Speech #980267755

Uganda. and Vietnam. According to figures released by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. 4.802 Salvadorans were returned to El Salvador during fiscal year 1983. an average rate of 400 each month. This is despite the widely acknowledged uncertainty as to their fate upon their return. The single. critical issue in this debate is whether we can continue to deport Salvadoran refugees back to El Salvador and still keep faith with humanitarian principles fundamental to our democracy. Why any particular Salvadoran refugee made his or her way to this country is irrelevant. How long they have been here is irrelevant. The relevant inquiry is: What are we sending them back to? It is my strong sense that the evidence of vast numbers of noncombatant civilian deaths and displacement within that country is compelling enough to warrant a temporary halt of deportation until we are assured that we are not sending them back to persecution or grave risk of becoming victims of random violence. or other circumstances contrary to humanitarian principles. and until we have carefully explored possible alternatives. Throughout my Senate term. I have been concerned about the violence in El Salvador and most particularly about the effectiveness of the Salvadoran judiciary in prosecuting socalled death squad murderers.