Speech #1010094012

The fact of the matter is that the Attorney General already has the power to grant what we call extended voluntary departure for any nation that he so sees fit to designate. That has only occurred once. with Poland. Beyond that we have a special law for this problem on the books. and this is maybe the most important point I want to make. the law on the books we passed in 1980. the Refugee Act of 1980. This law set up a procedure whereby anybody who is here illegally or otherwise does not have permission to be here can seek political asylum to stay here. It does not make sense to me to go forward with legislation that would fly in the face of what we have done and give a special privilege to a handful of countriesto people who already have a process to seek asylum. The administration has consistently opposed this bill. The bill favors a particular nation or two. It encourages onenation or nationspecific type of selectivity in our immigration laws. We really should not be doing it. It undermines our refugee and asylum laws. It limits the Presidents foreign policy and other discretionary prerogatives. By singling out El Salvador and Nicaragua because of their civil strife.