Speech #990018903

I wish to call to the attention of my colleagues a resolution adopted by the Madison. WI. Common Council reaffirming support for efforts to provide sanctuary to political refugees fleeing El Salvador and Guatemala and declaring Madison to be a city of refuge. Support for the sanctuary movement in the United States is increasing as more and more Americans become concerned about the fate of those political refugees from El Salvador and Guatemala who are denied asylum here and are deported back to their native lands to face an uncertain future. Congress. of course. can act to relieve this concern by passing legislation which would provide extended voluntary departure status to Salvadoran and Guatemalan political refugees. Mr. Speaker. the Madison Common Council resolution follows: Whereas. the United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees has defined the conditions of political refugee as "any person who owing to a wellgrounded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race. religion. nationality. membership in a particular social group or of a political opinion. is outside the country of his(her) nationality and is unable. or. owing to such fear. Is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country". and Whereas. the United States Congress has adopted this convention in the Refugee Act of 1980. and Whereas. the United Nations High Commission on Refugees has recognized that persons fleeing El Salvador and Guatemala are bona fide political refugees. yet fewer than two percent are being granted that status by the U.S. Immigration Service. and Whereas. deportation of those seeking asylum has often meant disappearance or death upon their return home. and Whereas. members of those religious communities offering sanctuary to the refugees believe themselves to be acting not In civil disobedleace but under the law of the land. and Whereas. both refugees and sanctuary workers In Texas. Arizona. Washington. New York. California and Pennsylvania have been detained or indicted In recent days. and Whereas. within the City of Madison. we have both refugees and sanctuary providers for whom the fear of deportation and the threat of arrest have an increasing immedia. cy. and Whereas. the Common Council passed a resolution on June 3. 1983 In support of those sanctuaries when first refugees came to our City. Now therefore. be it resolved. That the Common Council of the City of Madison reaffirms that resolution. declares Madison a City of refuge and supports the religious communities of the City of Madison in their efforts to provide sanctuary. and Be it further resolved. That the people of Madison will not condone for its own citizens who are providing sanctuary the harrassment. indictments or arrests which have been experienced by sanctuary workers in other cities at the instigation of the U.S. Immigration Service. and Be it further resolved. That no employee of the City of Madison will violate the established sanctuaries by assisting in investigations. public or clandestine. by engaging in or assisting with arrests for alleged violation of immigration laws by the refugees in the sanctuaries or by those offering sanctuary. or by refusing established public services to the established sanctuaries. and Be it further resolved. That the Madison Common Council urges the Immigration Service to provide the refugees with the status of "extended voluntary departure". so that they may live among us free of the threat of deportation until conditions allow their return home.e