Speech #960254031

I am proud to be a cosponsor of this amendment. It is extremely timely. I believe this amendment will call attention to the fact that this country. once again. is being called upon to bear unilaterally the burden of taking care of literally thousands and thousands of refugees. Recently. I was at Fort Chaffee. Ark. I was there only a few hours after several hundred refugees attempted to escape that particular impoundment. I must say that the situation does seem to be a great deal calmer at this moment. However. I am concerned about the fact that the Justice Department. in racent days. has been in the State of Arkansas. looking at the possibility of bringing some legal action against the Arkansas State Police. who they suggest may have used excessive force on somB of the refugees the night of the attempted escape. I do not know what they mean by "excessive force." but I do know that without the Arkansas State Police being where they were at that time. we would have seen literally hundreds of men. women. and possibly children in very. very grave danger because of the tense situation in the camp and immediately surrounding the camp. throughout the adjacent communities. Some weeks ago. I wrote the Organization of American States. trying to solicit their help. their cooperation. and their support. to come to our assistance at this time. to our aid as a countrya humanitarian country. to say the leastin attempting to help financially the refugees become located. and also to be of assistance in the relocation efforts in other parts of the world. which I shall place in this RECORD at the conclusion of my remarks. I hope the amendment offered by the Senator from Mississippi will help bring attention to this point. Mr. President. I recently made the suggestion to the President that we try to get further assistance from other countries throughout the world in our refugee program. I made an additional suggestion to the President at a White House meeting at which Senator BUMPERS was also present. I suggested to him. respectfully. that he have a talk. perhaps a fireside chat. with the refugees by closedcircuit television or radio or even a tape recording. in which our President would tell the refugees we were trying our best. as a humanitarian country. to make the best of a bad situation. He should warn them if they are going to violate the law. to break the law. to engage in activities such as happened at Fort Chaffee. they are going to have to suffer the ultimate repercussions which could include deportation. I hope the amendment offered by the distinguished Senator from Mississippi will be agreed to. I hope it will shed the light on this subject that should be shed upon it. so that we can act with wisdom. and so that other countries will realize that they. too. have a role to play in the relocation of these thousands of refugees who are today in our land. Mr. President.