A Washington DC-based organization that supports Hong Kong’s democratic movement is lobbying the United States House of Representatives to introduce two bills that would set the foundation of a refuge system for Hongkongers facing political prosecution under a national security law to be imposed by China.

The House of Representatives was mulling a bill called the Hong Kong People’s Freedom and Choice Act, said Samuel M. Chu, Managing Director of the Hong Kong Democracy Council.

This bill would ask the U.S. Department of State to maintain its current independent approval of entry of Hongkongers to the States, and to issue green cards to those who were facing a risk of political prosecution and were in the U.S within five years after the revocation of Hong Kong’s preferential treatment by Washington as a separate customs and travel territory from the rest of China.

The bill also provides for a special migration scheme for students doing a bachelor’s degree and for employers of small enterprises.

The second bill, known as the Hong Kong Airlift Act, is being introduced by U.S. Republican congressman John Curtis and Democratic congressman Tom Suozzi.

This would require the State Department to designate certain Hongkongers as Priority 2 refugees, allowing front-line protesters and demonstration organizers who were facing political prosecution and their families to seek asylum at U.S. embassies in Hong Kong or overseas.

Chu compared the two bills to Operation Yellowbird, also known as Operation Siskin, a Hong Kong-based operation that helped Chinese dissidents escape arrest by enabling them to flee overseas via Hong Kong after the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989. He is the younger son of the Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, a Hong Kong minister who took part in Operation Yellowbird.

Chu said the two bills were vital because, unlike those Chinese dissidents 30 years ago who could seek refuge in Hong Kong while awaiting overseas asylum, foreign consulates in Hong Kong would be the only hope for shelter for protesters who faced political prosecution while waiting for foreign visas.

Chu said the two acts contained similarities and his organization was trying to garner enough support from both parties before the bills were introduced to Congress. He expressed confidence in gathering enough support as Nancy Pelosi, current Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, previously sponsored the Chinese Student Protection Act of 1992, which aimed to help the Tiananmen protesters.

In addition, the proposed bills provided for an immigration scheme targeting highly skilled people, signaling to Beijing that the U.S. would absorb the human resources and social economic capital of Hong Kong should China tighten its grip on the financial hub, he said.

Chu also mentioned that the U.S. was sensitive about its immigration policies. He believed the legislation process would take time.

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