[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 43 (Thursday, March 17, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1594-S1596]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. COTTON:
  S. 2708. A bill to provide for the admission to the United States of 
up to 10,000 Syrian religious minorities as refugees of special 
humanitarian concern in each of the fiscal years 2016 through 2020; to 
the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. COTTON. Mr. President, 6 months ago, a 12-year-old boy stood 
before a crowd in a Syrian village not far from Aleppo. This boy was 
Christian and standing above him were Islamic State terrorists holding 
knives. In the crowd was the boy's father, a Christian minister. 
Methodically, the terrorists began cutting off the young boy's fingers. 
Amidst his screams, they turned to the minister, his father. If he 
renounced his faith and in their terms returned to Islam, his son's 
suffering would stop. In the end, however, these ISIS terrorists killed 
the boy, killed his father, and killed two other Christians solely over 
the faith they professed. They did so by crucifixion.
  In the time of Christ, the cross was not just a means of execution 
but a brutal and public warning to all. Because of Christ's suffering, 
the cross was transformed into a revered symbol of His sacrifice and 
promise of salvation, but today it is clear ISIS seeks to turn the 
cross once again into a message of dread.
  Eight other Christians in the village that day were also killed. They 
were executed by public beheading, but not before ISIS barbarians raped 
the two women among the victims and forced the crowd to witness the 
atrocity.
  Today was the deadline set by law for Secretary of State Kerry to 
present Congress with an evaluation of the persecution of Christians, 
Yazidis, and other religious minorities in Syria and Iraq. I am 
heartened Secretary Kerry this morning took the needed step of 
declaring the systemic murder of religious minorities by ISIS what it 
plainly is: genocide.
  The nature of these horrific crimes of ISIS has not been a secret. It 
is no secret that the story of the torture and death of that 12-year-
old Syrian boy, his minister father, and 10 other Christians is 
repeated many times over in different villages, with different victims 
of different religions throughout the region. It is no secret that 
hundreds of thousands of religious minorities in Syria and Iraq have 
been driven by war and violence from homes and lands they have held for 
generations. It is no secret ISIS terrorists have destroyed Christian 
churches, desecrated holy ancient shrines, and dug up Christian graves 
and smashed their tombstones. It is no secret bishops, priests, and 
other clerical leaders are being abducted and murdered. It is no secret 
ISIS terrorists capture Yazidi women and girls and lock them into a 
life of sexual slavery and repeated rape. Many of these victims choose 
to take their own lives, seeing suicide as their only escape amidst 
hopelessness and unimaginable suffering. It is no secret that thousands 
of Christians and other religious minorities have been systematically 
raped and tortured, beheaded, crucified, burned alive, and buried in 
mass graves, if buried at all. It is no secret the word we should use 
to describe the whole of these atrocities--the word we must use--is 
``genocide.''
  The plain reality is that the Islamic State is seeking to eradicate 
Christians, Yazidis, Sabean-Mandeans, Jews, and other religious groups 
it sees as apostates and infidels. This is part of its fanatical focus 
on establishing a caliphate first in the Middle East and eventually 
across the rest of the world.
  Christians, Yazidis, and others who have managed to find refuge have 
seen ISIS's genocidal campaign firsthand. They can list name after name 
of missing family members--wives and daughters kidnapped into sexual 
slavery,

[[Page S1595]]

