[Pages H5744-H5748]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS OF CERTAIN SYRIAN NATIONALS

Mr. GEKAS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill
(H.R. 4681) to provide for the adjustment of status of certain Syrian
nationals, as amended.
The Clerk read as follows:

H.R. 4681

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

The Congress finds as follows:
(1) President Bush and President Clinton successively
conducted successful negotiations with the Government of
Syria to bring about the release of members of the Syrian
Jewish population and their immigration to the United States.
(2) In order to accommodate the Syrian Government, the
United States was required to admit these aliens by first
granting them temporary nonimmigrant visas and subsequently
granting them asylum, rather than admitting them as refugees
(as is ordinarily done when the United States grants refuge
to members of a persecuted alien minority group).
(3) The asylee status of these aliens has resulted in a
long and unnecessary delay in their adjustment to lawful
permanent resident status that would not have been
encountered had they been admitted as refugees.
(4) This delay has impaired these aliens' ability to work
in their chosen professions, travel freely, and apply for
naturalization.
(5) The Attorney General should act without further delay
to grant lawful permanent resident status to these aliens in
accordance with section 2.

SEC. 2. ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS OF CERTAIN SYRIAN NATIONALS.

(a) Adjustment of Status.--Subject to subsection (c), the
Attorney General shall adjust the status of an alien
described in subsection (b) to that of an alien lawfully
admitted for permanent residence, if the alien--
(1) applies for adjustment of status under this section not
later than one year after the date of the enactment of this
Act or applied

[[Page H5745]]

for adjustment of status under the Immigration and
Nationality Act before the date of the enactment of this Act;
(2) has been physically present in the United States for at
least one year after being granted asylum;
(3) is not firmly resettled in any foreign country; and
(4) is admissible as an immigrant under the Immigration and
Nationality Act at the time of examination for adjustment of
such alien.
(b) Aliens Eligible for Adjustment of Status.--The benefits
provided by subsection (a) shall apply to any alien--
(1) who--
(A) is a Jewish national of Syria;
(B) arrived in the United States after December 31, 1991,
after being permitted by the Syrian Government to depart from
Syria; and
(C) is physically present in the United States at the time
of filing the application described in subsection (a)(1); or
(2) who is the spouse, child, or unmarried son or daughter
of an alien described in paragraph (1).
(c) Numerical Limitation.--The total number of aliens whose
status may be adjusted under this section may not exceed
2,000.
(d) Record of Permanent Residence.--Upon approval of an
application for adjustment of status under this section, the
Attorney General shall establish a record of the alien's
admission for lawful permanent residence as of the date one
year before the date of the approval of the application.
(e) Availability of Administrative Review.--The Attorney
General shall provide to applicants for adjustment of status
under subsection (a) the same right to, and procedures for,
administrative review as are provided to applicants for
adjustment of status under section 209(b) of the Immigration
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1159(b)).
(f) No Offset in Number of Visas Available.--Whenever an
alien is granted the status of having been lawfully admitted
for permanent residence pursuant to this section, the
Secretary of State shall not be required to reduce the number
of immigrant visas authorized to be issued under any
provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
(g) Application of Immigration and Nationality Act
Provisions.--The definitions contained in the Immigration and
Nationality Act shall apply in the administration of this
section. The fact that an alien may be eligible to be granted
the status of having been lawfully admitted for permanent
residence under this section shall not preclude the alien
from seeking such status under any other provision of law for
which the alien may be eligible.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Pennsylvania (Mr. Gekas) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Weiner)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Gekas).

