|
Ridge Resignation, Kerik Nomination Offer Opportunity to
Step Up Refugee Protection
Following the resignation of Tom Ridge and President Bush’s decision
to nominate Bernard Kerik to succeed him as Secretary of the Department of Homeland
Security, Human Rights First urges that the protection of refugees be a higher
priority for the Department.
Since the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) took over immigration functions
from the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in March 2003, Human Rights
First has repeatedly recommended that Secretary Ridge take several concrete steps
to ensure that refugees who seek asylum in this country are treated fairly. We
have requested that Secretary Ridge create a high level refugee protection position,
with direct authority over the various DHS enforcement bureaus that detain and
deport asylum seekers. We have also urged the Department to issue fair rules
to ensure that asylum seekers are no longer detained unnecessarily in U.S. jails
for lengthy periods of time.
“The Department has not taken these basic steps – and refugees
who seek asylum in this country have suffered as a result. While the Department
has many important priorities, refugees have simply been lost in the bureaucratic
shuffle,” said Eleanor Acer, Director of Human Rights First’s Refugee
Protection Program. “The next Secretary needs to send a strong signal that
protecting refugees is a priority for the Department and the Administration,” Acer
added, “A good start would be creating a high-level refugee protection
position. And the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee can play an important
role by using the upcoming confirmation hearings of Bernard Kerik to raise these
concerns.”
While DHS has not taken these proactive steps to improve refugee protection,
under Secretary Ridge’s leadership, it has taken steps to maintain essential
protections for refugee women. The Department, in a brief filed in February 2004
in the test case of Rodi Alvarado, recognized that in appropriate circumstances
a woman who flees from domestic violence in a country that fails to protect her
can be eligible for asylum, if she meets specific legal criteria. “Secretary
Ridge deserves real credit for ensuring that the Department took the proper legal
position in this important test case,” Acer noted. “Under his leadership,
the Department took a stand that recognizes the importance of protecting women
who have fled from honor killings, sexual slavery, domestic violence and other
kinds of gender-based abuse.”
Background
The Department of Homeland Security took over the functions of the INS in March
2003. During the last year, Human Rights First repeatedly urged Secretary Ridge
to create a high level refugee protection position. The position is essential
given the bureaucratic structure of the Department and its important primary
focus on preventing terrorism. Under the Homeland Security Act, immigration functions
were separated and given to three separate bureaus within the Department. Because
of this structure, the legal and operational expertise on refugee protection
is located in a totally separate directorate from the bureaus that detain asylum
seekers.
On December 3, President Bush announced that he had selected Bernard Kerik,
who served as New York City’s Police Commissioner at the time of the September
11 attacks, to be the next DHS Secretary. Mr. Kerik’s nomination will need
to be approved by the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. Human Rights First
urges the members of the committee to question Mr. Kerik, both in advance of
and at his confirmation hearings, about the steps he plans to take to ensure
that refugees are treated fairly and humanely by the Department of Homeland Security.
More on Asylum
http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/asylum/asylum.htm
- 30 -
|
