Bill Would Deny Chinese Human Rights Abusers U.S. Entry

International   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Aug 23, 2011   |   1:04PM   |   Washington, DC

A new bill members of Congress filed this week allows the President of the United States to deny entry into the country for anyone engaged in human rights abuses in China, including those engaged in practices like forced abortions.

If passed, H.R. 2121, the “China Democracy Promotion Act of 2011,” would enable the President to deny entry into the U.S. for Chinese nationals who have “committed human rights abuses” against people in China. Anyone who “has participated in the imposition of . . . China’s coercive birth limitation policy” is included.

The timing of the bill is ironic, given that Vice President Joe Biden has come under heavy criticism from pro-life advocates for failing to criticize China’s one-child policy, which has resulted in forced abortions and sterilizations and many other human rights abuses. Speaker John Boehner, pro-life advocates and even Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney have chided Biden for his comments, in which he suggests he won’t “second guess” the policy and “understands” why China implemented it.

Reggie Littlejohn, President of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, a human rights group that focuses on victims of the one-child policy, praised the bill, saying the President would “have discretion to deny entry to Chinese nationals who have participated in a wide range of human rights abuses.”

“The time for this bill to pass is now,” she told LifeNews late Monday. “Decades ago, Congress barred foreign persecutors from obtaining asylum in the United States, to keep out Nazi war criminals. Why should Chinese officials who force women to have abortions, persecute ethnic minorities, torture people for their religious beliefs, repress public interest lawyers and jail journalists be welcomed to our land?”

“These persecutors need to be held accountable. They do not deserve to set foot on U.S. soil,” Littlejohn added.

While the bill would be a good step to stop forced abortion practitioners from coming to the United States, Littlejohn is worried the current president, pro-abortion Barack Obama, wouldn’t use the power of the law to stop them.

“The key player is the President. Even if the bill passes, will President Obama take a strong stand for the suffering people of China and deny entry to their persecutors?” she asked. “Nothing in his record thus far indicates that President Obama would deny entry to Chinese government persecutors, at least where the One Child Policy is concerned. To the contrary, President Obama restored funding to UNFPA, which former Secretary of State Colin Powell found to be working hand in hand with the Chinese coercive family planning machine.”

Littlejohn continued: “And on his official visit, Vice President Biden just told China ‘Your policy has been one which I fully understand — I’m not second-guessing — of one child per family.’ If Biden ‘fully understands’ the One Child Policy, then he understands it is enforced through forced abortion. If he is ‘not second-guessing’ it, then he is not opposing it.”

Rep. Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican who is one of the leading pro-life and human rights members of the House, is the lead sponsor of the legislation along with Republican Reps. Frank Wolf of Virginia, Dan Burton of Indiana, and Dana Rohrabacher of California. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican, signed on as a co-sponsor and his support makes it so the measure may have a chance to move forward.