General Leave

Mr. GEKAS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks
and include extraneous material on H.R. 4681, as amended.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Pennsylvania?
There was no objection.
Mr. GEKAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, in 1992, the Bush Administration successfuly negotiated
with Syria to secure the release of persecuted Syrian Jews. To
accommodate the Syrian Government, the U.S. was forced to admit the
refugees on temporary visas and grant them asylum, rather than
admitting them as refugees.
This arrangement resulted in long delays in adjustment to lawful
permanent resident status, which in turn has impaired their ability to
work in their chosen professions, travel freely, and apply for
naturalization.
H.R. 4681, which ends this delay, was introduced by the gentleman
from New York, my friend and colleague Rick Lazio.
Congressman Lazio's attention to the welfare of this once-persecuted
community is admirable, and I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Lazio), and
I ask unanimous consent that he be permitted to control the time for
the balance of the debate.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Pennsylvania?
There was no objection.
Mr. LAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I want to begin by thanking the gentleman from
Pennsylvania (Mr. Gekas), the chairman of the relevant subcommittee,
for his leadership in allowing this bill to come to the floor, a bill
that is of great importance in terms of both the sense of American
justice and worldwide justice.
I also want to thank the gentleman from New York (Mr. Weiner) for his
assistance in making sure that we got this bill to the floor.
Mr. Speaker, can one imagine a country where the Jewish community
lives in an atmosphere of oppression and repression? Can one imagine a
nation whose absolute ruler keeps his entire Jewish population in
servitude and in slavery?
Mr. Speaker, I know we are here to discuss the question of Jews who
have sought asylum in the United States from Syrian tyranny and terror,
but I would like for a moment to mention a case from an earlier era, a
case that applies timeless lessons that can be applied to the matter
that we are discussing here today.
Yes, Mr. Speaker, the analogies between these two cases are
instructive. The parallels are profound. The similarities are
significant. Mr. Speaker, some 3,000 years ago, another Jewish
community was held in bondage in a place called Egypt. Just as the
Israelites were held hostage for years by Pharaoh, for years, the
Syrian Jewish community served as a bargaining chip in a game of high
stakes yet again. Pharaoh marshalled his army and marched and pursued,
determined to enslave the Israelites again.
When the Syrian dictator Assad finally decided to let Syria's Jews
leave for freedom, he imposed a condition on their departure, a
condition that would continue to limit the lives of these Jews in their
new home. Assad demanded that these Syrian Jews be allowed into the
United States as asylum seekers rather than refugees. Assad made this
demand for a reason. He was aware that the United States immigration
law makes it far more difficult for those who are asylum status to
become American citizens.
As a result, Mr. Speaker, the Jews who fled Syrian persecution to the
United States exist in legal limbo today. Many of them have no green
cards. Many of them cannot pursue their chosen professions because they
live in an immigration no-man's land that is neither here nor there.
Mr. Speaker, just as the Pharaoh's spite and malice made him pursue
the fleeing Israelites, Assad's animosity propelled the long arm of
interference that prevents these Jewish asylum seekers from integrating
into America's society.
Well, Mr. Speaker, we all know what happened to Pharaoh and his army.
Now we have an opportunity to enact the legislative equivalent of the
closing of the Red Sea. Let us wash away the last bonds of slavery
imposed on these Syrian Jews by an unfair and unjust dictator. Let us
allow the Syrian Jews who have sought refuge in America to taste fully
fruits of freedom.
Mr. Speaker, the Talmud teaches us that whoever saves one life, he
has saved the entire world. Mr. Speaker, we have saved these Syrian
Jews from threats of violence, imprisonment, and torture. We saved
these Jewish asylum seekers from the bitter servitude that was their
lot in their native land. But, Mr. Speaker, the task is not complete.
As long as these Jews are denied an equal chance for citizenship, they
will not truly have been brought to freedom.
Mr. Speaker, we began this task, we brought these Jewish asylum
seekers from a regime of oppression into the promised land of liberty.
Let us finish the job and pass this bill. This bill will allow them to
become the active participants in the American dream that all Americans
wish for.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. WEINER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from New York (Mr. Lazio)
for his great work on this bill. I also want to particularly thank the
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Smith), the chairman of the Subcommittee on
Immigration and Claims.
I had originally offered a form of this bill in committee during the
debate on the H-1B reform legislation, and the gentleman from Texas
(Mr. Smith) was kind in offering to help us make this issue a reality
in some other form. I am glad that we are here on the floor to finally
act on this.
Mr. Speaker, passage of this bill today will finally begin to bring
closure for a group of Syrian Americans who have been persecuted for
over 50 years.

[[Page H5746]]

