US lawmakers seek to speed up Uygur refugee applications amid Xinjiang human rights abuse claims
- Bipartisan bill would grant Priority 2 refugee status to groups facing repression in China’s Xinjiang region
- Move would allow up to thousands of Uygurs to forgo a UN referral and apply directly as refugees to the US
A bipartisan pair of US senators on Tuesday introduced a bill to expedite refugee applications from Uygurs, matching an effort in the US House of Representatives to assist members of the largely Muslim ethnic group that advocates say face persecution in China.
Republican Senator Marco Rubio and Democratic Senator Chris Coons put forward the “Uygur Human Rights Protection Act”, which would grant Priority 2 refugee status to Uygurs and other groups, including Kazakhs and Kyrgyz, who have faced repression in or fled from China’s Xinjiang region.
Priority 2 status would allow hundreds, or possibly thousands, of Uygurs to forgo a United Nations referral and apply directly as refugees to the US government, reducing concerns that Beijing could be notified by a third country and seek their deportation back to China.
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China denies abuses, but the United States has declared that Beijing is perpetrating a genocide.
“The United States must continue to speak out against the PRC’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang, and we must also provide assurance and protection for the Uygurs and all those facing persecution as a result of their religious or ethnic identity,” Coons said in a statement referring to the People’s Republic of China, the country’s formal name.
The Senate bill, complementing a House version put forward in March, has Republicans and Democrats increasingly optimistic that the refugee upgrade could become law, even as the US Congress forges ahead with a sweeping package of other legislation to counter China’s influence.
“From a substantive perspective, the end game here is extremely similar,” said one Senate aide comparing the Senate and House bills. “We see this as an area of easy bipartisan support,” he said.