AJC wants more liberal refugee policy (10/23/83)

AJC wants more liberal refugee policy

NEW YORK - The American Jewish Committee has filed a legal brief urging that a person seeking to avoid deportation need establish only that there is a "well-founded fear" that he will face political persecution if he is forced to return to his country instead of a "clear probability."

"This more liberal approach," said AJC's legal director, Samuel Rabinove, "will uphold the basic humanitarian principle that the United States should play a key role in securing freedom for refugees by providing, together with other free nations, a safe haven for the world's oppressed."

In the amicus brief filed with the United States Supreme Court, in a suit involving Predrag Stevic, a native and citizen of Yugoslavia, and the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the American Jewish Committee joined with the International Institute of Boston, an agency providing free or low-cost immigration counseling and representation to low income persons, Reps. Walter E. Fauntroy, Major R. Owens and Ed Towns, and the Lawyers Committee for International Human Rights, which assists in providing legal representation for applicants for political asylum in the United States.

The case came to the Supreme Court in the form of appeal by the government from a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals ordering the reopening of deportation proceedings by the Board of Immigration Appeals. The Appeals Court remanded the case for a new hearing in accordance with the more liberal standards of proof of refugee status.

The American Jewish Committee and the others on the amicus brief argued that the Refugee Act of 1980 changed the substantive standard for establishing refugee status from proof of a "clear probability" of persecution to proof of a "well-founded fear" of persecution, the latter of which is easier to prove.

Founded in 1906, the American Jewish Committee is this country's pioneer human relations organization. It combats bigotry, protects the civil and religious rights of Jews at home and abroad, and seeks improved human relations for all people everywhere.

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