SACRAMENTO–In response to the persecution individuals are facing in territories controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Senator Ted Gaines (R-El Dorado) today introduced Senate Joint Resolution (SJR) 14 that urges the United States Congress to act swiftly in providing these individuals with much-needed humanitarian relief.
“We cannot sit by and let ISIS radicals continue to stage mass killings and forcibly displace, kidnap and enslave millions of men, women and children,” said Senator Gaines. “It is critical that the United States offer the innocent victims of these horrific acts of terror the potential for a desperately needed safe haven.”
SJR 14 urges the United States House of Representatives to immediately pass HR 1568, which will allow persecuted nationals, or residents, in ISIS-held territories in Iraq and Syria to apply directly to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. These persecuted groups will include religious and ethnic minorities and those facing gender-based violence.
Senator Gaines’ SJR 14 advises Congress to broaden the definition of persecution to also include those victimized based on race, nationality and sexual orientation, and to broaden the definition of religion to include non-Islamic extremists.
“Since ISIS is not limiting persecution to one minority group or one specific religion, neither should the United States in granting refugee status to those who have been victimized by the militant group,” said Senator Gaines. “These are gross abuses of basic human rights and fundamental freedoms that have no place in our civilized world.”
The United Nation reports that ISIS is at the center of attacks directly targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, executions and other targeted killings of civilians, abductions, rape and other forms of sexual and physical violence against women and children, forced recruitment of children, destruction or desecration of places of religious or cultural significance and destruction and looting of property.
