Key Congressional Committee Strengthens Resettlement Program
By Lynette Engelhardt Stott, LIRS Director for Government Relations

The House International Relations Committee included a number of refugee admissions provisions in the Foreign Relations Authorization bill passed May 8. LIRS worked with Rep. Chris Smith’s (R-NJ04) office and colleague organizations in drafting the provisions, which were offered as an amendment and approved by voice vote on May 7. LIRS strongly supports these provisions and believes they would go a long way in restoring the United States’ historic role as a protector of refugees who have fled persecution.

The provisions approved by the House International Relations Committee would give the Department of State additional tools that it needs to better perform its functions with respect to the identification and processing of refugees who are seeking admission to the United States:

• Requiring the Secretary of State to develop and utilize partnerships with U.S. private voluntary and resettlement organizations to assist in the identification, referral and processing of refugees
• Requiring the Secretary of State to establish and utilize refugee response teams—mobile teams of refugee experts who could be deployed in emergency refugee situations to augment the ability of the State Department to identify and process refugees for admission to the United States
• Requiring the Department of State to take a number of steps to ensure that there is adequate planning across fiscal years to fulfill the admissions goal that the president establishes each year in his determination on refugee admissions
• Authorizing $927 million to be appropriated for the Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) in fiscal year 2004 and $957 million in fiscal year 2005

If your Representative is on the House International Relations Committee (view list of members) please consider sending him or her a thank you note for including these important provisions in the Foreign Relations Authorization bill.

The Senate version of the Foreign Relations Authorization bill was passed earlier this year, but did not include any provisions on the Refugee Resettlement Program. We are now working with key Senate offices to include these provisions in the senate version of the bill when it comes to the floor later this year.

Feinstein Introduces Children’s Bill
By Lynette Engelhardt Stott, LIRS Director for Government Relations

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) introduced S. 1129, The Unaccompanied Alien Child Protection Act of 2003, on May 21. Original cosponsors of the bill were Sens. Sam Brownback (R-KS), George Voinovich (R-OH), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Mike Dewine (R-OH), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Ted Kennedy (D-MA). We expect the companion House bill will be introduced soon.

S1129 builds upon the provisions passed last year in the Homeland Security Act by providing a structure for pro-bono counsel so children do not have to navigate the judicial system alone. It also allows the appointment of guardians ad litem, adults trained in child welfare who ensure that children’s best interests are taken into account during legal proceedings. And it would ensure that unaccompanied children are housed in shelters or in foster care if their own families are unable to care for them. For situations when detention is absolutely necessary, the bill would establish minimum standards of care.

Please contact your senators immediately and urge them to cosponsor S1129, the Unaccompanied Alien Child Protection Act of 2003.

See if your senators have already cosponsored.
Read additional information, including a sample letter.