I am sure that many of my colleagues will agree that an overhaul of the current foreign policy toward the Caribbean is long overdue. I think that this is a particularly timely topic. We literally have been bombarded with headlines about the Caribbean region since the influx of the Cuban refugees last month. I know that all of us have received different reactions on this from our constituents. What I have heard most from the black community during the peak of the refugee situation was about the unequal treatment by the United States of the Haitians especially in light of the cadre of services provided to the Cuban refugees. My distinguished colleague from New York has been the conscience of this body on this issue for some time r.ow. She pointed out from the beginning. and I concur. that the unequal treatment of the Haitian refugees by the Immigration Service and the State Department was largely due to the color of the Haitians as opposed to any alleged economic versus political asylum designations. The administration indicated only this week its plans to alter this policy. But it seems that. since our attention has been focused on the Caribbean. we now need to revamp our entire philosophy and foreign policy objectives as they pertain to the Caribbean.
Keywords matched
Immigration refugee refugees