Mass Immigration and the National Interest: Policy Directions for the New Century by Vernon M. Briggs & Robert O. Briggs

Author:Vernon M. Briggs & Robert O. Briggs [Briggs, Vernon M. & Briggs, Robert O.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Emigration & Immigration
ISBN: 9780765609335
Google: QoUySegAmagC
Goodreads: 1270966
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 1992-07-28T00:00:00+00:00

China: Politics Cause Policy Chaos

On his last day as attorney general before resigning from that office, Edwin Meese sought to add a new wrinkle to the "politicalization" of refugee policy. On August 5, 1988, he issued policy guidelines for asylum requests that instructed the INS to consider requests from individuals from China who cited the possibility of persecution on the grounds that they violated that country's "one couple, one child" family-planning policy if they were forced to return home. Meese requested that, on a case-by-case basis, the INS consider whether such a refusal to follow government population policy constitutes political dissent and would, therefore, be a proper grounds for granting asylum.

There was immediate opposition to this arbitrary action. Critics pointed out that if the population policy of China applies uniformly to everyone, it cannot be a form of individual persecution. After all, the purpose of China's policy is to reduce the nation's population growth rate for an equally compelling humanitarian reason: to provide a higher standard of living for the future generations of Chinese citizens. In the first test case of this decision, the INS rejected an asylum request, in May 1989, by a married couple from China who entered the United States illegally.66 The policy itself, however, was not revoked.

Subsequently, on November 30, 1989, President George Bush issued a directive that permitted asylum to be granted to people fleeing pressure in their native lands to have abortions or to be sterilized. The following May, the Department of State ruled that a Chinese couple who fled China ostensibly for these reasons qualified for refugee status.67 The Department of State, however, refused to elaborate on the basis for its decision. Yet the precedent for creating an administrative category of "reproductive refugees" was established.

In 1993, however, the newly elected Clinton administration reversed the Bush policy of offering political asylum to women who showed evidence of being subjected to compulsory abortion. This led to a move in Congress to write the Bush policy into the nation's asylum law. This attempt caused Undersecretary of State Tim Wirth to say that if such action is taken by Congress, "we could potentially open ourselves up to just about everybody in the world who says Ί do not want to plan my family, therefore I deserve political asylum."'68 Nonetheless, in 1996, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 was passed and signed into law by President Clinton. It contained a provision that stipulates that a person qualifies as a refugee or asylee persecuted for political opinion if forced to undergo, or who has a well-founded fear of being compelled to undergo, or who resists a coercive population control procedure. A cap, however, of 1,000 annual asylum admissions under this provision was specified in the law. In 1999, a total of 185 such asylum requests were granted—mostly to claimants from China. Because this provision involves the politically volatile issue of abortion, it has the potential to have major ramifications on the conduct of immigration policy in the years ahead.

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