sons and brothers killed, and others spirited away to unknown fates. 
These victims know the truth of the genocide occurring in Syria and 
Iraq, and now that truth is recognized officially by the United States 
of America.
  There are those who wavered on whether this was genocide. They feared 
that uttering this truth would compel U.S. action to stop the genocide. 
My answer is--and? A mortal enemy who wishes to commit mass terrorist 
atrocities against the United States is also systematically persecuting 
and exterminating Christians and other religious minorities. When will 
our national security interests ever overlap more perfectly with our 
moral sentiment than now? We can and we ought to stop ISIS dead, stop 
them before they kill more Americans, stop them before they eliminate 
Christian communities that have existed since the days of Christ 
himself.
  Still others argue that while a genocide may be occurring, 
recognizing it may somehow play into ISIS's propaganda that it is 
fighting a righteous jihad against a supposed new Crusade. I never 
understood this argument. To stay silent in the face of ISIS's 
propaganda is to accommodate that propaganda. To cede any power to 
ISIS's narrative is to bend the light of truth to the hard darkness of 
a lie. Standing up for the practitioners of religions born in the 
Middle East and calling the region home since the beginning of recorded 
history is not a new Crusade. It is a defense of world order 
demonstrated through the periods of peaceful coexistence of the many 
religions in those ancient lands--an existence that today is threatened 
with extinction by ISIS's barbarism.
  Today the United States rightly recognizes this genocide, but we must 
also take action to relieve it. ISIS is a threat to the United States, 
our allies, and to the stability of the whole Middle East. Destroying 
ISIS and stopping its malignant expansion is a core national security 
interest of the United States, but stopping ISIS and the depraved 
ideology that enables it is also a pursuit that aligns with our highest 
ideals and humanitarian principles.
  I and many of my colleagues in the Senate have deep disagreements 
with the President's policy to defeat ISIS. For 2 years his policy of 
confusion, delay, and paralysis has failed to stop these terrorists. An 
entirely new approach that has the United States in the lead of a 
determined coalition is badly needed, but it is not only President 
Obama's strategic approach that is ill-considered. His policy on Syrian 
refugee resettlement is as well. Because the United States unwisely 
relies on the United Nations for all referrals of refugees seeking 
resettlement in the United States, Christians and other religious 
minorities fleeing persecution are the victims of unintentional 
discrimination when seeking asylum and protection in the United States.
  Last year, of the 1,790 Syrian refugees resettled in the United 
States, only 41 were religious minorities. Of that 41, 29 were 
Christian. That means that while 13 percent of Syria's prewar 
population consisted of religious minorities, only 2.3 percent of the 
refugees who make it to the United States are religious minorities. 
Without doubt, Syrians of all confessions are being victimized by this 
savage war and are facing unimaginable suffering, but only Christians 
and other religious minorities are the deliberate targets of systemic 
persecution and genocide. Their ancient communities are at risk of 
extermination. Their ancestral homes and religious sites are being 
erased from the Middle Eastern map. Christians and other minorities 
should not be shut out from the small number of refugees who find 
shelter in the United States. We ought to help ensure that these faith 
communities survive, but why are Christians underrepresented among the 
refugees? There are a number of factors. Perhaps chief among them is 
that the United States, for all intents and purposes, relies 
exclusively on the U.N. refugee agency to identify candidates for 
resettlement. According to the State Department, less than 1 percent of 
the thousands of Syrian refugees referred by the U.N. to the United 
States are religious minorities.
  Let me stress that this underrepresentation is not the result of 
intentional discrimination. The U.N. does praiseworthy and hard work in 
relieving the suffering of refugees around the world and, as a result, 
improving the security and stability of nations in and near conflict 
and disaster zones, but it is well established that many religious 
minorities in Syria are very reluctant to register as refugees with the 
United Nations because they fear facing even more persecution. The U.N. 
itself has reported that minority communities ``fear that registration 
might bring retribution from other refugees'' in camps or other areas 
in which they sought safe haven. The U.S. Commission on International 
Religious Freedom has reported that Christians refrain from registering 
with the U.N. because they fear being marked for revenge by forces 
loyal to Bashar al-Assad should he remain in power in Syria.
  Whether these fears are well-founded or not, the reality is, they 
exist and they deter Christians from seeking U.N. protection. While the 
U.N. has sought to educate minority populations on the safety of the 
registration system, the fact remains that only 1 percent of the 
millions of Syrian refugees who registered with the U.N. are non-
Muslim.
  The United States ought not to depend solely on the U.N. for refugee 
resettlement referrals. If we are to do our part in saving ancient 
faith communities from genocide, we must find alternate ways to 
identify persecuted people to whom we can grant safe haven.
  Today I am introducing legislation to create that alternate way. The 
Religious Persecution Relief Act would grant religious minorities 
fleeing persecution from groups like ISIS and other groups in Syria 
priority status so they can apply directly to the U.S. resettlement 
program, without going through the U.N. first. It will set aside 10,000 
resettlement slots annually that must be devoted to religious 
minorities.
  The priority status, known as P-2 status, will allow religious 
minorities to skip the U.N. referral process, and it will fast track 
the process by which we confirm that they are in fact targets of 
persecution and genocide. To answer in advance a most urgent and 
understandable question, those who apply for P-2 status will be subject 
to the exact same security vetting process as all other refugee 
applicants. It is my strong position that the United States must work 
with known religious leaders in the region and pursue other proven 
vetting methods to ensure that those who enter this country are not 
threats to the security of the American people.
  Extending a hand to help persecuted people in this manner is not a 
new idea. In 1989, the late Senator from New Jersey, Frank Lautenberg, 
crafted what has been called the Lautenberg amendment, which granted P-
2 priority status to Soviet Jewry, Vietnamese nationals, and other 
religious minorities seeking refuge. In 2004, the late Senator from 
Pennsylvania, Arlen Specter, expanded the Lautenberg amendment to cover 
religious minorities fleeing oppression from the Ayatollahs in Iran. In 
2007 the late Senator from Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy, passed a bill 
that granted priority status to certain Iraqi religious minority 
members.
  The bill I am introducing today follows this bipartisan tradition of 
the Senate and our country. Among the first Americans were Pilgrims 
from religious persecution in the Old World. That is one reason we have 
a long tradition of defending religious minorities here and around the 
world.
  In the coming weeks, I will discuss this bill with my fellow 
Senators. My hope is, it will pass and pass soon because each day will 
bring another Christian child who is tortured, another minister 
crucified, and another girl raped. Faith communities in the Middle East 
are slowly being strangled out of existence.
  We are coming upon Easter, the day of Christ's resurrection. The 
message of Easter is one for all of humanity; that in times of pain and 
suffering, trial and tribulation, there can ultimately be salvation, 
there can ultimately be triumph over death.
  I try to keep this message in mind, particularly amidst these times 
when religious conflict and oppression do not seem to be waning but 
waxing. Today Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the 
world. Other religions are not far behind in the scope and depth of the 
oppression they face. While the United States cannot save all those

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who are suffering from religious persecution, when the persecutors are 
rabid terrorists who want to kill Americans and we have the means not 
only to defeat those terrorists but to also protect the innocent, we 
ought to act. Certainly we have an obligation to stop the unintentional 
discrimination in our own refugee process that unfairly blocks 
Christians and other religious minorities from seeking safety in the 
United States.
                                 ______