn is 
its ranking member.
  The end of the last century was marked by horrific human rights 
abuses in places such as Bosnia and Rwanda. The early years of this 
century have seen ongoing atrocities being committed in, among other 
places, Darfur and Burma.
  While a growing number of perpetrators of human rights abuses have 
been held accountable in international, hybrid and state tribunals, a 
much larger number have escaped accountability for their crimes. Some 
of these human rights violators have fled to the U.S.
  How we as a country treat suspected perpetrators of serious human 
rights abuses in the U.S. sends an important message to the world about 
our commitment to human rights and the rule of law. It also signals to 
perpetrators of human rights abuses considering seeking refuge in the 
U.S. what treatment they can expect to receive.
  The U.S. has been a leader in holding the perpetrators of serious 
human rights violations accountable for their crimes. Over 60 years 
ago, following the Holocaust, we led the efforts to prosecute Nazi 
perpetrators at the Nuremberg trials. We have also supported the 
prosecution of human rights crimes before the International Criminal 
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Tribunal 
for Rwanda, and the Special Court for Sierra Leone.
  In some circumstances, the U.S. Government has also made valiant 
efforts to hold accountable human rights violators who have found safe 
haven in our country, but more must be done. Federal law enforcement 
reportedly has over 1,000 open cases involving suspected perpetrators 
of serious human rights abuses from almost 90 countries who are now in 
the U.S. While no one knows the total number of human rights abusers 
living in the U.S., the number of open cases presumably represents only 
a small portion of the total number of such perpetrators.
  In the last Congress, the Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law 
held hearings which identified loopholes in the law that hinder 
effective human rights enforcement. In order to close some of these 
loopholes and make it easier to prosecute human rights abuses, Senator 
Coburn and I introduced the Genocide Accountability Act, the Child 
Soldiers Accountability Act and the Trafficking in Persons Act, 
legislation passed unanimously by Congress and signed into law by 
President George W. Bush that denies safe haven in the United States to 
perpetrators of genocide, child soldier recruitment and use, and human 
trafficking.

  We also examined the U.S. Government agencies which bear 
responsibility for investigating human rights abusers and how to 
increase the likelihood that human rights violators will be held 
accountable.
  There are two offices within the Justice Department that investigate 
and prosecute suspected human rights abusers. The Office of Special 
Investigations, established by Attorney General Richard Civiletti in 
1979, was assigned:

       [T]he primary responsibility for detecting, investigating, 
     and, where appropriate, taking legal action to deport, 
     denaturalize, or prosecute any individual who was admitted as 
     an alien into or became a naturalized citizen of the United 
     States and who has assisted the Nazis by persecuting any 
     person because of race, religion, national origin, or 
     political opinion.

  Over the years, the Office of Special Investigations, also known as 
OSI, has led the way in investigating, denaturalizing and removing 
World War II-era participants in genocide and other Nazi crimes. I want 
to commend OSI for its outstanding work tracking down and bringing to 
justice Nazi war criminals who have found safe haven in our country. 
Since 1979, OSI has successfully prosecuted 107 Nazis.
  Just this year, OSI has succeeded in deporting two Nazi war 
criminals. Josias Kumpf, who immigrated to the United States in 1956 
and lived in Racine, Wisconsin, was a guard at the Sachsenhausen 
Concentration Camp in Germany and the Trawniki Labor Camp in Nazi-
occupied Poland. Kumpf allegedly participated in the extermination of 
8,000 Jews in one day at the Trawniki camp. OSI Director Eli Rosenbaum 
said, ``The removal of Josias Kumpf to Austria has achieved a 
significant measure of justice on behalf of the victims of Nazi 
inhumanity and it reflects the unswerving commitment of the U.S. 
government to continuing the quest for justice.''
  OSI also deported John Demjanjuk to Germany, where last week he was 
charged with involvement in the murder of 27,900 people at the Sobibor 
extermination camp in Nazi-occupied Poland. Demjanjuk came to the 
United States in 1952 and lived in Seven Hills, Ohio. During World War 
II, Demjanjuk allegedly served as a guard at a number of Nazi 
concentration camps. Lanny Breuer, the Assistant Attorney General of 
the Criminal Division, said, ``The removal to Germany of John Demjanjuk 
is an historic moment in the federal government's efforts to bring Nazi 
war criminals to justice. Mr. Demjanjuk, a confirmed former Nazi death 
camp guard, denied to thousands the very freedoms he enjoyed for far 
too long in the United States.''
  Due to OSI's outstanding work, the U.S. is the only country in the 
world to receive an ``A'' rating from the Simon Wiesenthal Center for 
bringing Nazi war criminals to justice. I especially want to commend 
Eli Rosenbaum, who has worked at OSI for more than two decades and has 
been OSI's director since 1995. OSI's success is due in large measure 
to Mr. Rosenbaum's leadership and personal dedication to holding Nazi 
perpetrators accountable.