In 1944, after Syria gained its independence from France, several of
the first acts taken by the fledgling government were designed to
persecute Syria's small 2,500-year-old Jewish minority. Jewish
immigration to Palestine was prohibited. The teaching of Hebrew was
severely restricted. Boycotts were ordered against Jewish businesses.
When the partition of Israel was declared in 1947, mobs in Aleppo
attacked the Syrian Jewish community; over 200 homes were destroyed.
Scores of Jews were slaughtered and synagogues were literally torched.
Thousands of Jews illegally fled Syria to go to Israel.
In the years since 1947, the Jews' situation in Syria worsened. They
were not permitted to emigrate. Jews who did temporarily leave the
country were forced to post an onerous monetary deposit and literally
to leave family members behind so as to assure their return. In the
past, Syrian secret police engaged in 24-hour-a-day surveillance of the
Jewish quarter in Damascus. They kept a file on every Jewish person,
monitored all contacts between Jews and foreigners, and read the mail
and tapped the phones of Syrian Jews.
Members of the Syrian Jewish community have been arrested on the mere
suspicion of their intention to leave that country. They have been
imprisoned without trial and tortured.
In 1992, the Bush administration made a diplomatic breakthrough in
their negotiations with the late President Assad. Syrian leaders agreed
to let Jews leave the country without the large deposit. Syria also
allowed several complete Jewish families to leave the country. He still
would not let Syrian Jews emigrate to Israel, but most of them went to
the next best place, Brooklyn, New York, my district, and the district
of the gentlemen from New York, Mr. Nadler and Mr. Owens.
Brooklyn is now the home to over 25,000 Syrian Jews. The names of the
Brooklyn neighborhoods that they came to were chanted in the shoals in
Syria when this deal was announced.
Since the diplomatic breakthrough of almost 10 years ago, these
Syrians have come to Brooklyn by the thousands and established
themselves as model citizens. They are really part of the American
dream.
But there is a problem that survives to this day and a problem that
we seek to resolve with this legislation. Assad would not let these
departures be labeled emigration in any way. He needed to save face. He
forced the Jews to buy round trip plane tickets, and the INS agreed,
our INS agreed as part of this deal to admit these Jews as tourists.
They were then granted asylum. As asylee tourists, Syria's Jews
received temporary non-immigrant visas. Usually, when the United States
admits members of a persecuted alien minority, it admits them as
refugees.

{time} 1030

This is the critical difference under U.S. immigration law. It is
very difficult for asylees to become permanent residents, and without
permanent resident status, Brooklyn's Jews from Syria have been unable
to travel freely, to apply for full citizenship, and to work in their
chosen professions.
If Syrian Jews had been admitted as refugees, as is often the case
from other countries, as they certainly would be by any sense of the
word, they would likely be full citizens today. Instead, thousands of
them reside in a form of immigration limbo. They have escaped Assad's
persecution, but most of them have been unable to become permanent U.S.
residents.
This bill changes that. It directs the Attorney General to adjust the
status of these Syrian Jews to that of lawful permanent residents.
Passage of this bill will signal the House's intention to close this
awful chapter in Jewish persecution history. And when the President
signs H.R. 4681 into law, these thousands of Syrian families will
finally be able to fully participate in American life, a privilege they
should have had years and years ago.
One final note to my colleagues. The recent passage of President
Assad in Syria has brought with it a good deal of revisionist history.
While we are taught not to speak ill of the dead, we have to remember
that with Assad's passing, we also have to close a chapter in what has
been the improper way that these emigres have been treated.
I want to commend the sponsors of this legislation, and I urge all of
my colleagues to vote in favor of this historic bill.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
There are two other sponsors of the bill that I wanted to recognize
for their hard work. One is the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Franks)
and the other is a tireless advocate, the gentleman from New York (Mr.
Gilman).
I just wanted to emphasize with a personal story, Mr. Speaker, the
cruelty and the injustice of the current status of Syrian Jews and talk
about a person who has the potential to make a great difference in our
society.
Joseph Durzieh. Joseph was a brilliant medical student at the
University of Damascus, one of the handful of Jews allowed to pursue a
higher education in Syria. And just for an aside, Mr. Speaker, I would
note that it was not so long ago that Jews were not permitted to hold a
government position or to work in a bank in Syria. There was that level
of bias and discrimination.
Joseph came to America in 1992 and immediately proceeded to pass his
United States medical equivalency exams with flying colors. He
completed his internship in New York and now is working in a State
University of New York fellowship program in Brooklyn.
Mr. Speaker, Dr. Durzieh is a well-respected physician. He is highly
esteemed by his fellow doctors. He is highly valued by his employers.
He is highly beloved by his patients. Yet because he has been unable to
obtain a green card, he cannot obtain a license to practice medicine in
America. When his fellowship expires next year, Dr. Durzieh will have
no choice but to leave the medical field.
Mr. Speaker, if that were to happen, we will all be the poorer for
it. We will all be the poorer if because of an emigration law
technicality the people of New York are deprived of the services of a
gifted physician. We will all be the poorer if because of the
vindictiveness of a Syrian regime we do not allow Dr. Joseph Durzieh to
use his talents as a healer.
Mr. Speaker, we have an opportunity here to see that justice is done,
to ensure that the taste of freedom that all others enjoy are enjoyed
by Syrian Jews. I urge the House to strongly, strongly support this
measure.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. WEINER. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the
gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler).
Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill, and let me
begin by expressing my appreciation to the leadership of the Committee
on the Judiciary for rushing this bill to the floor, this simple and
just bill.
This bill was introduced by the gentleman from New York (Mr. Lazio),
the gentleman from New York (Mr. Weiner), the gentleman from New Jersey
(Mr. Franks), the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman), the gentleman
from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone), and myself on June 15, less than a month
ago, and here it is on the floor. Lightning speed, as legislation goes.
As I said, I want to express my appreciation to the committee
leadership for that.
Mr. Speaker, we are dealing here with the result of the tyrannical
conduct of the Syrian government, which for generations held the Jewish
population, the small Jewish population of Syria, hostage to its
tyranny. Even today the Jews and the Kurds are the only minorities in
Syria not allowed by law to participate in the political system, and
the Jews are the only minority in Syria whose passports and identity
cards must note their religious affiliation.
In 1992, as was said before, as a result of negotiations by the
President, President Assad of Syria agreed to let those Syrian Jews
emigrate to the United States so long as they pretended they were not
emigrating. So instead of being classified as refugees, because we
agreed, the United States Government, to play along with Assad to let
him save face, they came here as tourists, on tourist visas, and were
then granted political asylum. Because of that, they are not granted
the same right as other refugees and the same ability to regularize
their status and eventually become United States citizens.

