They are escaping from a building on fire and we are taking them. saying that you will be better inside this building than you would outside on a Coast Guard cutter. But the truth of the matter is that we have signed international agreements and we have said that we will give political asylum to those people who are suffering politioal persecution. Even under the high artificial standards that are set by the Immigration Service. even as we find these awkward people on boats trying in broken Creole to say whether these people are political or economic. because it is hard to believe that you can be poor and black and hungry and still be subjected to political persecution. Thirty percent of the people who have been screened have reached these standards. So you have to assume that not only are we violating the principles of international law in stopping them. but we also are violating the law in not allowing those who are eligible to come to the United States.
Identified stereotypes
Poor, black, and hungry people cannot be subjected to political persecution.