Washington, D.C. (December 8, 2020) - This week the House of Representatives passed, by voice vote, the
"Hong Kong People's Freedom and Choice Act of 2020" in response to the heavy-handedness exhibited by the People's Republic of China (PRC) after enacting a Hong Kong National Security Act. The bill,
H.R. 8428, grants immigration benefits to Hong Kong residents, changing the refugee standards and ignoring that a legal mechanism already exists for Hong Kong residents who are at risk of persecution: They may seek to enter as refugees.
The bill skews the plain meaning of the words relating to the internationally recognized standard (adopted in U.S. immigration law at
Section 101(a)(42) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, or "INA") defining what constitutes a refugee. Section 10 undercuts the need for the alien to actually find real or a likelihood of persecution – the alien must only have a "concern about the possibility of " persecution.
Dan Cadman, a CIS fellow and author of the analysis, said, “The bill softens the standard so much as to make it meaningless. It would become extraordinarily difficult for an immigration adjudicator to deny refugee applications filed by
any Hong Kong residents because of the definitional changes encompassed in the bill. Of course, this will lead in turn to other particularized groups seeking similar treatment.”
“These carve-outs operate very much in favor of oppressors because they create an escape valve by which iron-fisted and undemocratic governments can bleed off popular dissatisfaction, leaving only a docile and easily cowed populace behind,” writes Cadman.
Another point to consider regarding H.R. 8428: an estimated 8.15 million persons might be eligible for benefits under this bill.
Although the bill doesn't authorize permanent immigration, but "only" Temporary Protected Status (TPS), there's
nothing so permanent as temporary status. Hundreds of thousands of alien recipients of TPS from various countries have now been here for decades, and mounted innumerable legal battles to be allowed to remain in perpetuity and granted amnesty.
When the U.S. Senate considers the bill, it's worth looking at the TPS statute itself,
8 U.S.C. Sec. 1254A, which speaks consistently of granting of TPS
only in circumstances that reflect a temporary condition.
Cadman writes, “The TPS designation is a fig leaf to grant hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of Hong Kong residents (who may in fact be PRC citizens who are not pro-democracy advocates) permanent entry into the U.S. The bill is a potential national security disaster in the making for our country, and if it passes, the intelligence organs of the PRC and its People's Liberation Army will be delighted at the opportunities it spawns.”