[[Page H5747]]

The United States should not subordinate our justice system and our
naturalization system to the tyranny of Syria. This simple bill asks a
simple thing: Change the status of this small group of people, and the
bill is capped at 3,000, change the status of this small group of
people, in effect to refugees, as they really were and are, give them
the same rights and stop kowtowing 8 years later to the whim of the
Syrian dictator.
It is a just bill, it is a good bill, and it is a simple bill. It
rights an injustice, and it will be of great benefit to a number of
people, albeit a small number of people; but justice demands its
passage. I urge all my colleagues to vote for the bill.
Again, I thank the leadership of the Committee on the Judiciary, the
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde), the gentleman from Pennsylvania
(Mr. Gekas), and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers) for helping
speed this bill to where it is today.
Mr. LAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Gekas), the distinguished subcommittee
chairman.
Mr. GEKAS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this
time, and I want to, by way of wrap-up, to pay tribute to the gentleman
from New York (Mr. Lazio) for the expedited procedure, to which the
gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler) alluded in his remarks, about how
swiftly and accurately this bill was brought to the floor at this
juncture.
Witness what the gentleman from New York was able to do. A bill that
came out of committee came to the floor under the auspices of the
Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims. The gentleman from Texas (Mr.
Smith), who was not able to be here today, and the committee was not
able to act as such, so there was a recruitment of the chairman of the
Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law to appear on the
floor and to then recruit the gentleman from the minority side to be
able to come to the floor and to give a history of the situation that
brought us to this juncture.
All of this was done in a short period of time. And with much
eloquence the gentleman from New York (Mr. Lazio), the gentleman from
New York (Mr. Nadler), and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Weiner)
explained the situation to us, and we are now well poised to proceed
with enactment of this bill.
Mr. WEINER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume to
commend the leadership, particularly that of the subcommittee chairman,
the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Smith).
Lest we too dramatically rewrite the history of this bill, let us
remember that this first came to the full Committee on the Judiciary,
as my good friend from Pennsylvania just recognized, in the form of an
amendment that was offered on the H-1B bill, where the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. Smith) was kind enough to object to its passage at that time
but offered to see that it was handled expeditiously. And I too want to
thank the gentleman from New York (Mr. Lazio) for taking up the cause
on the Republican side.
Let us not forget that these are real people in Brooklyn who are
awaiting simple justice. I have to tell my colleagues that they are, in
many ways, the classic American immigrant group, in that they came here
freeing persecution. When they came here, they built synagogues on
Ocean Parkway, they built yeshivas, they started businesses. Some of
the clothing that we wear today was made by members of the Syrian
Jewish community who have become such leaders in the apparel
profession, among others. And they have, all that time, been tourists.
Under the law, they have been tourists. They have been the longest
present tourists in the history of the United States, arguably. They
are the only tourist visas that the INS could tell me they have ever
issued that had no end date.
What we are saying is, their days as tourists are over. They are no
longer visiting the United States. We have always known them to be
American citizens at heart, and now they are American citizens on paper
as well.
I too am deeply gratified that we are reaching this point. We are
hopeful that the other body will act quickly on this. I have received
assurances that the President will sign this bill and, hopefully, the
next cheers we will hear are not for the freedom of those persecuted
Syrian Jews, but the citizenship of those formerly persecuted American
Syrian Jews.
Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back
the balance of my time.
Mr. LAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Let me finally thank the distinguished chairman of the Committee on
the Judiciary, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde), for allowing
this bill to come to the floor with this expedited procedure and for
lending a willing ear, frankly, to our efforts to see that justice is
done. Thanks also to the subcommittee chairman, the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. Smith), for his outstanding assistance in this matter.
And let us not forget the fine staff of the Subcommittee on
Immigration and Claims, and of the full committee, Jim Wilon in
particular, for their excellent assistance. All these people have come
together for a common reason, to make sure that we have an opportunity
here in the House to express our desire to integrate Syrian Jews into
American society and to achieve a measure of justice.
With that, Mr. Speaker, I would ask for the passage of this bill.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of
H.R. 4681, a bill to provide for the adjustment of status of certain
Syrian nationals.
When Syria gained its independence from France in 1944, it engaged in
acts of persecution against its small Jewish population. This involved
such things as a prohibition against Jewish emigration to Palestine; a
restriction on the teaching of Hebrew; and boycotts against Jewish
businesses.
Jews who have left the country have been forced to post an onerous
monetary deposit, and have had to leave family members behind so as to
assure their return. Also, the Syrian secret police have harassed them.
This has included a 24-hour-a-day surveillance of the Jewish quarter in
Damascus and other steps to monitor the behavior of the Jews.
When the partition of Israel was declared in 1947, mobs in Aleppo
attacked the Syrian Jewish community destroying more than 200 homes,
killing many Jews, and torching synagogues.
Relief finally came in the 1990's, when the Bush and later the
Clinton Administration made arrangements for 25,000 Jews to come to the
United States. These Syrian Jews settled in Brooklyn New York. Although
this was a tremendous breakthrough, the Syrian government imposed an
undesirable condition on permission to leave Syria. The Jews were
required to enter the United States as nonimmigrant visitors and then
to seek asylum instead of coming here as refugees.
The asylum applications were granted, but this did not lead to
permanent resident status in the United States for many of them. Only a
limited number of asylees can become permanent residents of the United
States each year. Most of the Syrian Jews therefore have been unable to
become permanent U.S. residents. This is completely unacceptable for
people who have suffered the way the Syrian Jews have suffered and who
have been given refuge in our country. They should be allowed to become
lawful permanent residents of the United States.
H.R. 4681 would direct the Attorney General to adjust the status of
these Syrian Jews to that of lawful permanent residents without regard
to the numerical limitations that prevent this from happening under
current law. This would make it possible for the Syrian Jews to finally
make their stay in the United States a permanent one and to be able to
participate fully in American life.
I am happy to support this legislation, Mr. Speaker, but I do have
some reservations, not about what we are doing here, but what we are
not doing. There are a group of immigrants who will still be locked
out, and who still will not have relief. I am speaking of the ``late
amnesty'' applicants and the immigrants who are asking for parity
relief under the NACARA law of 1997.
In 1986, the Immigration Reform and Control Act authorized the
legalization of undocumented immigrants who could prove that they had
been living in the United States since January 1, 1982.
Unfortunately, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (``INS'')
promulgated a rule that denied legalization to the immigrants in this
group who had briefly left the country. INS then refused to accept
applications from people who had violated this rule. But by the time
the INS had agreed to modify the rule, the 12-month application period
had ended and hundreds of thousands of people who could have
established eligibility for legalization had been turned away.
I have introduced a bill, H.R. 4172, the Legal Amnesty Restoration
Act of 2000, that

