Speech #980153851

One in four Salvadorans has been displaced. It is impossible to calculate how many of these persons have sought refuge in the United States because they have no faith in their own governments ability or willingness to protect them. Despite the obvious dangers of their return to El Salvador. the INS is deporting Salvadorans at the steady rate of about 350 a month. Of the 2.914 Salvadoran refugees who filed for asylum with the Immigration Service in fiscal year 1983. only 71 received it. As long as the Salvadorans in this country face grave dangers at home. the United States is morally bound to offer them shelter until their return would be safe. In an urgent message to the President in last weeks Washington Post. the Southern California Interfaith Task Force on Central America pleads for humanitarian consideration of the