[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 97 (Tuesday, June 11, 2019)]
[House]
[Page H4425]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                              {time}  1645
                      SUPPORTING ROHINGYA REFUGEES

  (Ms. OMAR asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. OMAR. Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak out against the 
horrifying human rights abuses that our administration fails to 
confront.
  There are more than 1.3 million Rohingya refugees who have fled the 
genocide in Burma. About half a million were driven out by a 
deliberate, coordinated campaign by the Burmese state to destroy 
Rohingya villages.
  According to Human Rights Watch, refugees who arrived in Bangladesh 
in 2018 reported continued abuses by Burmese security forces, including 
killings, arson, enforced disappearances, extortion, severe 
restrictions on movement, and lack of food and healthcare.
  They also reported sexual violence and abduction of women and girls 
in villages and at checkpoints along the route to Bangladesh. Returnees 
to Myanmar faced arrest and torture by authorities.
  There are more than 128,000 Rohingya still in detention camps, where 
they have been confined since 2012.
  At its peak, Rohingya refugee resettlement in the United States was 
2,573 refugees in fiscal year 2015. That number has dropped to just 207 
in fiscal year 2019.
  We are supporting Rohingya refugees through funding programs in 
refugee camps, but we must do more and help them resettle here in the 
United States.

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