mr. chairman , 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 . 
all of the agencies , all of the religious organizations that are helping these individuals that we are trying to deal with now are saying that they support the nadler/meek/jackson-lee amendment . 
i urge the members to please support the amendment . 
mr. chairman , i want to thank you for your comments and also the gentleman from new york ( mr. nadler ) xz4002890 for his leadership . 
