Speech #960226129

Mr. President. the current exodus of Cuban refugees presents some extremely serious humanitarian and policy questions for the United States. We must reject the negative and punitive actions launched by this administration toward Cuban and other Caribbean refugees. and initiate urgent diplomatic steps necessary to deal with these humanitarian issues. An administration that professes to care about human rights. and which condemns the Cuban Government for not permitting refugees to leave. cannot close our countrys doors to the Cuban "boat people." We must respond in a humane and effective way to this esodus of refugees. Rather than simply pointing an accusing finger at Cuba and at American boat captains. we should be proposing a comprehensive approach which addresses the Cuban refugee problem as a whole and which offers positive and constructive alternatives to the present chaotic movement of refugees. Mr. President. I strongly recommend that the administration move on several fronts today: First. we must establish a relocation center in Florida for Caribbean refugeesfor Cuban. Haitian. and other refugees. Second. we should ask the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to help us deal. on an urgent basis. with the flow of refugees from the Caribbeanwhether they be Cubans or Haitians seeking asylum in the United States. The UNHCR can help us determine if they are bona fide refugees under his mandate and within the scope of our refugee law. The UNHCR should use his good offices to help Cuban refugees. both at the source and in organizing their orderly movement to the United States and other countries. Third. we must launch immediate diplomatic contacts to help bring some order to the current exodus of Cubans. We should work with the Cuban Government in implementing its offer to allow political prisoners and Cubans with family or other ties to the United States to leave. I call upon the Attorney General to revoke his arbitrary limitation against accepting political prisoners released before August 1978. Fourth. we should use the provisions of the new Refugee Act. which I sponsored in the Senate. to offer resettlement opportunities to a reasonable number of Cuban refugees. especially those who have family or other ties to the United States. Finally. we must also seek UNHCR assistance in dealing with the Haitian "boat people." We should move. as I urged the Attorney General last November. to resolve all pending Haitian cases in Florida. We should institute new and fairer procedures to deal with Haitians and other Caribbean refugees arriving in the United States. For too long. Haitians have been the victims of discriminatory American law and policies. and they have been treated with little compassion and even less regard for their welfare. Only by taking these steps can we begin to cope with this growing refugee CXXVI----606Part 8 and migration crisis in the Caribbean. We must move diplomatically abroad. and with sureness at home. to take charge of this escalating problem.*