Speech #970225638

Mr. President. 2 years ago. my State was the point of entry of an uncontrolled influx of thousands of refugees from Cuba and Haiti. 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 they returned with those who Castro chose to release. Today. there are still 1.227 Cubans in the Federal penitentiary in Atlanta who are being held because of the serious crimes they committed in Cuba. The city of Miami was quickly overwhelmed by hungry. impoverished refugees. Meanwhile. the Federal Government. uncertain of its 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 shelters 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. Thoughout the crisis. the Federal Government was placed in a position of reacting. rather than actively controlling the situation. Mr. President. I am sure that no one here wants to be confronted with another crisis of this kind but. as Thomas Enders. our Assistant Secretary of State. has pointedout. wecannot rule out the possibility of such large scale immigration emergencies in the future. And that possibility becomes more concrete when we remember that the Cuban Government has already shown itself capable of such cynical manipulation in the past. Just prior to the Mariel crisis.