11 May 2006
Security Considerations Part of Refugee Admissions Process
U.S. officials discuss Burmese Karen, North Korean refugee situations
Washington -- The United States continues to offer safe haven to legitimate refugees while protecting national security interests and counterterrorism efforts, U.S. officials told the House International Relations Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights, and International Operations May 10.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's recent decision to waive Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) resettlement restrictions for several thousand members of the Karen, a Burmese ethnic minority, living in Thailand's Tham Hin refugee camp is an example of this balancing act between security and humanitarian concerns, said Ellen Sauerbrey, assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration. (See related article.)
Assistant Attorney General Rachel Brand told the subcommittee that U.S. immigration policies historically have been preventive, or "designed to prevent undesirable aliens from entering the United States." This outlook includes "a presumption against the admission of aliens involved with terrorist organizations or individuals engaged in terrorist activities," she said.
U.S. counterterrorism efforts are broad, Brand explained. "Thus, in addition to prosecuting those who commit acts of terrorism or plan terrorist attacks, the department prosecutes those who provide material support to terrorists."
According to State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, who briefed reporters May 5, representatives of the Department of Homeland Security discovered during interviews at the Tham Hin camp that some refugees there might have provided some "material support" to the Karen National Union, considered by the United States to be a terrorist organization.
McCormack explained that "anybody who might be a combatant or a member of the Karen National Union would not be eligible for resettlement in the United States, even under this waiver authority." However, as a State Department fact sheet released the same day explained, the secretary's decision allows Karen members resettlement in the United States if it can be determined that these refugees "pose no danger to the safety and security of the United States."
Brand stressed that any actions the United States takes with regard to the admission of refugees "must not conflict with or undermine our counter-terrorism strategy -- by admitting persons who pose a security threat to this country, by complicating positions the government takes in litigation, or by sending inconsistent messages to the world about our policy toward acts of terror."
NORTH KOREAN REFUGEES
The United States also remains "deeply concerned about the hardships suffered by the North Korean people and the plight of those North Koreans who have fled their country in search of asylum," Sauerbrey said. According to Sauerbrey, the United States has been working with other governments and refugee organizations to find ways to deal with cases of individual North Korean asylum seekers and recently resettled six North Korean refugees in the United States.
Sauerbrey said "many host governments are reluctant to allow us to process cases of North Korean asylum seekers on their territory." These countries facilitate the "quiet transit" of North Korea refugees to South Korea (nearly 1,400 in 2005; 449 so far in 2006), but fear that U.S. government involvement could disrupt this mechanism by generating unwanted publicity and complicating bilateral relations.
In an April 2005 hearing on North Korea, former U.S. Special Envoy Joseph DeTrani said the position of many Southeast Asian governments on North Korean refugees "presents sensitive political challenges." He said only three countries in Southeast Asia -- Cambodia, East Timor and the Philippines -- are party to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol and added that many countries in Southeast Asia have diplomatic relations with North Korea. (See related article.)
For more information on U.S. policies, see Humanitarian Assistance and Refugees, Visas, Passports and Immigration and Response to Terrorism.
The texts of Brand's (PDF, 4 pages) and Sauerbrey's (PDF, 7 pages) testimony are available on the House International Relations Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights, and International Operations Web site.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
