Amnesty International estimated that as a result of the dangerous conditions there. nearly I million people. or 20 percent of the total population. have been externally or internally displaced. More than 500.000 people have remained in Central America. yet the other halfmillion have settled In the United States. and require our attention. The Refugee Act of 1980 states that aliens can be granted asylum on the grounds of "persecution or a wellfounded fear of persecution." This act has certainly been applied in the case of Iranian refugees as 60 percent of those who applied for asylum were accepted. Our Government. however. has refused to grant asylum to 97 percent of all El Salvadorans who have requested such status. While we do have a program that provides temporary asylum for refu. gees from nations suffering under war and oppression.
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Refugee refugees