January 13, 2010

Congressman Gresham J. Barrett

439 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Congressman Barrett:

We the undersigned organizations strongly object to the introduction of the “Stop Terrorists Entry Program Act of 2010” (hereinafter “STEP”).  According to your press release of January 5, 2010, STEP would result in the deportation of all Iranian, Syrian, Cuban, Sudanese, and Yemenis citizens on student visas, temporary work visas, exchange visas, and tourist visas from the United States within 60 days of passage.  It would also make it illegal for these individuals to travel to the United States.

Rather than keeping America secure, STEP tramples on fundamental freedoms and core American values.  The proposed legislation brands as suspicious individuals of particular national origins, resulting in discrimination no less invidious than the racial, ethnic, and religious profiling that this country has disavowed.  Like racial and ethnic profiling, national origin profiling sends the public message that discrimination against certain individuals or communities is sanctioned by the state.  If passed, STEP will have a detrimental, lasting impact on all Americans, including the innocent individuals and families who are targeted.   

STEP turns on the false premise that individuals from a particular country are more likely than others to be associated with criminal or terrorist activity.  To the contrary, many individuals from these countries, including Iran, are sacrificing their lives for the values Americans embrace.  STEP would punish such persons by displacing them from their adopted home, subjecting them to increased trauma and hardship, and preventing family members from visiting their loved ones. 

The proposed legislation risks not only alienating our country from itself, but also deepening anti-American sentiment around the world.  While couched in terms of security, STEP makes America less secure while simultaneously undermining the values upon which this nation stands.

As such, we urge you to withdraw STEP from consideration.  In the words of Justice Murphy in his dissent in Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214 (1944):  “Racial discrimination in any form and in any degree has no justifiable part whatever in our democratic way of life.  It is unattractive in any setting but it is utterly revolting among a free people who have embraced the principles set forth in the Constitution of the United States.”

Sincerely,

The Undersigned Organizations

Asian Law Caucus

Bay Area Iranian American Democrats

Bay Area Iranian American Voter Association

Iranian American Bar Association

National Iranian American Council

South Asian Bar Association of Northern California

PARSA Community Foundation

Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans

CC:     

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives

John Boehner, Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives

Michael Steele, Chairman of the Republican National Committee

Timothy Kaine, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee

Eric Holder, U.S. Attorney General