Hello All,
Please see a letter sent to President Obama on October 8th, 2010 by some humanitarian organizations that are helping people dealing with this broad definition of "Material Support" that has been plaguing our lives for years and years. This was a two page letter signed by several organization leaders and some lawyers. It is very helpful to all of us. It is brief and very informative.
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October 8th, 2010
Dear Mr. President:
We write on behalf of more than 7,200 people who have already passed the
difficult test to prove they are refugees and are living peacefully in the United States. We
also write on behalf of refugees who remain in dangerous situations abroad, who are
eager to be fully put to the test of proving to the Department of Homeland Security and
other U.S. security agencies that they pose no terrorist or security threat to the United
States.
These people, and in many cases their spouses and children, now languish in
limbo largely because of the failure of U.S. agencies to promulgate rules or adopt
procedures that Congress clearly contemplated would be rapidly issued when it passed
reform legislation in 2007. This limbo status causes refugees, asylees and asylum seekers
to remain on “hold” with no ability to prove their non-terrorist status. Others continue to
face endless delays and even the possibility of being deported before procedures have
been implemented that allow them to demonstrate their non-terrorist status. Further, the
children of many refugees may reach the age of 21 during the prolonged separation
caused by the “hold” periods now in effect – a development that could forever split
families and prevent parents and children from living together.
The problems addressed in this letter result from the fact that, in the face of
criticism from leaders ranging across the country’s political and ideological spectrums,
the statutory term “terrorist group” has been for years defined to include anti-terrorist
groups allied with the United States; this includes groups that in some cases even
engaged in combat on behalf of and subject to the direction of the United States.
Likewise, remarkable constructions and unintended consequences of the Real ID and
USA Patriot Acts caused many victims of terrorism to be irrevocably defined as terrorists
themselves.
Noting that this was so, a bipartisan coalition in Congress led by Senators Leahy
and Kyl amended the law in 2007 to authorize the Administration to exempt persons with
no actual connection to terrorism from the broad anti-terrorist provisions in our
immigration laws. As noted, however, the failure of the relevant government agencies to
establish or implement the Leahy-Kyl reforms has continued the very abuses the
legislation was intended to put to an end.
We believe that such needless human tragedy suffered by law-abiding persons
and their families, already victimized by persecution, calls out for your intervention. We
thus ask that you direct the full and rapid implementation of the Leahy-Kyl reforms – an
outcome we believe clearly feasible within the 45-day compliance deadline that we call
on you to establish.
On behalf of the signers of this letter, Jenny Hwang of World Relief will shortly
be in touch with White House staff to answer any questions about this letter and the
issues it raises. She will also work, on all our behalf, towards the convening of a
“summit” meeting of administration officials and NGO leaders to resolve all outstanding
issues that stand in the way of allowing the affected resident refugees from fully proving
their non-terrorist status.
We are committed to the full and rapid implementation of the Leahy-Kyl reforms.
As such, and on grounds of compassion, good policy and the rule of law, we call on you
to implement these reforms as rapidly as possible.
Sincerely,
Gideon Aronoff
President
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society
Ann Buwalda
Executive Director
Jubilee Campaign
Galen Carey
Director of Government Affairs
National Association of Evangelicals
Frank Donaghue
CEO
Physicians for Human Rights
Richard T. Foltin, Esq.
Director of National and Legislative Affairs
Office of Government and International Affairs
American Jewish Committee
Joseph Grieboski
Founder and Chairman of the Board
Institute on Religion and Public Policy
Rev. Mark S. Hanson
Presiding Bishop
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
3
Michael Horowitz
Senior Fellow
Hudson Institute
Rev. Michael Kinnamon, Ph.D
General Secretary
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
Dr. Richard Land
President
Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission
Elisa Massimino
President/CEO
Human Rights First
Rev. John L. McCullough
Executive Director & CEO
Church World Service
Maria M. Odom
Executive Director
Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC)
Kathryn Porter
President
Leadership Council for Human Rights
Thomas K. Ragland
Partner
Duane Morris LLP
Catherine Read
Director of Washington Office
Center for Victims of Torture
Samuel Rodriguez
President
National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference
4
George Rupp
CEO and President
International Rescue Committee
Rabbi David Saperstein
Director
Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop
The Episcopal Church
Nina Shea
Director, Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom
Commissioner, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
Ronald J. Sider
President
Evangelicals for Social Action
Geoff Tunnicliffe
CEO
World Evangelical Alliance
John Wester
Bishop of Salt Lake City, UT
Chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Migration
Jim Winkler
General Secretary
United Methodist Board of Church and Society
Sam Wolgemuth
President and CEO
World Relief
Wendy Wright
President
Concerned Women for America
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Also for those of you who might have had issues with accessing the links that I have send in the past for the video and news articles related to material support issued published back in December 2010, Please see the link below. These links should directly work this time around....
If any of this information is helpful for anyone of you, Please remember me in your prayers as well. I am just trying to spread the Truth out to all and educate all of us on this crucial matter as much as possible.
Thanks.
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http://www.congress.org/news/2010/12/21/laws_to_keep_out_terrorists_also_block_refugees_groups_say
http://m.theepochtimes.com/index.php?page=content&id=47799
http://www.christianpost.com/news/e...groups-decry-govt-inaction-on-refugees-48146/
http://www.hudson.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=hudson_upcoming_events&id=815
http://www.c-spanarchives.org/program/USRefu
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Thanks to all who have been reading my writings and following this matter closely..
May God help, protect and bless us all!
Free Life