Speech #970199965

Mr. President. today I am submitting an amendment to S. 2222. the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1982. which designates the steps the Federal Government may take to stop an uncontrolled mass migration of aliens to the United States. My amendment will give the President the authority to declare an immigration emergency during which the administration will be able to use extraordinary measu.es to stop aliens from entering the United States illegally and to prevent U.S. residents from bringing aliens into the country. Mr. President. I am a strong supporter of S. 2222. I believe that Senator SIMPSON has prepared an effective reform package that addresses some of the most serious failings of our Immigration laws. It puts the Federal Government in a much stronger enforcement position and holds the promise of restoring order to U.S. immigration policies. However. there Is a serious omission in the bill and that is the failure to prescribe what steps will be taken in the event of a mass migration. The need for such a reform has been proven. Two years ago. my State was the point of entry of an uncontrolled influx of thousands of refugees from Cuba. In Just 5 months. 125.000 had arrived requesting political asylum in the United States. Mixed among those were hardened criminals. mentally ill people. and others. who should never have been allowed to enter the United States. American citizens. anxious to rescue Cubans from the repressive Castro regime. provided the transportation for the refugees. They left with lists of relatives provided by CubanAmericans but returned with those who Castro chose to release. Today. there are still 1.227 Cubans in the Federal penitentary in Atlanta who are being held because of the serious crimes they committed in Cuba. The city of Miami was quickly overwhelmed by hungry. destitute refugees. while the Federal Government. uncertain of the appropriate Federal role in such a crisis. delayed taking the decisive steps necessary to control the influx. Refugees were released Into the community without sponsors. food or housing. Tent cities and temporary shelter arose to accommodate them. Jackson Memorial Hospital. the county hospital in Dade County. was overrun by refugees seeking medical care. In the early days it was the State and local governments. not the Federal Government. that provided for the refugees. The situation reached crisis proportions because neither the Immigration and Nationality Act. nor the Refugee Act. anticipate a situation in which the United States becomes a country of first asylum for large numbers of refugees. Throughout the crisis. the Federal Government was placed in a position of reacting. rather than actively controlling the situation. The Cuban refugee crisis was quickly followed by a large influx of refugees from Haiti. At one point. as many as 3.000 Haitians were landing on Floridas beaches. Many were carrying contagious diseases which posed a public health threat to the area.