Speech #980000366

Thousands of these Salvadorans flee their homeland every month as a defense of last resort. Some settle in other Latin American nations. but many come to the United States. most often illegally. And despite the dangers of living in El Salvador it is the policy of the Reagan administration to return those refugees it is able to identify and detain. to the lives they fled in El Salvador. In El Salvador many returned refugees face yet greater dangers. since their names are given to the military government upon their return. Several times over the past 2 years reports have come back to the United States of coldblooded massacres of planeloads of returning refugees. These deaths are senseless and avoidable. It is time we recognize the peril we are forcing upon thousands of innocent Salvadorans. I am today reintroducing legislation that calls on the United States to grant Salvadoran refugees temporary shelter in our country. This shelter is in no way a type of amnesty. nor does it replace applications for political asylum. It simply permits refugees from El Salvador to remain temporarily in the United States until the situation in their home country improves sufficiently to allow them to return and reside there safely. Increasingly the American public is seeking ways to help these unfortunate refugees. In the Southwest United States. along the Mexican border. hundreds of Americans have formed a kind of "underground railroad" to help protect these Salvadorans. In cities across the Nation communities of Salvadoran refugees have formed. often with the help of religious and social groups. Yet the Government has filled Immigration and Naturalization Service detention camps in El Centro. Calif.. and elsewhere with Salvadoran refugees to be sent back to El Salvador. Several suits have been filed on behalf of refugees against INS claiming that INS officials regularly fail to inform refugees of their rights to apply for political asylum and to receive legal representation and counsel. The processing of political asylum applications has been tedious and only a handful have been approved by INS out of tens of thousands of applications. The United States historically has upheld our commitment to providing refuge for those in need in many similar cases. Refugees who fled from Vietnam. Laos. Iran. and Nicaragua after the 1979 revolution all were granted this temporary shelter. known as extended voluntary departure. The Reagan administration has politically abused this provision. denying it apparently in part because the President actively supports the ruling military government of El Salvador. The resolution I am introducing today would affirm the support of the House for the basic human rights of refugees from El Salvador. This is an issue of basic protection for thousands of innocent people. and I am hopeful that this Congress will act favorably on this legislation. H. Res. 21 Whereas ongoing fighting between the military forces of the Government of El Salvador and opposition forces is creating potentially lifethreatening situations for innocent nationals of El Salvador. Whereas the Immigration and Naturalization Service estimates that as many as one hundred fifty thousand nationals of El Salvador have fled from El Salvador and entered the United States since 1979. Whereas such Service detains such nationals for the purpose of returning to El Salvador such nationals. Whereas deportation of such nationals could be temporarily suspended. until it became safe to return to El Salvador. if the Attorney General. upon the recommendation of the Secretaty of State. provides such nationals with extended voluntary departure status. and Whereas such extended voluntary departure status has been granted in recent history in cases of nationals who fled from Vietnam. Laos. Iran. and Nicaragua: Now. therefore. be it Resolved.