Speaker. I have taken this time today to report to the Congress on a factfinding mission that I made a week before last to the Central American countries of El Salvador and Honduras. I spent 2 days in each of those countries. and I have a number of matters that I would like to report on relative to the purpose of the trip. which was down there under the auspices of the Immigration and Refugee Committee. In El Salvador. one of the primary purposes was to determine the situation with respect to those who are being deported from the United States. Salvadorans. upon their return. and those who are voluntarily returnIng and how they are treated. There has been a good deal of controversy in this country about whether or not to extend the voluntary departure of those who are Salvadorans back to their country. and to otherwise maintain the status of those who we might deport. I would like to first of all report on that. and then discuss the situation within the country of Honduras in particular. First of all. let us talk for a moment about the folks who voluntarily returned from the United States. There are a lot who go back voluntarily. who are not deported through our official laws. but who choose to return. The way we keep track of those in El Salvador is by virtue of a procedure whereby the Immigration Service. when they are first leaving this country requires a bond. and because of that requirement within so many weeks after they return to El Salvador. most of those folks who go back voluntarily come into our consuls office in El Salvador. in the city of San Salvador. at our Embassy. and seek the return of that bond. When they do that. we take the opportunity to ask them a lot of questions. politely. and I think in a very thorough manner. I sat in on the questioning of one or two of those individuals. and I am convinced that our embassy folks there are doing an extraordinary job of determining whether or not those who are returned voluntarily are in fact under any harrassment or undue political pressure or human rights violations or whatever.
Keywords matched
deported Immigration Refugee