Legislators should now about this 2004 study for The State Dept.

henri97

Registered Users (C)
Legislators should be (re)informed about this 2004 study for The State Dept.

Interesting Study/Research for The State Dept. By David A. Martin
The United States Refugee Admissions Program: Reforms for a New Era of Refugee Resettlement

(SORRY FOR USING UPPER CASE HERE – BUT I DO IT TO DISTINGUISH WHAT I WRITE FROM THE QUOTE OF THE STUDY BELLOW). BETWEEN THE DOTTED LINES YOU WILL SEE THE QUOTE OF THIS STUDY (PUBLISHED ON JULY 8 - 2004) THAT YOU ALSO CAN FIND AT THE FOLLOWING LINK:
http://www.state.gov/g/prm/refadm/rls/rpts/36067.htm
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Chapter VII. Statutory Amendments
...
C. Repeal the ceiling on asylee adjustments
Although not strictly involving the refugee admissions program, the backlog in asylee adjustments has become a sufficiently compelling problem that any amendment package for the Refugee Act must address the issue. INA ' 209(b) allows the President to make available in the annual PD up to 10,000 admissions to be used to adjust the status of persons granted asylum under INA ' 208, to the status of a lawful permanent resident (LPR), after a minimum of one year's residence in the United States as an asylee.2 For many years now, asylum grants B which are not capped (with the minor exception addressed in the next Section), and which could not reasonably be subjected to a ceiling B have exceeded 30,000 annually, leading to the creation of a massive backlog in adjustments. It is growing rapidly; over 45,000 asylees applied for adjustment in FY 2002.3 Persons granted asylum today face a wait of well over 10 years before obtaining permanent resident status. The problem has also resulted in class-action litigation, and a district court recently ordered the immigration authorities to make up for the failure to use all 10,000 adjustments in recent years.4 That order, if not overturned on appeal, will provide some amelioration of the backlog problem, but its effects will be temporary. The backlog will continue to grow.
There are solid reasons supporting a modest delay before asylees can obtain LPR status and justifying a back-up authority in the President to restrict asylee adjustments in extraordinary circumstances. But there is no defensible reason for an implacable and expanding 10-year delay, which hinders full integration and certainly postpones the ultimate U.S. citizenship of asylees. We should instead be helping asylees to rebuild their lives in their new homeland. A simple statutory amendment could promote that important goal, without sacrificing the policies that led Congress to require delayed adjustment in the first place.
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THE LINK FOR THE (WHOLE) RESEARCH MAIN PAGE IS:
http://www.state.gov/g/prm/refadm/rls/rpts/36958.htm

Is that good news? :)
 
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Part II

The reason why I find this research/study (or whatever you may call it) important is because it was done from within the federal government itself (and it is fairly recent - dated July 2004). Before this study, I have only seen other (non-governmental) institutions recommending changes (or elimination) in the ceiling on asylee adjustments.

(Another reference for institutions outside the federal government requesting changes on "caps" can be found in the following link that many of you probably know:
http://www.aclu.org/ImmigrantsRights/ImmigrantsRights.cfm?ID=14783&c=94)

I believe that republican and democrat politicians should be (re)informed of this study properly because it could speed up the process of correcting the terrible mistake of major delays in our (asylees) adjustments to become permanent residents. Maybe soon, congress and senate will be addressing changes in Immigration Law. They should be informed (in a massive way) of this study from the State Dept. They probably know about this study (and other studies); however if we manage to have a strong and diplomatic campaign reminding them of the study published at the state dept web site and other organizations, they might feel that what we are requesting is only fair to be granted.

I frankly have no idea on how to implement such campaign but I felt I had to write all this here to see if any of you have ideas on how to proceed.

I am still kinda new here. I put all this info in parts so it might be a bit easier (?) to read; hopefully.
 
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Part III - Last one!

Who wrote this study?
David A. Martin
------------------
The United States Refugee Admissions Program: Reforms for a New Era of Refugee Resettlement


The United States Refugee Admissions Program: Reforms for a New Era of Refugee Resettlement [html format]
By David A. Martin
July 8, 2004
-----------------------
I “googled” his name on the web, and found this (I copied and pasted a couple passages):
David A. Martin
Warner-Booker Distinguished Professor
of International Law
Class of 1963 Research Professor
J.D., Yale Law School, 1975
B.A., DePauw University, 1970

He has twice served as a consultant to the Administrative Conference of the United States, preparing studies and recommendations on federal migrant worker assistance programs and on reforms to political asylum adjudication procedures. In 1993 he undertook a consultancy for the Department of Justice that led to major reforms of the U.S. political asylum adjudication system. In 2003-04 he was asked by the Department of State to provide a comprehensive study of the U.S. overseas refugee admissions program, leading to recommendations for reform of that system.

---------------------------
It looks like he made contributions under Clinton and Bush II - I mean W. Maybe this is a good sign; he worked as a consultant (?) under both republican and democrat administrations.
 
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sorry one more - List of Groups

List of Groups Endorsing [changes on "caps"]:

Action Network for Refugees and Asylum-Seekers
Agudath Israel of America
American Civil Liberties Union
American Friends Service Committee Immigrant Rights Program, Newark, NJ
American Friends Service Committee, Philadelphia, PA
American Immigration Lawyers Association
American Immigration Lawyers Association – Oregon Chapter
American Jewish Committee
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
Amnesty International USA
Anti-Defamation League
Arab American Institute
Asian American Community Service Association, Tulsa, OK
Asian Law Caucus
Asian Pacific American Legal Center
Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture
B'nai B'rith International
Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights Coalition
Catholic Charities Archdiocese of Los Angeles
Catholic Charities Refugee and Immigrant Services, San Diego, CA
Catholic Charities USA
Church World Service/Immigration and Refugee Program
Detroit Province of the Jesuits
Episcopal Migration Ministries
Ethiopian Community Development Council
Exodus World Service
Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center
Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society
HIAS North Carolina/Jewish Family Services
Hmong National Development, Inc.
Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project
Immigration Equality (formerly Lesbian and Gay Immigration Rights Task Force)
Immigration Legal Services of Catholic Charities, Baltimore
Immigration & Refugee Services of America
Immigration Project
Indochinese Learning Center
Institute on Religion and Public Policy
Interfaith Refugee and Immigration Ministries of Illinois
International Refugee Research Institute
International Rescue Committee
Jesuit Refugee Service / USA
Jewish Council for Public Affairs
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago
Jubilee Campaign USA
Kurdish Human Rights Watch, Inc.
La Esperanza, Inc.
Lao Family Community Development, Inc.
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law of Texas
Lawyers Committee for Human Rights
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service
Marks & Katz, LLC
Midwest Immigrant & Human Rights Center
Migrant and Refugee Cultural Support, Inc.
Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights
Minnesota Council of Churches Refugee Services Program
Nah We Yone
National Alliance of Vietnamese American Service Agencies
National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association
National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium
National Council of La Raza
National Immigration Forum
National Immigration Law Center
NCSJ: Advocates on behalf of Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States & Eurasia
Organization of Chinese Americans
People For the American Way
Political Asylum/Immigration Representation Project
Progreso Hispano
Refugee and Immigrant Assistance Center
Refugee Women's Network, Inc.
Society of Jesus (Jesuits), New York Province
Southeast Asia Resource Action Center
Tahirih Justice Center
UJA-Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York
United Jewish Communities
U.S. Committee for Refugees
VIVE, Inc.
Washington Defender Association's Immigration Project
Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs
Workmen's Circle/Arbeter Ring
World Organization Against Torture USA
World Relief
 
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