wfn.org | Bishops ask Bush to reconsider refugee policy

[Daphne Mack <dmack@episcopalchurch.org>]

2002-229

Bishops ask Bush to reconsider
refugee policy

by Jan Nunley
jnunley@episcopalchurch.org

(ENS) Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold has joined
Bishop Wilton Gregory of the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and Presiding Bishop Mark
Hanson of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA) in asking the Bush administration to reconsider a
plan to lower the number of refugees allowed to enter the
United States to its lowest level in more than two
decades. 

In a letter directed to Bush's national security advisor,
Condoleezza Rice, the bishops said the lowered number
"represents a reversal of our longstanding national policy
of welcoming and rescuing persecuted persons. We
believe that in spite of the events of last September and
the new security concerns that have resulted from that
tragedy , we should not become a less hospitable nation,
particularly for the millions worldwide who are in their
own way victims of terror." 

"We ask that you urge the President to renew our
commitment to the world's refugees and to press for a
generous refugee admissions program," the letter, dated
September 25, stated. "We would also appreciate an
opportunity to meet with you to review the current
refugee crisis and to explain more fully our plans for
reinvigorating the program." 

President George W. Bush is expected to sign an
administrative order reducing the number of refugees
admitted to the U.S. from 70,000 to 50,000 a year,
ensuring a longer wait for families awaiting the arrival of
relatives languishing in refugee camps. Another 20,000
slots would remain unused in an "unallocated reserve.'' 

Security screening procedures imposed after September
11 delayed or halted more than 20,000 ``travel ready''
refugees, and more than 30,000 have received approval
to enter but are stuck in refugee camps from Kenya to
Croatia. 

A State Department proposal released last month
recommended the smaller cap as part of new border
security measures. "The extraordinary events of the past
year have taken us in the opposite direction,'' the report
said. "The global security environment for processing has
changed dramatically; homeland security concerns have
become paramount. While the administration continues to
strongly support a generous and healthy refugee
admissions program, we must first recover from the
setbacks.'' 

Congressional leaders tried unsuccessfully to lobby Bush
to reconsider the proposed quota. In the past decade, the
United States has cut the number of refugees from
131,000 to 68,000 in 2001. In 2002, only 27,000 new
refugees have entered the United States. 

Victims of war, genocide, or religious or political
persecution, officially classified as refugees, have entered
the United States since World War II and are placed with
sponsors, generally non-profit groups such as
resettlement agencies. 

--The Rev. Jan Nunley is deputy director of
Episcopal News Service.