Speech #1010094055

Chairman. as an original cosponsor of H.R. 45. I rise today to urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important and urgently needed legislation. I also join with many of my colleagues in applauding the persistance shown by the gentleman from Massachusetts in his commitment to this human rights issue. and I commend the gentleman from Connecticut for his leadership the Immigration Subcommittee. The Chinese and Central American Temporary Protected Status Act of 1989 would provide Salvadorans. Nicaraguans. and Chinese currently residing in this country in irregular status with temporary protected status for the next 3 years. The legislation is supported by a broad range of groups. including major religious organizations. refugee groups. lawyers groups. Chinese student associations. Salvadoran organizations and Nicaraguan opposition groups. and private voluntary organizations and labor unions. Who among us would stand by while Chinese students. who so bravely spoke out on behalf of democracy and human rights last spring. were forced to return to a land whose government. if it does not have photographs of them protesting outside its Embassy and consulates in this country. will regardless look upon them with utmost suspicion simply because they were in the United States at the time of the demonstrations? In regard to Nicaraguans. the U.S. Catholic Conference. representing all of the Catholic bishops of this country. notes that temporary protected status would offer them "the opportunity to be productive members of this society while waiting for conditions to improve in their homeland." Other supporters include Nicaraguan opposition leader and presidential candidate Violeta Chamorro and Contra leader Adolfo Calero. who calls enactment of H.R. 45 "essential to enable us to continue together the struggle for democracy in Central America." Among those in support of extending temporary protection to Salvadoran nationals are President Alfredo Cristiani and Roman Catholic Archbishop Arturo Rivera y Damas. The U.S. Catholic Conference observes that with passage of H.R. 45. the violence which has inspired so many Salvadorans to flee their homeland "can be resolved without the increased social pressures brought by a mass return of Salvadoran nationals." In addition. imagine the possible consequences for Salvadoran democracy and United States national security should dollar remittances. which comprise El Salvadors second largest source of foreign exchange and play a vital role in keeping the precarious Salvadoran economy afloat. be severely diminished.