Mr. President. I rise today to support a bill introduced by Senator SIMPSON. which fairly and responsibly addresses the Haitian refugee problem. Despite the emergency ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court on January 31. 1991. and the subsequent upholding of the Courts decision to repatriate the Haitians by the court of appeals. there are some in the Congress who still believe that the answer to this problem is to block the return of the Haitians. I disagree. The bill that Senator SIMPSON is offering is in everyones best interest. It is consistent with existing immigration and naturalization laws and it treats Haitian refugees as it would treat all other refugees. The bill provides for the processing of the Haitians !: Guantanamo as refugees. according to the Refuge Act of 1980. Those Haitians that meet the existing refugee criteria will be admitted to the United States. However. those Haitians who cannot show that they have "a wellfounded fear of persecution in Haiti." will be repatriated. The bill is straightforward and would provide refugee status to deserving Haitians. In addition. the bill expresses a sense of the Senate that sends a very important message to all Haitians. It is estimated that as many as five times more Haitians have died in the waters between Florida and Haiti than were killed in the violence that accompanied the coup detat in September.
Keywords matched
naturalization immigration refugee refugees