This reminds me of a similar incident during the late 1930s. before we entered World War II. The St. Louis. a ship of Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazi reign of terror in Germany. was not allowed to dock in Cuba. Its passengers were ultimately shipped back to the countries of Western Europe. Then. as now. the immigrants plight received an outpouring of sentiment from the American people. And then. as now. there was no stance on their behalf. we did nothing but pressure countries on the brink of war to accept these unfortunate travelers. I agree that we cannot afford to open our doors to all the poor people of every nation who want to enter the United States in order to better their lives. But H.R. 3844 is not an opendoor policy for thousands of Haitian Immigrants waiting to set sail for America. This bill affects a very small group of people and Is only temporary. All it does is prevent usfor 6 months onlyfrom returning those Haitian immigrants who were already in our custody on February 5. It will also require the administration to report on the fate of all the Haitians we send back. and it will deny admission to the United States to any Haitian who supported the overthrow of their democracy. When we started sending Haitian refugees back to Haiti. we sent a message acknowledging and supporting the authority of the military thugs in power. Now it is time to send another message. and H.R. 3844 does this. This bill affirms that we Americans are true to our principles and traditionthat we advocate and support fairness. justice. and basic human rights.
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immigrants Immigrants refugees