“Material support” provisions bar valid asylum seekers from relief

On Wednesday, State Department officials announced that the number of refugees admitted to the U.S. fell 23% in the past year.  The reason for the decrease lies in the recently enacted “material support” provisions of immigration law, which bar entry to anyone who belongs to or has provided material support to armed rebel groups, even if that support was coerced and even if the armed groups fought alongside American troops or opposed authoritarian governments criticized by the Bush administration.

Rachel Swarns writes for the NYTimes:

The provisions have derailed the resettlement of thousands of refugees fleeing the authoritarian government of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma; hundreds of refugees from Vietnam and Laos who fought alongside American troops in the Vietnam War; and dozens of Cubans who supported armed groups opposed to Fidel Castro in the 60’s, according to the State Department and the United Nations refugee agency.

Many of the refugees were barred from the United States because, under the new laws, they are deemed supporters of terrorist groups, even though the organizations that they support do not appear on the State Department list of designated terrorist groups.

The full story is here.  It’s time for Congress to refine the vastly overbroad material support bars of the INA.

-jmc