Speech #990156495

I remember those days as if it were today. I was privileged. because I was exposed to the rich heritage of the language. enamored of its beauty. as I have become with English. and also being the exclusive tongue used in my household. which caused me to have to stay a whole year in the lower first grade when I first went to school because I did not know a word of English. but I did know another language besides Spanish. and that was German. for other reasons that are not pertinent today. at least to enlarge upon or discuss. The reason I am giving this backdrop is that it has provided a rich. prime source of information and material that enables me to grasp a broad perspective of the developments and the churning of the processes of daily life south of the border which do impact us perhaps more visibly at times when we have these cycles of large numbers of people coming across the borders. illegals or undocumented workers as some call them. and these have been cyclical periods. a big cycle or tide of events back and forth that is totally ignored in the Congress when it considers the revisions or amendments to the immigration laws. but which have everything to do with whether or not we produce realistic and effective legislation. so that it is important that we know this history. So when these individuals in the first week of September. finding themselves in Washington. contacted me to say that they were very. very disturbed by the course of events in El Salvador. one of the sources had been on duty in Nicaragua and then had been transferred to El Salvador. so he was very knowledgeable and he assured me that two things were going to happen. one. that the course of events in El Salvador would not be the same as in Nicaragua. that he was apprehensive. second. because of the security and safety or lack thereof of the American Embassy and even its own Ambassador. and that the regime then that first week in September in power would not last until October. His reason for seeking me. as well as two other individuals coincidentally the same week finding themselves in Washington. feeling they could communicate with me and making the same request that I in turn bring to the attention of President Carter or his administrators these pertinent facts that they felt were not being evaluated in the Washington State Department headquarters.