Speech #990151237

We have allowed. officially allowed boats loaded with Haitians. with people falling over the sides into the ocean. bound for the shores of Florida. illegally bound for the shores of Florida. caring. desperate people who wanted to get away from the oppressive and corrupt Duvalier regime. large numbers of people who sacrificed their lives because they see nothing to hope for in Haiti. desperately trying to leave. and we have allowed those boats to be turned back. overloaded and knowing that they would capsize in many cases and that large numbers of people would end up overboard in the sea. We have done that as a civilized nation. and that is part of the result of our allowing Haiti to exist as such a corrupt regime and propping it up. and the poison has infected us and we have allowed ourselves to participate In situations whereby those Haitians that made it finally and illegally to our shores. large numbers who came and did land on the shores of Florida. once they were rounded up. they have been incarcerated under inhumane conditions. We have conditions worse than any Soviet gulag where haitian immigrants have had to live in that because they came here illegally. seeking some refuge away from the Duvalier government. We have done this officially. and our immigration authorities have participated in the incarceration of men. women and children which bordered on the nature of concentration camps almost as bad as Hitlers. We have done this. We have done it because. obviously. the sanctity of Haitian life. the sanctity of Haitian life is not equal to the sanctity we place on other human life. I think we make a great mistake. I think we cheapen all of our lives by allowing human beings to be treated as the Haitians have been treated. by allowing our own Government to participate in this kind of treatment as a part of the effort to prop up the Duvalier regime. We have not allowed Haitians to be accepted as political refugees. They cannot get political refugee status because our argument is that they are coming here only for economic relief. they are not trying to escape an oppressive government. We will not accept that fact that Duvalier. the Duvalier regime. is an oppressive government. We will not accept that fact because. after all. they are not Comunists. and the only governments we will label as being oppressive. the only people we will allow to be refugees are people who are fleeing Communistic regimes. The people of Haiti have made it quite clear. the opposition has made it quite clear that they are not interested in communism. As a result of their not being interested in communism. should we penalize them?