ACTION REQUESTED: Contact your elected officials and ask that they oppose the REAL ID Act: http://www.cair-net.org/default.asp? Page=issuesAndLegislations

To read the bill's text, go to thomas.loc.gov and type "HR 418" (without the quotation marks) into the search field.

For more information, go to: http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/media/2005_alerts/ asy_0126_sens.htm

New legislation designates PLO representatives as 'terrorists'

(WASHINGTON, DC - 2/3/05) - CAIR is urging all persons of conscience to voice their concern over the recently-introduced REAL ID Act. House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner's (R-WI) bill is composed of provisions that were deemed too controversial and stripped from last year's intelligence reform bill.

The bill makes it harder for people fleeing persecution to gain asylum in the U.S. In some cases, it may create a situation where an asylum seeker needs documents from the very government they are fleeing to prove their case.

The bill also states: "An alien who is an officer, official, representative or spokesman of the Palestine Liberation Organization is considered, for purposes of this Act, to be engaged in a terrorist activity." If enacted, this would terminate the current high hopes that the new situation in the Palestinian Territories can lead to a just peace.

Last year, House leadership promised Sensenbrenner that his provisions would be attached to the first piece of "must pass" legislation, such as that providing aid for countries devastated by recent tsunami or funding military operations in Iraq, to come before Congress.

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