Speech #1000080324

It was Jeane J. Kirkpatrick. the Reagan administrations first Ambassador to the United Nations. who conceived and promoted the artificial distinction between repressive "totalitarian" regimes and repressive "authoritarian" regimes. We are faced with yet another Reagan double standard in the administrations treatment of refugees from El Salvador and Nicaragua. and this double standard unfortunately translates freely into the inhumane and unfair treatment of refugees from warravaged El Salvador. The Reagan administration has devoted considerable energies to publicizing human rights abuses under the Sandinista regime. and it has accordingly granted approximately 88 percent of the requests for asylum or deferral of deportation by Nicaraguans this year. Yet the administrationdespite its strident condemnation of human rights abuses in Nicaraguahas chosen to ignore the plight of the citizens of El Salvador. One in five Salvadorans are currently homeless. rightwing death squads once again terrorize innocent civilians. and the Salvadoran economy has proven increasingly incapable of coping with the ravages of civil war. I am deeply concerned about human rights violations in both Nicaragua and El Salvador. and I am troubled by the wartime conditions and political persecution that refugees from these countries may face upon their return to their respective countries. Mr. Speaker. I submit that the United States has an obligation to treat individuals from these nations with equal compassion and complete fairness. I believe the only way to insure such a policy is to conduct a comprehensive study of the issues immediately. and to put the deportation of Salvadorans currently in our country on hold. H.R. 618 mandates only a temporary stay of detentions and deportations. once the facts are in. we in Congress will be in a position to make decisions concerning permanent immigration policy. Mr. Chairman. the Reagan administration maintains that to grant extended voluntary departure [EVD] status to Salvadorans would represent a noconfidence vote in the government of President Jose Napoleon Duarte. our ally. Yet even President Duarte himself. in an April letter to President Reagan. has urged the United States Government to allow Salvadoran refugees to remain in the United States. President Duarte fears that a massive. forced influx of former refugees could increase the already high levels of political and economic instability in his nation. Mr. Chairman H.R. 816 represents neither poor alliance policy. poor regional policy. nor poor immigration policy. In the final determination. the status of the United States as a humanitarian nation will not hinge upon the distinctions the Reagan administration chooses to make between the degrees of repression within Nicaragua and El Salvador. We. as a Nation. must remain sympathetic to the plight of all individuals fleeing civil violence ahd repressionoriginating from both the right and the leftand give these individuals a fair hearing after all the facts are in.