Kendrick Meek: “it is very hard for me to respond to what the chairman just shared with us because basically if we do not pass this…”

“it is very hard for me to respond to what the chairman just shared with us because basically if we do not pass this amendment of striking this 101 section, we might as well just take all the language in 101 and say, if you are being persecuted or if you are being raped as a woman or you are being abused as a child, do not come to America because that is basically what this amendment is saying. They were raising the bar beyond the capabilities of the individuals that are fleeing persecution. They are running for their lives literally, and many of these individuals are incarcerated. And where are the commercials? Where are the media reports of how lax our asylum laws are here in the United States? Because they are not. Where are the law enforcement agencies? Why are they not knocking down the doors in the halls of Congress saying, we really have to tighten up those asylum laws because they are too weak now? Where are they? We are following the people who have focused on this the most, the 9/ 11 Commission, and what they are asking for is for us to review and make sure we have good asylum laws in place. We are not saying it is bad. We are not saying it is good. I commend my colleagues who are looking at this, but moving in haste and having this manager's amendment before the Congress and no one has seen it.”