mr. chairman , i want to thank the gentleman from florida ( mr. meek ) xz4002700 for his work on this . 
it is credibly important . 
this is perhaps the most objectionable part of the bill . 
i rise in support of the nadler/meeks/jackson-lee amendment to strike section 101 of h.r. 418 which imposes evidentiary requirements on asylum-seekers fleeing persecution and all immigrants who seek withholding of removal from deportation . 
without a doubt , if this section passes into law , genuine bona fide refugees who have fled horrible persecution that qualifies them for protection from our government will be returned to face more terror , torture and death at the hands of their persecutors . 
chairmen sensenbrenner is using the public 's fear of terrorism to radically change asylum law for all asylees , not just those with some connection to terrorism . 
section 101 will not make us one bit safer from terrorist attack . 
since we tightened some loopholes in asylum law in 1996 , terrorists have not been `` abusing our asylum system '' as the proponents of this bill allege . 
terrorists are already barred from receiving the benefit of asylum protection in the united states . 
those who support placing these new insurmountable hurdles on asylum-seekers have used examples of known terrorists to allegedly show that the asylum system makes us vulnerable to terrorist attack . 
but none of the people they talk about were granted asylum . 
ramzi yousef and sheik omar abdel rahman , who were both involved in the first world trade center bombing in 1993 , were never granted asylum . 
they filed applications for asylum that had not been adjudicated at the time of the bombing . 
mir aimal kansi , who killed two cia employees in 1993 , was never granted asylum . 
he had an asylum application pending at the time of the attack . 
gazi ibrahim abu mezer , known as `` the brooklyn bomber '' for his involvement in a planned attack on the new york city subway in 1997 , was never granted asylum . 
he applied for asylum but withdrew his application before it was reviewed . 
ahmad ajaj , who was involved in the first world trade center bombing , was never granted asylum his initial application for asylum was abandoned when he left the country , and his second application was denied . 
abdel hakim tizegha , who was involved in the planned millennium attack in 1999 , was never granted asylum . 
his application was denied in 1997 and his appeal was denied in 1999 . 
hesham mohamed ali hedayet , who killed two people at the el al counter at los angeles international airport in 2002 , was never granted asylum . 
his application was denied in 1995 . 
shahawar matin siraj , who has been accused of plotting to bomb the harold square subway station in new york city in august 2004 , was never granted asylum . 
he asserts that he entered the united states legally as a teen , and he later filed an application for asylum that was suspended upon his arrest . 
immigrants can not apply for asylum unless they are already in the united states . 
so it is not the fault of the asylum system that these terrorists , and terrorist suspects , entered the united states and section 101 of h.r. 418 would not have prevented their entry . 
in addition , filing an application for asylum should not be equated with actually receiving asylum protection and the right to remain in the united states that it grants . 
many asylum applications are rejected , just as many tourist visas to enter the united states are rejected . 
for people applying for asylum in 2005 , under current law , extensive security checks are now done through the fbi , cia , homeland security and state department databases . 
now , expedited removal rules mandate detention for people arriving without proper documents , and grant dhs authority to detain asylum-seekers throughout the adjudication of their application . 
expedited processing of asylum claims now exists , and applicants are denied work authorizations that may have been a magnet for false applications before asylum reform . 
people who are already in the united states , who become terrorists while they are here , must be identified by intelligence and law enforcement . 
if they are , asylum or any other immigration benefit will be revoked under current law . 
for that vast majority of asylum applicants who have no nexus to terrorism , other than being victims of it , section 101 will create high , new legal standards of evidence , and will severely limit judicial review of their cases . 
first , the bill requires that refugees prove that one of the five grounds for asylum protection -- race , nationality , membership in a social group , political opinion , or religion -- is the `` central reason '' why they were persecuted . 
with little access to the documents and witnesses they left behind when fleeing their country , they must prove what was in the mind of their persecutor during the persecution . 
this would require an asylum-seeker from darfur , sudan to prove that the janjaweed attacked them and ran them off their land because they were black , and not because the militia wanted to steal the immigrant 's cows , for example . 
second , the bill requires asylum-seekers to show evidence corroborating their testimony , and it would bar judicial review of decisions regarding that evidence . 
yet many refugees are unable to flee with the people or paperwork that could back up their stories under evidentiary standards . 
third , the bill allows judges to deny applications if they find inconsistencies between the applicant 's testimony and any statement they have made to a u.s. official , or inconsistencies in witness and documentary evidence that is provided . 
in addition , it allows denials on the basis of subjective assessments of an applicant 's demeanor , a factor that is frequently misinterpreted by u.s. judges due to cultural differences . 
thus , a person could be denied asylum due to an immaterial inconsistency in the evidence they present . 
finally , the bill strips courts from the power to review immigration judge 's discretionary judgments in asylum and removal cases . 
unfortunately , this bill takes a significant step in turning our country away from its proud history as a nation of refuge for those fleeing persecution . 
for these reasons , i urge my colleagues to support the nadler/meeks/jackson-lee amendment to strike section 101 of this bill . 
