By prohibiting the repatriation of Haitians currently in United States custody. this legislation could encourage many more Haitians to risk the dangerous voyage to the United States in the erroneous belief that they ultimately will be permitted to stay in this country. This bill fails to specify exactly how this massive Haitian population is to be cared for. The situation has the potential to overwhelm the Governments capacity to house and process such a large number of asylum seekers. Mr. Speaker. Haitians are not being discriminated against. During the past 5 years alone. nearly 100.000 Haitians have been granted legal immigrant status in the United States. By comparison. 77.000 Cubans received legal resident status during the same period. There are currently a total of about 1 million Haitian immigrants in the United States. The problem is that we cannot take in every person in the world who wants to come to the United States to find a better job upon his own decision. If that were possible. a substantial portion of the world would move here tomorrow.
Keywords matched
immigrant asylum seekers immigrants