Mr. Speaker. today I am introducing a bill that relates to a situation that I believe is deplorable and reflects a tragic disregard for basic human decency in the way our country has treated refugees. Allow me to describe a situation in which I became personally involved. About 2 years ago I awoke on a Saturday morning and read a story in the Washington Post that was very disturbing. The story was about a Salvadoran woman. with three young children. who was detained by the Immigration and Naturalization Service [INS] and sent to jail. The woman was nursing a 6weekold infant who was suffering from a fever and an infection. The INS detained the woman when she went to the local immigration office for what she was led to believe was a routine interview. Despite the fact that she was the sole caretaker of three small children. one of whom was a sick infant. the authorities jailed her and made plans to deport her on the next plane back to El Salvador. I became involved and urged the INS to release the woman. Eventually. the woman and her three children were granted refugee status by Canada. since our Government would not grant her permanent status in the United States. The significance of this story is not in
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Immigration Naturalization immigration refugees refugee