American Safe Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. PETERS. Madam President, last week I was proud to host Hassan Jabber as my guest at the State of the Union Address. He is the director of the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services, founded in 1971 in Dearborn, MI. ACCESS is the largest Arab American human services nonprofit in the United States, providing health and wellness, education, employment, and youth services in its local communities, including support for refugees settling in America.
Hassan is a community leader and just one example of the many individuals who make up Michigan's vibrant Arab American community, including some of the most patriotic people I know whose contributions to our culture and economy are invaluable.
That is why I am so concerned about the legislation we will be debating later today, which would impose significant barriers on our efforts to assist refugees fleeing violence and persecution in Iraq and Syria. I am a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Last November we held a hearing on refugee resettlement. We heard about the strict security checks involved in the Refugee Admissions Program, which could take 18 to 24 months.
The Refugee Admissions Program subjects refugees to the highest level of security checks of any category of traveler coming into the United States. They are screened by the National Counterterrorism Center, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Defense, as well as other agencies. Refugees considered for resettlement to the United States are subjected to biometric and biographic checks, as well as a lengthy in-person interview, all of which are conducted while the refugees are overseas, outside of the United States. Refugees are even required to repay loans to the International Organization for Migration to cover the cost of transportation and medical screening.
At the same hearing last November, we also heard how the Refugee Admissions Program prioritizes the most vulnerable refugees, including widows with children, victims of torture and trauma, persecuted religious minorities, and those who face death threats if they return home. These cases are our country's top priority for resettlement. I saw this for myself at the end of last year when I had an opportunity to travel to the Middle East with Senator Murphy and meet members of this vulnerable population. Visiting the Zaatari Refugee Camp in Jordan, I saw the scale of the crisis that the world faces.
Talking to just some of the over 80,000 refugees at that camp, who are only a small fraction of the 11.6 million people who have been displaced from their homes over the past 4\1/2\ years during the brutal civil war in Syria, it was clear that none of those refugees were there by choice. Before anything else, they just wanted to return home.
In the end, however, returning home is not something that is going to happen. They are not going to be able to return to the life they had before. They certainly did not want to have the very dangerous journey to escape violence and security by going far away. Unfortunately, the possibility of their safe return is unlikely at any time in the near future. They struggle to survive every day, and they persevere. Many have been vetted by the United Nations as people who are qualified to resettle as refugees in countries like ours because they simply can't return home.
The refugees I met are struggling to live on 50 cents a day to buy food and have only one propane bottle to provide cooking fuel for an entire month. Unfortunately, most of that aid is slated to end in the next couple of months. The people in the camps live on the edge of having nothing, and they rely on humanitarian aid to get by on a day- to-day basis. They are thankful, but in the end they are living in limbo, waiting and hoping for an interview with a U.S. official.
Today, at the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing we focused on ISIS's goals and ideology. We heard from experts that the United States should continue to welcome refugees. Proposals to block refugees based on their religious beliefs plays into the narrative that the United States and Muslims across the globe are in direct conflict. We heard that those who have left ISIS territory describe it as ``a living hell,'' and if we do not accept refugees, it harms our standing in the world and actually will weaken our national security.
The safety and security of the American people is always my top priority, but policies which alienate and divide, targeted at victims of terror and violence, do not support that mission. I am hopeful that this body will focus our efforts on the very real threat posed by terrorism and extremism, not on imposing unnecessary barriers that will prevent us from assisting the victims fleeing violence. I hope that we can stay true to the American values that make our country great.
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