mr. chairman , i yield myself such time as i may consume . 
mr. chairman , i offer this amendment to strike section 101 of the bill relating to asylum seekers . 
under the excuse of protecting national security , the asylum provisions in this bill make it much more difficult for legitimate victims to be granted asylum . 
the logic seems to be , if you keep out every asylum seeker , including legitimate victims , then the system can not be abused . 
proponents of this section make inaccurate , dramatic claims about terrorists who abuse the asylum system to get into the country , but the cases they cite are mostly pre-1996 when the law was changed . 
since that 1996 change , asylum seekers are jailed , put in custody until a finding of reasonable fear of persecution is made , so they can not pose a threat while they are in custody . 
because current law already places the burden of proof on the asylum applicant and places the applicant in custody until he or she meets the initial burden of proof , a terrorist who wishes to enter the united states would most likely attempt to do so by a tourist visa or on fraudulent papers . 
they are not going to claim political asylum and then be put in jail until they can show a credible fear of persecution . 
but this bill seeks to raise the bar when people finally do get into court . 
if we pass this bill in its current form , mothers , fathers , children with legitimate asylum claims will be sent back to their persecutors with no benefit to national security . 
current law provides that an asylum seeker must prove a reasonable fear of persecution by reason of race , color , creed , national origin , sex , or political opposition . 
the new provision in this bill would require proof that one of these factors , race , color , creed , political opposition , is the `` central reason '' for the legitimate fear . 
this is an almost insurmountable burden of proof since the persecutors rarely stop to explain their motives while they are committing torture , rape , and murder . 
the judge would be forced to look into the minds of the persecutor and decide what weight to give to a particular motive in cases of mixed motives , which they are , in order to prove , the burden of proof , that this is the central reason . 
not one of the major reasons , a central reason . 
this is an impossible burden of proof with no purpose other than to deny the asylum claim . 
this section would deny a victim asylum based on an immaterial inconsistency or inaccuracy in a prior statement . 
so an applicant who , at the airport , perhaps without a decent understanding of english or a mistranslation , forgets or misspeaks the date of her high school graduation , or the date of her wedding or her grandchildren 's births , even though the dates might not be significant in her culture , unlike in ours , would later be denied safe haven from persecution , even though they have nothing to do with the legitimacy or lack of legitimacy of her claim for asylum under the law . 
this would be a ridiculously harsh outcome for an absurdly innocent mistake . 
there are other things that this section does . 
we did not have time to review it properly . 
it did not go before the committee . 
the provisions that were considered by the house last year was only a 2-page provision . 
this became a 10-page provision 2 days ago . 
no one has had a chance to properly look through it , but we do know that it does a lot of other very harsh things . 
mr. chairman , asylum law is supposed to be about protecting individuals from serious abuses of human rights . 
it is not supposed to be about seizing on any possible basis to deny a claim or to return people to harm 's way . 
this section is not about protecting our borders ; it is about xenophobia and sending victims back to their torturers . 
it is , mr. chairman , in the larger sense , un-american . 
i urge my colleagues to stand with me in voting for the nadler-meek-jackson-lee amendment to strike these provisions and keep our law humane and american . 
mr. chairman , i reserve the balance of my time . 
