[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 104 (Wednesday, July 14, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1320]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             MOROCCAN GOVERNMENT'S CAMPAIGN OF PERSECUTION

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                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 14, 2010

  Mr. WOLF. Madam Speaker, I would like to bring to the attention of my 
colleagues the following op-ed which appeared in the Wall Street 
Journal on Tuesday, July 6. The Kingdom of Morocco, often portrayed as 
a beacon of tolerance in the Arab world, has shown its true colors with 
the recent expulsion of dozens of U.S. citizens and scores of foreign 
nationals without due process. I urge my colleagues to support these 
American citizens whose human rights have been violated by the Moroccan 
government.

              [From the Wall Street Journal, July 6, 2010]

      Expelled in Morocco--U.S. Ally Mistreats American Christians

       Morocco has long been considered a bastion of relative 
     religious tolerance in the Muslim world, but since March the 
     government has summarily expelled dozens of Americans for 
     Christian proselytizing.
       Of the more than 100 Christians (some of them non-
     Americans) who have been deported--humanitarian workers, 
     businessmen and teachers--many had lived in Morocco for more 
     than a decade. Most were denied any semblance of due process, 
     and some were given only a few hours to pack their bags. The 
     government has provided little or no evidence of 
     proselytizing, which is illegal in Morocco.
       Eddie and Lynn Padilla had been foster parents in the 
     Village of Hope, an orphanage located in the Atlas Mountains 
     east of the capital of Rabat, where they were raising two 
     Moroccan orphan boys under the age of two. The government has 
     long known they are Christians and had granted them a 10-year 
     visa.
       That changed on March 9. After three days of police 
     inspection and interrogation, the Padillas were given a few 
     hours to gather their belongings. ``It happened so fast that 
     you didn't even really have time to feel the shock of it 
     until later,'' Mrs. Padilla told us in an interview. ``The 
     worst moment of it all was handing over the boys. . . . These 
     children were abandoned by their birth mothers. We were their 
     parents.''
       Outside of the Christian press, the deportations have 
     largely gone unnoticed. One man who has paid attention is 
     Virginia Representative Frank Wolf, a Republican who co-
     chairs Congress's Human Rights Commission. In hearings last 
     month, Mr. Wolf scored Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and 
     U.S. Ambassador to Morocco Sam Kaplan for failing to speak up 
     for the expelled Americans.
       Mr. Wolf wants Congress to suspend its $697.5 million five-
     year Millennium Challenge contract with Morocco. The program, 
     which is intended to fight poverty, gives grants to countries 
     based on factors like ``ruling justly.'' U.S. taxpayers won't 
     tolerate financing governments that mistreat Americans solely 
     because of their religion.

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