  In 2004, the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act further 
strengthened the Office of Special Investigations by statutorily 
authorizing it and expanding its jurisdiction to include serious human 
rights crimes committed after World War II.
  The Domestic Security Section, which was established more recently, 
seeks to investigate and prosecute major human rights violators and has 
jurisdiction over the criminal laws relating to torture, genocide, war 
crimes, the use or recruitment of child soldiers, and other atrocities. 
In 2008, the Domestic Security Section and the United States Attorney's 
Office for the Southern District of Florida obtained the first federal 
conviction for torture against Chuckie Taylor, son of former

[[Page S7703]]

Liberian president Charles Taylor, for committing torture in Liberia 
when he served as the head of the Anti-Terrorist Unit. Taylor and other 
Anti-Terrorist Unit members engaged in horrific acts of torture, 
including shocking victims with an electric device and burning victims 
with molten plastic, lit cigarettes, scalding water, candle wax and an 
iron. Then-Attorney General Michael Mukasey said, ``Today's conviction 
provides a measure of justice to those who were victimized by the 
reprehensible acts of Charles Taylor Jr. and his associates. It sends a 
powerful message to human rights violators around the world that, when 
we can, we will hold them fully accountable for their crimes.''
  I commend the Office of Special Investigations and the Domestic 
Security Section for their successes in holding human rights abusers 
accountable.
  The Human Rights Enforcement Act would seek to build on this 
important work by creating a new office in the Criminal Division that 
would focus exclusively on enforcing human rights laws. My bill would 
combine the Office of Special Investigations, which has significant 
experience in investigating and denaturalizing human rights abusers, 
with the Domestic Security Section, which has broad jurisdiction over 
human rights crimes. Consolidating these two sections would allow 
limited law enforcement resources to be used more effectively and 
ensure that one section in the Justice Department has the necessary 
expertise and jurisdiction to investigate and, where appropriate, 
prosecute, denaturalize or deport perpetrators of serious human rights 
crimes.
  The Human Rights Enforcement Act also includes a number of technical 
an conforming amendments, including: technical changes to the criminal 
law on genocide, 18 U.S.C. 1091, that the Justice Department requested 
in 2007 to make it easier to prosecute perpetrators of genocide; 
clarifying that the immigration provisions of the Child Soldiers 
Accountability Act apply to offenses committed before the bill's 
enactment; a conforming amendment to the Immigration and Nationality 
Act required by the enactment of the Genocide Accountability Act; and a 
conforming amendment to the material support statute, made necessary by 
the enactment of the Genocide Accountability Act and the Child Soldiers 
Accountability Act, making it illegal to provide material support to 
genocide and the use or recruitment of child soldiers.
  The United States has a proud tradition of leadership in the 
promotion of human rights and the world watches our steps in this field 
closely. By holding perpetrators of serious human rights abusers found 
in the U.S. accountable, we will demonstrate our commitment to 
upholding the human rights principles we have long advocated and 
discourage human rights violators from fleeing to the U.S.
  I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                S. 1472

       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 ``Human Rights Enforcement Act 
     of 2009''.

     SEC. 2. SECTION TO ENFORCE HUMAN RIGHTS LAWS.

