Speech #990275043

State Department report-" Crackdown on Freedom in Nicaragua and profiles of Internal Opposition Leaders." August 1986-"the Sandinista Government has intensified repression" in that country. Additionally. various human rights groups have documented human rights abuses by the Contra forcesand there are significant civilian casualties as a result of the fighting between the Sandinistas and Contras. In the past. various administrations have granted refugees. in similar situations as the Salvadorans and Nicaraguans. a temporary stay of deportation known as extended voluntary departure IEVD]. EVD has been granted to 15 different national groups during the past 25 years. It currently protects from deportation Poles. Afghans. Ugandans. and Ethiopians. This administration. however. has failed to extend this protection to Salvadorans and Nicaraguans. It is important to clarify that EVD does not require either a body count of massacred returnees or that potential returnees prove that they will be singled out for persecution if they are sent home. Such a criteria is appropriate only to the higher asylum status. EVD has always been conferred upon nationalities due to unstable or unsettled conditions in potential deportees homeland. For example. the December 2. 1980. INS directive announcing the currently effective grant of EVD for Afghans stated explicitly that it was for Afghans who resist returning to Afghanistan because of the turmoil prevailing in that country rather than because of fear of persecution. The issue you will be asked to vote on during consideration of the immigration bill. is whether Salvadorans and Nicaraguans will be granted an EVDlike status--and. therefore. be treated in the same manner as refugees in similarly situated circumstances. The proposal advocated would suspend deportations for approximately 2 years. pending a General Accounting Office study on the conditions in El Salvador and Nicaragua. It is important to remember that this is notand should not becomea foreign policy issue. This is not a debate on the performance of President Duarteand it is not a debate on whether or not you support aid to the Contras.