It is not new to the Aristide era. We have had Haitians leaving that island. and coming to the United States and trying to get here throughout the 1980s. and sometimes in large numbers. It has been our consistent policy of our Government to return and repatriate those that are truly economic refugees. and that has been. by far and away. the larger number from that island. as it has been from most of the Caribbean when they try to get here. We have not changed the policies of this government one iota with respect to the situation of Haiti. We have not changed the policies of our Government with respect to any other part of the world because the Refugee Act and the asylum laws of this Nation are what guide us. and it is very important for us to maintain those. Those laws say that the only people we will take in here. other than through the normal. legal immigration process. whereby we do take in a lot of Haitians every year. the only way we will make an exception to that under our laws is if somebody is in reasonable fear of persecution for political. or religious. or race. or other reasons if they are returned to their homeland. In the case of the Haitians since Aristides departure. the unfortunate ouster of that democratic government. we have been screening on the island of Guantanamo the several thousand. the some 16.000. that have been picked up from Haiti by the Coast Guard cutters. Our Government has screened in 35 percent of those and given them the opportunity to have full legal claim to asylum to prove their case that they do fear persecution.
Keywords matched
Refugee immigration asylum laws refugees