First Freedom Act Research Paper

The FIRST freedom act, a bill that seeks to “protect and promote international religious freedom.” is of the utmost importance to me as a student, as a Christian, and as an American. If passed, this bill will dramatically increase the amount of protection for both refugees, and those people seeking asylum from religious persecution. It will also introduce stricter guidelines and punishments for those who are responsible for committing acts of religious persecution.
I am concerned that we, as a country, are not doing near enough to sufficiently aid victims fleeing the wildly oppressive Syrian government, as well as refugees fleeing other religiously oppressive regimes. The United States has always been a major supporter of human and civil rights. Since World War II the United States’ government has generally taken in over 50% of resettlement cases, however of the approximate 130,000 Syrian refugees the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR has attempted to resettle, the United States has only taken about 800
since the beginning of the Syrian conflict, which as an abysmally low number. These are not actions that inspire pride in our country. The United States were founded of the idea of the melting pot, a tradition that must be upheld. Another issue this bill would address is the United States’ ability to take measures against those who wish to preform horrendous acts of religious persecution.
In 2006 a man named Marko Boskic was found to be living in Massachusetts. Mr. Boskic was involved and participated in the Sebrenica massacre of the Bosnian war. Instead of charging him with the far more heinous crime of religious persecution, he was merely charged with visa fraud and sentenced to 63 months in prison. He was later expedited to Bosnia where he was charged and convicted of crimes against humanity. He was sentenced to 10 years. As of the writing of this letter, there is no law prohibiting a non-citizen from committing crimes against humanity, including acts of religious prosecution. This is completely and utterly unacceptable, which is why this bill seeks to grant the US the ability to try anyone suspected of these things and punish them to the fullest extent of the
law.
I understand that we may not share the same view of this issue, but I very much look forward to your reply, and to discuss your views on this subject at greater depth.
Thank you for your time and consideration. I believe that this is an incredibly important bill and would love to see it passed so we can assure that all human beings, regardless of belief, can be given the same rights and liberties that we have, as Americans, in this amazing country, and so our government can protect us and our allies to the absolute best of its ability.