http://cbs4.com/topstories/local_story_016200253.html

Jan 16, 2007 8:06 pm US/Eastern

New Government Policy Angers Legal Immigrants
(CBS4) MIAMI In an environment increasingly hostile to illegal immigrants in the US, immigrant advocates now fear the government is poised to move against those who have come here legally and have been granted political asylum.

A government statement just released states that immigrants who were awarded political asylum could possibly have it revoked if they visit the country they fled.

Florida immigration attorney Ira Kurzban questions the new policy and thinks the government should use their resources for more pressing matters, “It just seems to me the kind of mindless, unnecessary kind of enforcement mentality, when we should be going after what people would commonly call the real bad guys.”

One of the biggest concerns about the new policy from people who have been granted political asylum is that if an emergency arises and they need to travel back to their home countries, they will not be allowed back.

“People whose family members may be very ill, they may have passed away, they're going to be afraid to go back to their home country to bury their mothers or fathers,” say Kurzban.

Chris Bentley from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service refutes those claims, saying, “We're not talking about people who are traveling out of the country to visit an ill or dying relative. We're talking about an individual who travels back and forth multiple times.”

Tens of thousands of South Florida residents could be impacted by the government's new position statement. Cuban immigrants, it would appear, have no need for concern, having been granted residency under rules that apply only to Cuban refugees.