Speech #1000080274

Chairman. I rise is support of H.R. 618. the MoakleyPepper legislation of which I am a cosponsor. This bill would temporarily suspend the deportation of Salvadoran and Nicaraguan refugees pending a GOA report to Congress on conditions in El Salvador and Nicaragua and the plight of refugees scattered throughout Central and North America. Extended voluntary [EVD] status currently exists for Poles. Afghans. and Ethiopians. H.R. 618 asks the GAO to compare conditions in El Salvador and Nicaragua to those in other countries at the time EVD status was granted. The bill further stipulates that if Congress should fail to act on the GAO report within 9 months of receiving it. deportations would resume. The domestic situation in El Salvador and Nicaragua is cause for real concern. Civil war. domestic strife. and a crippled economy have created hundreds of thousands of refugees and made sections of both countries almost uninhabitable. The average peasant is often caught in the struggle between leftist and rightist elements without recourse to an unbiased judicial system. Fearing for their lives and unable to eke out a living. refugees are forced to flee their homes and families. Most refugees are looking for temporary safe haven until conditions improve at home and do not want to become citizens of another country. Mr. Chairman. I regret that we find ourselves with no recourse but to take this action today urging utilization of the EVD provision in U.S. immigration law. Ideally. refugee cases should be reviewed on a casebycase basis and the deserving ones granted political asylum. Unfortunately. other considerations seem to have crept into the review process for Salvadoran refugees. So far this year. only 3 percent of all Salvadoran requests for asylum have been granted. as opposed to 88 percent of Nicaraguan applications. The percentage of Guatemalans granted political asylum is even more dismalless than 1 percent. Thousands of deserving cases have been denied. leaving many individuals in an untenable position. EVD is a less perfect policy instrument than casebycase reviews. but in view of the current situation. we have no choice but to suspend deportation until there can be a thorough review of the applicability of EVD status. In closing. let me point out that this bill should not be seen as an attempt to slap the Government of El Salvador with a political statement of disapproval. In fact. President Duarte has urged the administration to refrain from deporting Salvadorans until conditions in his country improve. Rather. this bill makes clear our willingness to live up to one of the basic principles of this Nationto provide temporary shelter to refugees from wartorn nations. I urge all my colleagues to consider the human element of this problem and to support H.R. 618.