Speech #1000080333

Mr. Chairman. there are a large number of undocumented immigrants in Marylands Eighth Congressional District. many from El Salvador and some from Nicaragua. I ask support for H.R. 618. which would suspend deportation of Salvadorans and Nicaraguans pending completion and review by Congress of a General Accounting Office report on Salvadoran and Nicaraguan refugees. The undocumented live a shadow existence. fearful of being found out and returned home. These people are willing to work but can find little work since the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 prohibits employers from hiring illegal aliens. Most of the Salvadorans in my district arrived after January. 1982. and. therefore. are not eligible for legalization under the new immigration law. They say they have come to the United States to escape possible persecution and conditions of war at home and to find work. President Jose Napoleon Duarte of El Salvador has asked the U.S. Government to allow Salvadorans to stay here temporarily while his country works to overcome the effects of 7 years of civil war and the earthquake that left 300.000 people homeless last year. Many of these Salvadorans and Nicaraguans want to return home when conditions improve in their native lands. In the ideal world. we would not have the problem of what to do with undocumented immigrants hoping to find a safe home for themselves and their families in the United States. We do. however. have this dilemma. The passage of H.R. 618 seems to be a humane answer to an emergency situation. It is in the best tradition of the United States. It is the sign of a magnanimous people who. in past years. have given "the homeless. tempesttossed" a second chance. Let us give these undocumented Salvadoran and Nicaraguans a breathing space by passing H.R. 618.