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[Congressional Record: October 13, 2000 (Senate)] [Page S10544-S10545] From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:cr13oc00-126] ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS OF CERTAIN SYRIAN NATIONALS Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to consideration of H.R. 4681. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title. The assistant legislative clerk read as follows: A bill (H.R. 4681) to provide for the adjustment of status of certain Syrian nationals. There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill. Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I rise today to applaud the passage of a bill that will grant permanent residency status to a small group of Syrian Jews who fled the brutal dictatorship of Hafez Assad almost a decade ago. In 1992, through negotiations between our State Department and the Syrian regime, President Assad allowed the last remnants of Syria's Jewish community to leave Syria. For years, this community faced religious persecution, restrictions on the right to travel and emigrate, and other forms of harassment. When Assad finally agreed to let them go, he insisted that they come to this country as tourists, rather than as refugees fleeing religious tyranny, in order to avoid the appearance that his repression had driven out a considerable number of his own citizens. We permitted this fiction in order to rescue people desperate for freedom, but obviously, the 2000 Syrian Jews who came here in 1992 were never tourists--they were seeking a permanent home and a life free of religious and political oppression. Once safely in the United States, the Syrian Jews had no choice but to request asylum, and asylum was granted. But because of the long delays that asylees face in obtaining permanent resident status, the Syrian Jews still have not become permanent residents and gotten green cards. If they had come to the United States as the refugees they truly were, instead of as tourists, they would have become permanent residents years ago because there is no annual cap on the number of refugees permitted to move to permanent residency. The Syrian Jews have suffered for years because of this situation, imposed on them by the terms of the secret 1992 deal with Assad. Without green cards, those among them who are doctors and dentists, as many are, are unable to practice their professions under the New York State licensing system. As asylees, the Syrian Jews face restrictions on their right to travel abroad. Finally and most important, the Syrian Jews have been stalled for years in the efforts to become full citizens of our country, something all of them ardently want. This legislation corrects this anomaly and directs the Attorney General to grant permanent resident status to the Syrian Jews who came here in 1992. This will give this small group of people the immigration status they should have had years ago, but for the fiction that they were coming to the United States as tourists. It will permit them to begin practicing their chosen professions and moving toward full citizenship. It will finally effectuate the agreement by which they emigrated from Syria in the first place. Most of all, it will guarantee the full blessings of liberty to people who want nothing more than to live in peace in a land where the government doesn't mistreat you simply because of your religion. Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read the third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. [[Page S10545]] The bill (H.R. 4681) was read the third time and passed. ____________________ Share this page | Bookmark this page The leading immigration law publisher - over 50000 pages of free information!
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