Speech #960243332

In a climate characterized by a genuine effort to restore fiscal responsibility to government while minimizing the economic impact on the poor. elderly. and disadvantaged. it makes little sense to practice a policy which does not represent a judicious balance between our traditional values and our economic realities. Since we share some of those values with our Latin neighbors in the Western Hemisphere. I believe we ought to move to seek hemispheric cooperation in developing an immigration policy which accounts for all the realities that face us in this situation. The central reality isCastros communism has failed. When the massive boatlift has finally ended. more than 100.000 refugees will have fled Fidels socialist paradise. For the most part. the Cuban refugees are family people who want and deserve better than the Castro regime can give them. However. it is not the exclusive responsibility to the United States to provide refuge. Rather. it seems to me that that is an obligation which is shared by the other democratic republics of this hemisphere. Tomorrow. I will confer with Gale McGee. American Ambassador to the Organization of American States. with a view toward achieving a concerted U.S. plan to establish refugee reception centers elsewhere in Latin America. I hope also that we will undertake negotiations to arrive at a hemispheric system of immigration quotas which recognizes the shared responsibility of our Hispanic allies. For years. Castro has tried to export the successes of his revolution. Now he is forced to export his failures. By adopting a joint hemispheric immigration policy. we can expect the Cuban refugees to serve as articulate and effective opponents of the Castro regime where opposition is most neededin those nations where Castro has sought to foment dissent and has supported insurgency. In that way. the animosity toward Castro of the refugees can become a counterweight to Fidels cynical attempt to spread his bankrupt system to other Hispanic republics. This Friday. I will depart for Nicaragua and Costa Rica to discuss foreign aid matters with the Heads of State of those two nations. It is my intention to make this matter of immigration a part of the considerations respecting the according of foreign aid. Mr. Speaker. I urge my colleagues to join me in calling for new directions in hemispheric immigration policy to insure that the problems arising from the presence of 20.000 Cubans at Fort Chaffee. Ark.. do not recur as communism in this hemisphere continues to crumble.