Speaker. the gentleman from Massachusetts. in speaking of Haiti. phrased quite well. and summarized it quite well. the conduct of our present Government. the conduct of the present administration. which is without precedent. Mr. Speaker. never before have people fleeing persecution and terror that is obvious been treated as the people of Haiti have been treated. as the refugees from Haiti have been treated. I think it is important to start with a basic clarification so that all American people will understand and the thousands of Haitians in my congressional district will understand that the Supreme Court has acted. but it has not ordered the Haitians must be deported from Guantanamo and sent home. The Supreme Court did not give such an order. The Supreme Court does not give such orders. The Supreme Court was the end of the process whereby legal advocates for the Haitian refugees were attempting to use the Constitution and the laws of the United States to protect the Haitian refugees and prevent them from being deported by exhausting every means legally. The fight of tile legal advocates was against the attempt by the administration to deport the Haitians. It was a fight between the advocates for the Haitian refugees on the one hand insisting that. according to law. the Haitians have a right to stay. according to law. the Government must make provision for them. They have made it to the United States territory. therefore. we must take actions in accordance with our previous precedents and traditions and our present law and allow them to stay. The administration. on the other hand. took. the position that the law should be interpreted in a new way. They insisted on giving a new twist to the interpretation of the law. and that new twist. in essence. says that no. this is different. you know. these are not refugees seeking asylum for the right reasons. They are not seeking the protection of the U.S. Government for the right reasons.
Keywords matched
deported seeking asylum refugees