Alan Simpson: “let me just come to a little review of the amendment of Senator Leahy. The Senator from Vermont spoke of the alien who…”

“let me just come to a little review of the amendment of Senator Leahy. The Senator from Vermont spoke of the alien who was so traumatized that he or she cannot speak about it at entry, and so they would not be in a position to immediately show a credible fear and, thereby, attain a full asylum hearing. The Senator certainly goes to the hardest case. If the Senator's amendment was precisely directed only to that possibility, it would be appropriate. But the Senator's amendment goes far beyond that. It would simply gut the reforms proposed in the bill to deal with the large number of aliens. What we are trying to get at is aliens who enter without inspection, or with fraudulent documents, and those who board a plane with documents, then dispose of them, and upon entry fraudulently claim asylum. I think we are still having a bit of distortion, not from the Senators from Vermont or Ohio, but when someone says that they will not be interviewed by 'the guy at the border,' that is simply not true. This provision will only be administered by specially trained asylum officers with translators.”