The Reagan administration has perverted this principle. indeed. it has turned it on its head. Those fleeing from persecution in El Salvador are not welcomed here in the United States. because they are running from the wrong civil war. The INS grants political asylum to 88 percent of the refugees escaping from the war in Nicaragua. Only 3 percent of the refugees from El Salvador are granted asylum. It is argued that Nicaraguan refugees are fleeing a repressive Communist regime. and thus get special preference. But such a rigid. ideological policy ignores the plight of the individual. If you are a farmer. living in a remote village. it does not matter to you whether you are under attack by the Contras. the Sandinistas. or Farabundo Marti. you run because your life is threatened. Whether these people are caught up in a civil war pitting army against army. or a more insidious civil war pitting death squads against guerrillas. should make no difference when they run to us for shelter. Whether they fear persecution from the left or the right should make no difference. Our political asylum policy should be ideologically neutral. The bill before us today temporarily suspends the administrations deportations of Nicaraguans and Salvadorans until the General Accounting Office can report on the plight of refugees from both countries. It is not a major change in immigration law. rather. it corrects an abberation by this administration. America has always been a place of sanctuary. This legislation simply returns our Nation to that role.
Keywords matched
deportations asylum policy immigration refugees