Bills
| 3.23.22

Should the U.S. Provide Emergency Relief to Religious & Ethnic Minorities Targeted for Genocide by ISIS in Iraq & Syria? (H.R. 390)

Do you support or oppose this bill?

What is H.R. 390?

(Updated August 12, 2020)

This bill would provide emergency relief to religious minorities in Iraq and Syria who’ve survived genocide at the hands of ISIS and ensure that the perpetrators are investigated and held accountable. It would provide support to entities that are helping genocide survivors in-country, including faith-based entities, and those that are conducting criminal investigations into genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in Iraq and Syria.

The bill would create a “Priority Two” (“P-2”) designation for the region’s Christians and other genocide survivors so that they can access an overseas application interview for the U.S. refugee admissions program without a referral from the UN. Such refugee applicants would be vetted like other Iraqi or Syrian applicants, and couldn’t be admitted until they’ve cleared the vetting.

An assessment of the humanitarian vulnerabilities, needs, and triggers that force survivors to flee their homes would be required by this bill. It would also identify warning signs of violence or persecution against survivors from vulnerable religious or ethnic minority groups in Iraq or Syria.

The bill calls for the identification of gaps in U.S. law that make it more difficult to prosecute foreign perpetrators of genocide, crimes, against, humanity, or war crimes who come to the U.S. along with Americans who commit such crimes. Foreign countries would be encouraged to add identifying information about suspected perpetrators of such crimes to their security databases and screening procedures.

Argument in favor

The religious and ethnic minorities who have survived ISIS’s genocide need emergency relief from the U.S., which also needs to lead the charge to bring the war criminals who perpetrated the genocide to justice.

Argument opposed

The U.S. shouldn’t be singling out particular religious or ethnic groups for emergency relief simply because they were targeted for genocide by ISIS. It also shouldn’t make an effort to bring ISIS war criminals to justice.

Impact

Religious and ethnic minorities who’ve been targeted for genocide by ISIS in Iraq and Syria; and federal agencies.

Cost of H.R. 390

The CBO estimates that enacting this bill would cost $8 million over the 2017-2022 period.

Additional Info

In-Depth: Sponsoring Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) introduced this bill along with Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) after putting forward a similar bill during the last session of Congress to provide emergency relief to survivors of genocide and hold the perpetrators accountable. Rep. Smith offered the following statement upon the bill’s introduction in January:

“The reintroduction of this bill is timely because just last month I saw in Iraq the lack of humanitarian aid for Christian genocide survivors. These genocide survivors told me the United States and global community had abandoned them. They are at-risk from freezing winter temperatures and require emergency help.”

Rep. Eshoo added the following:

“Tens of thousands of Christian genocide survivors in Iraq and Syria need our help now and it is essential that emergency humanitarian aid for the survivors be provided. I thank Chairman Smith for his passionate leadership on this issue and I look forward to working with him and all my colleagues in Congress to quickly move this aid package and bring relief to those who continue to suffer.”

This legislation passed the House Foreign Affairs Committee on a voice vote, and has the support of 45 bipartisan cosponsors in the House — including 38 Republicans and seven Democrats.

 

Of Note: During the last Congress, the House voted 393-0 to condemn ISIS atrocities against ethnic and religious minorities as genocide.

 

Media:

Summary by Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: DFID - UK Dept. for International Development via Flickr / Creative Commons)