But he is a very special friend. We have shared much together. One of the toughest problems in dealing with immigration and refugee matters is that the people of the United States and many of our colleagues do not even understand the difference between a refugee and an asylee. a special entrant. an extended voluntary deportee. temporary resident alien. a parolee permanent resident alien. or any one of other various categories. That makes it tough to debate. I have seen that in all my time in dealing with it: There are tremendous differences between the people who are true refugees and those who just do not like their country. or do not like the draft in their country. or do not like seeing their neighbors get shot. do not like their property confiscated. do not like anything about their country. and want to get out. But that does not qualify them as a refugee. Either you are going to change the definition of "refugee" or stick with it and be honest about who are refugees and who are not refugees. It is a very wellmeaning piece of legislation. but very illadvised. and let me tell you why. We have done our sharein awesome fashion. Anyone who can get up in the United States of America and say we have not done our share is really missing the whole issue of the last 15 years in Southeast Asia. The first thing you do with a true refugeethere are three things you do. These are historical things. First. you try repatriationsending them back to their own country. not in the sense where they will go through the hideous act of refoulment. which is if they were to go back into their country they would be slain. thrown out. chopped up.
Identified stereotypes
Generalizing that many people claiming to be refugees are simply people who dislike their country and are trying to take advantage of the system.