Speech #980143340

Mr. President. I send to the desk legislation which would temporarily suspend the deportation of nationals of El Salvador while the President and Congress investigate conditions in that striferidden country. Since 1980. the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) has apprehended 41.780 Salvadorans who have fled from El Salvador to the United States. and it is presently sending over 600 of the nationals back to the wartorn country each month. The refusal by the State Department to grant extended voluntary departure for Salvadorans until the political situation in that nation stabilizes is tantamount to this country burying its head under the sand in regard to the widespread accounts of atrocities. violence. and deliberate sabotage committed by both sides in the conflict in El Salvador. The nation of El Salvador is plagued with widespread violenceboth random and specifically directed.