[[Page H5748]]

would change the date of registry to 1986, which would give amnesty to
any immigrant who has entered the United States before 1986. This
legislation has the full support of the Clinton Administration.
The purpose of the NACARA parity is to offer the same opportunity for
permanent residence to Salvadorans, Guatemalans, Hondurans, and
Haitians as was offered to Nicaraguans and Cubans in the Nicaraguan
Adjustment and Central American Relief Act of 1997. If this amendment
is adopted, eligible nationals of these countries would receive
treatment equivalent to that granted to the Nicaraguans and Cubans
under the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act of 1997
(NACARA).
This action would allow certain nationals of Nicaragua and Cuba, and
their qualified dependents, to have their immigtration status adjusted
to lawful permanent residence. Eligibility for this relief requires,
among other things, continuous physical presence in the United States
since December 1, 1995.
I support H.R. 4681, but I also hope that we can bring relief to
others who are so desperately deserving of it and in dire need as well.
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, today we have the opportunity to provide
relief for 2,000 Syrian Jews, who have been residing in the United
States for almost a decade. I commend our colleague from New York, Mr.
Lazio, for his dedication to these displaced people in bringing H.R.
4681 to the floor, today.
In 1992, after years of negotiations between the United States and
Syria, President George Bush and Secretary of State James Baker reached
an agreement which allowed Syria's beleaguered Jewish population to
seek asylum in the United States. However, as a condition of this
accord, the Syrian Government demanded that the United States grant
these Syrian Jews temporary non-immigrant visas that led to asylum
status.
The Syrian government's demand forced the U.S. to deviate from its
standard practice in which persecuted alien minorities are granted
refugee status that can lead to naturalization.
As a result of this legal technicality, the Syrian Jews who sought
refuge in the United States have encountered substantial difficulties
in their quest for U.S. citizenship. The resulting delays have
inhibited the ability of these Jews of Syrian origin to work in their
chosen professions, travel freely and pursue the same quality life in
the United States enjoyed by all Americans.
These individuals have become dedicated members of their communities.
I am confident that granting lawful permanent resident status to the
Syrian Jews will be a great benefit to both their community and our
nation.
Accordingly, I urge all my colleagues in the House to Support H.R.
4681.
Mr. CROWLEY. Mr. Speaker, I would like to commend Representative
Lazio, Representative Weiner, and the rest of the co-sponsors for their
leadership on this important issue. The Syrian Jewish community
experienced many years of persecution at the hands of the Syrian
government. For decades, the Syrian Jewish community lived in fear of
the secret police. They were barred from buying property, they had
travel restrictions placed on them, and they could not work in
government or at banks. Now, the U.S. Congress has the ability to ease
the suffering of this community.
In 1992, through the efforts of President Bush and the State
Department, Hafez Al-Assad agreed to end harsh travel restrictions
against the Jewish community of his country. However, he did not want
them to come to America as refugees. Instead, this persecuted community
came to the U.S. on tourist visas. Because they came on visas, they
were effectively blocked from applying for permanent residency in the
U.S.
Several professions, such as the medical field, require this status
in order to work. Like so many who come to the U.S., these people only
wanted the opportunity to contribute to society and work in their
chosen professions. I am glad that the U.S. Congress is finally
correcting this unfair situation and putting these brave people on the
road to citizenship and allowing them to realize their full potential
as so many refugees and immigrants have before them.
It is time that the Syrian Jews are granted full access the American
dream. I urge all of my colleagues to support this bill.
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, this bill is extremely important for a
number of reasons. Jews in Syria were persecuted and discriminated
against for decades. Because of discrimination and oppression, it was
important for these Jews to leave Syria, and for the United States to
help pursue this effort.
In general, people who are granted refugee visas to come to the U.S.
from other nations are able to apply for permanent residence status
after one year.
Unfortunately, although negotiations with the U.S. did eventually
lead President Assad to allow Syrian Jews to leave Syria pursuant to an
April 1992 Order, he only allowed them to come to the U.S. on tourist
visas. Subsequently, these Jews were granted asylum. However, only
10,000 people that have been granted asylum may adjusts their status to
permanent residents each year. In recent years, many more than 10,000
people have sought permanent residence status.
As a result, many Syrian Jews have been seeking permanent resident
status for many years. Without this status, the Syrian Jewish asylees
are unable to seek and change employment readily, obtain a medical
license, or apply for U.S. citizenship through the naturalization
process.
The legislation before us today would require the Attorney General to
adjust the status of the Syrian Jews who emigrated to the United States
pursuant to Assad's 1992 Order to that of permanent resident. This
legislation is critical to ensure that these people can come to enjoy
the full benefits of living in the United States--free from persecution
and discrimination.
I urge all of my colleagues to support this important legislation.
Mr. LAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I
yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Kuykendall). The question is on the
motion offered by the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Gekas) that the
House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 4681, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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