       (a) Repeal.--Section 103(h) of the Immigration and 
     Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1103(h)) is repealed.
       (b) Section To Enforce Human Rights Laws.--Chapter 31 of 
     title 28, United States Code, is amended by inserting after 
     section 509A the following:

     ``Sec. 509B. Section to enforce human rights laws

       ``(a) Not later than 90 days after the date of the 
     enactment of the Human Rights Enforcement Act of 2009, the 
     Attorney General shall establish a section to enforce human 
     rights laws within the Criminal Division of the Department of 
     Justice.
       ``(b) The section is authorized to--
       ``(1) identify individuals who are suspected of committing 
     serious human rights offenses under Federal law;
       ``(2) take appropriate legal action, including prosecution, 
     denaturalization or extradition, against the individuals 
     identified pursuant to paragraph (1); and
       ``(3) coordinate any such legal action with the United 
     States Attorney for the relevant jurisdiction.
       ``(c) The Attorney General shall consult with the Secretary 
     of Homeland Security and the Secretary of State in making 
     determinations regarding the prosecution, removal, 
     denaturalization, extradition, or exclusion of naturalized 
     citizens or aliens who are suspected of committing serious 
     human rights offenses under Federal law.
       ``(d) In determining the appropriate legal action to take 
     against individuals who are suspected of committing serious 
     human rights offenses under Federal law, the section shall 
     take into consideration the availability of criminal 
     prosecution under the laws of the United States for such 
     offenses or in a foreign jurisdiction that is prepared to 
     undertake a prosecution for the conduct that forms the basis 
     for such offenses.
       ``(e) The term `serious human rights offenses under Federal 
     law' includes--
       ``(1) violations of Federal criminal laws relating to 
     genocide, torture, war crimes, and the use or recruitment of 
     child soldiers under sections 1091, 2340, 2340A, 2441, and 
     2442 of title 18, United States Code; and
       ``(2) genocide, torture, extrajudicial killings, Nazi 
     persecution, or the use or recruitment of child soldiers, as 
     described in subparagraphs (E) and (G) of section 212(a)(3) 
     of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
     1182(a)(3)).''.
       (c) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the 
     beginning of chapter 31 of the title 28, United States Code, 
     is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 
     509A the following:

``Sec. 509B. Section to enforce human rights laws.''.

     SEC. 3. TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.

       (a) Genocide.--Section 1091 of title 18, United States 
     Code, is amended--
       (1) in subsection (a)--
       (A) by striking ``, in a circumstance described in 
     subsection (d)''; and
       (B) by striking ``or attempts to do so,'';
       (2) in subsection (c), by striking ``in a circumstance 
     described in subsection (d)'';
       (3) by striking subsection (d) and (e); and
       (4) by inserting after subsection (c) the following:
       ``(d) Attempt and Conspiracy.--Any person who attempts or 
     conspires to commit an offense under this section shall be 
     punished in the same manner as a person who completes the 
     offense.
       ``(e) Jurisdiction.--There is jurisdiction over the 
     offenses described in subsections (a), (c), and (d) if--
       ``(1) the offense is committed in whole or in part within 
     the United States; or
       ``(2) regardless of where the offense is committed, the 
     alleged offender is--
       ``(A) a national of the United States (as that term is 
     defined in section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 
     (8 U.S.C. 1101));
       ``(B) an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence in 
     the United States (as that term is defined in section 101 of 
     the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101));
       ``(C) a stateless person whose habitual residence is in the 
     United States; or
       ``(D) present in the United States.
       ``(f) Nonapplicability of Certain Limitations.--
     Notwithstanding section 3282, in the case of an offense under 
     this section, an indictment may be found, or information 
     instituted, at any time without limitation.''.
       (b) Immigration and Nationality Act.--Section 
     212(a)(3)(E)(ii) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
     U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)(E)(ii)) is amended by striking ``ordered, 
     incited, assisted, or otherwise participated in conduct 
     outside the United States that would, if committed in the 
     United States or by a United States national, be genocide, as 
     defined in section 1091(a)'' and inserting ``has engaged in 
     genocide in violation of section 1091''.
       (c) Applicability.--The amendments made by subsections (b), 
     (c) and (d) of the Child Soldiers Accountability Act of 2008 
     (Public Law 110-340) shall apply to offenses committed 
     before, on, or after the date of the enactment of the Child 
     Soldiers Accountability Act of 2008.
       (d) Material Support for Genocide or Child Soldier 
     Recruitment.--Section 2339A(a) of title 18, United States 
     Code, is amended by--
       (1) inserting ``, 1091'' after ``956''; and
       (2) striking ``, or 2340A'' and inserting ``, 2340A, or 
     2442''.
                                 ______