The conflicts in both countries threaten the daytoday safety of their citizens. Despite the efforts of Salvadoran President Duarte to control the military and disband the death squads. last year some 1.700 Salvadorans disappeared or died in political attacks. Although the United States must have different foreign policies toward El Salvador and Nicaragua. these policies should not be made at the expense of innocent refugees. Our current refugee policy is based on a double standard. For every political refugee status request granted to a Salvadoran. 30 requests are granted to Nicaraguans. H.R. 618 does not attempt to correct this problem by granting refugees status to all illegal immigrants. Instead. it delays deportation until the General Accounting Office has reported to Congress on how the circumstances in El Salvador and Nicaragua compares to those in other countries whose citizens have been granted automatic stays of deportation due to unstable conditions in their home country. Since the settling of our country. the United States has been a safe haven to those suffering from persecution and turmoil in their own country. Today. we offer an automatic stay of deportation to Poles. Afghans. and Ethiopians. Salvadoran and Nicaraguan refugees have few options. Suspending deportation would grant them the option to remain here in a fashion true to our history.
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illegal immigrants refugee deportation refugees