Dear Senators:
We urge you to vote “No” on H.R. 4038, the American Security Against Foreign Enemies (SAFE) Act of 2015. We also condemn the xenophobic rhetoric that has marked this debate from the start.
Refugees to the United States, particularly those of Syrian origin, are already subject to some of the most stringent security screening procedures in the world. They must first be cleared by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and are then required to go through an extensive vetting process, which includes independent background checks by U.S. federal agencies, biometric screening, terrorism database searches, and investigations into personal ties, places of employment and sites of worship. This process takes 12 to 18 months for non-Syrian refugees, and Syrian refugees can wait three years or longer due to added background checks required by the Syria Enhanced Review process.
Many refugees are forced to live in dangerous conditions in overcrowded and underfunded refugee camps as they wait. Instead of fixing the inefficiencies that lead to this unacceptable delay, this bill imposes additional hurdles such as unanimous approval by the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) on a Syrian refugee’s application. These will not make us safer, but will deny protection to vulnerable refugees who will continue to be exposed to harm. Imposing such prohibitive bureaucratic red tape on already overburdened procedures could effectively halt Syrian refugee admission into the United States, in violation of U.S. international treaty obligations and our moral obligations as a nation.
The shocking and tragic events that took place in Paris, Beirut, and elsewhere are a sobering reminder that how we choose to respond to these atrocities is the ultimate test of our character as a nation. As a country that prides itself in being a nation of immigrants, we cannot succumb to hatred in the name of security. We cannot sacrifice our most fundamental values by adopting a rhetoric of fear and closing our doors to the victims of the same terrorist acts we condemn. We should be doing more, not less, to help those in need of a safe haven.
We stand with refugees from all over the world. We ask that you do the same by voting “No” on the SAFE Act of 2015.
Respectfully,
Harvard Immigration Project
Signatures
Michelle Ha
Dami Animashaun
William Winn
Seth Motel
Alexandra Fischbein
Carson Cook
David Kimball-Stanley
Jacob Newman
Vivian Dong
Elizabeth Curran
Alice Reichman
Keahav Dimri
Andrew Lewis
Melissa Verrilli
Johan Lievens
Joanna Cornell
Marissa Leonce
Alexander Andresian
Joseph Milner
Annaleigh Curtis
Nicholas Ruge
William Organek
Sara Schaumburg
Danait Mengist
Kezmen Clifton
Michael Wysolmerski
Melissa Freeman
George Hageman
Brianna Rennix
Dia Rasinariu
Kyle Strickland
Shlomo Fellig
Arun Bodapati
Marlen Thaten
Harold Lee
Anna Joseph
Lisa Fitzgerald
Mark Hamlin
Roi Bachmutsky
Francis Igiriogu
Paige von Mehren
Lena Borislavova
Anna Byers
Tonia Barnett
Jacob Chefitz
Yehoshua Komarovsky
Peter Chi
Sean Ouellette
Tori Anderson
Emily Hogin
Amanda Lamothe-Cadet
Henry Druschel
Ming Cheung
Alicia Daniel
Christian Williams
Elizabeth Reese
Emma Scott
Rebecca Johnson
Jevhon Rivers
Julie Hamilton
Hanne Sandison
Colin Reeves
Rabiat Akande
Evan Mann
Sarah Gutman
Phoebe Yu
Nathan Burcham
Steven Salcedo
Keira Grimes
Marissa Florio
Christina Lee
Stefano Sharma
Forrest McClellen
Jeffrey Zink
Pa Vang
Torrance Castellano
David Hotelling
Michael Shammas
Jacob Hanna
Brian Klosterboer
Erum Sattar
Isaac Saidel-Goley
Meaghan Kerin
Isabel Broer
Gabrielle Hodgson
Madeleine Joseph
David Kafafian
Pamela Yaacoub
Leora Smith
Naomi Campbell
Jacqueline Trudeau
Marien Rivera
Jane McGraw
Alice Wang
Lisa Gluckstein
Dayne Lee
Emily Graham
Joon Lee
Schuyler Daum
Zacharia Chibane
Sarah Loucks
Matthew Reardon
Patrick Kibbe
Rebecca Chang
Kyle Sandison
Robert Seaney
Patricia Alejandro
Patrick Grubel
Jessie Stefanik
Jeewon Choi
Corey Linehan
Helen Rave
Susan Zhu
Daniel McGrath
Nancy Pinn
Caroline Cox
Alice Cherry
Tess Peacock
Tyler Vigen
Steven Wilfong
Monica Wilk
Lauren Blodgett
Jonathan Vruwink
Sam Feldman
David Hanno
David Clark
Anna Andreeva
Keaton Allen-Gessesse
Sara Dewey
Mariam Boxwala
Tess Hellgren
Melanie Emmen
Daniel Groh-Wargo
Colin Ross
Andrew Hanson
Austin Steelman
Asiya Ubaid
Seung Wan (Andrew) Paik
Nathan MacKenzie
Matthew Lee
Laura Gault
Lauren Lemonious
Zain Jinnah
Zoe Bedell
Clarissa Lehne
Rauvin Johl
Seevun Kozar
Lauren Godles
Renée Gagné
Mana Azarmi
Melissa Mikail
Olga Slobodyanyuk
Nadia Farjood
Peyton Lee
Alice Prinsley
You may sign the letter here. Signatures included in the letter as posted include those made by November 26, 2015, and the final letter will include more signatures.